Wheel Bearing? Help!

[MikeinOslo]

Front left wheel on my 93 explorer seems to be loose.

I recently paid someone to tighten it, but it just failed a test on the bearing!

I cannot go back to the mechanic so I wonder if I can tighten this myself?

Is this possible?

Any help appreciated.

Thanks

 

[Doug]

You can do it yourself but you're gonna need a spindle nut wrench. If you do a Search You'll come up with all you need to know about tightening your spindle nuts. BTW welcome to the board.

 

[DeRocha]

Welcome to the site.

Your profile doesn't mention if you X is a 4x2 or 4x4. Do you have auto hubs or manual? I assume you are talking about the front wheel bearings located within the rotors correct?

 

[Scooter475]

If you continue to tighten your wheel with your spindle nut on a bad bearing you are going to end up replacing the spindle too. My advice is to replace the bearing and salvage the spindle to keep repairs as cheap as possible.

 

[DeRocha]

Scooter is Correct: If you have a 4x4 the bearings have a final torque of 15 to 25 in/lbs Caution: This is inch, not foot pounds...15 in/lbs = 1.25 ft/lbs (That is a causual turn of the spindle nut socket with your hand, not a wrench). If you tighten beyond this the bearings will overheat and eventually fuse to the Spindle (major $$$)

 

[MikeinOslo]

Thanks for the input so far, guys.

The car in question is a '93 Auto.

Now, according to the guy who originally tightened the bearings, this is what he told me to do.

I wont go into the details of all the bits to take off, but here is the most pertinent points, I think...

Remove (pull out) the locking pin using a magnet. Turn the nut so that the hole in it aligns with the next 'groove' in the something or other...then pop the locking pin back in and reassemble all the bits....

Does this make any sense to anyone?

 

[SteveVB]

Yes, you are describing auto locking hubs. Your description is correct you need to remove the key, tighten the nut (2 3/8" hex I believe) to 47 N.m (35 ft/lbs) while turning the rotor- to seat the bearing. Back off the nut a 1/4 turn or so, not too much or the rotor will be too loose and the final torque wont align it correctly. Retighten the nut to 1.8N.m (16 inch/lbs) align the closest lug in the adjusting nut to the key slot in the spindle. Put on the thrust washers and the cam assembly - install the hubs, make sure they line up with the cam assembly.

Good Luck

 

[MikeinOslo]

Since I have never seen this system, and have no idea how to do it, I wonder if I should attempt it.

What do people think it should cost to do this in a garage? Timewise, anyway?

 

[rocco123]

It Ain't no big deal. Just make sure the key is removed that holds the nut from turning.

 

[DeRocha]

How did your wheel fail a Bearing test ? If any bearing is bad/fails then it and its matching race will need to be replaced. The race is the Metal surface part in the rotor the bearing rides on. A race needs to be pressed in/out by a by machine shop. I believe these wheel bearings have a life expectancy of around 100,000 miles / 161,000 Km so if you have reached this mileage and they are starting to give signs of trouble then you may want to consider replacing them all.

Working on this part of an Explorer is not too bad. It is very Important to have a manual available for reference (A picture is worth 1000 words)