Wheel bearing consumption

[e1_griego]

Gone through a couple RF wheels bearings in the last 8 months.

Figuring it's either the hub or the spindle. Dust cap has a dime-sized hole in it (which I know, I know, should have replaced already) but I don't think I put enough miles on the car over winter to have it eat a Timken bearing in 4 months.

Trying to figure out what's more likely -- spindle being messed up or the hub? Spindle *seemed* fine when I replaced the last bearing, not pitting/scoring that I saw, and the inside of the hub seems ok too.

Prob gonna snag an oem bearing from a 4 lug hub, replace the dust cap, and see how long it lasts, just trying to plan for after that. I suppose the dust cap could fix it, but I am doubtful.

[Ronald So]

I don't think your able to replace the wheel bearing in the front. Its usually a replace the hub/bearing scenario. You should buy new and not used to really evaluate the issues. Make sure you torque it down to spec. Check the wheel and tire and make sure its all balanced.


I've gone through 10 hubs in the last 2 years. and I have another one that has some play. All OEM. 8 of them were replaced with new ones.

These cars were equipped with non-performance 205 tires. with 275 width, sticky street tire, lower offset wheels, stiffer suspension, 300hp, and track days= more than likely a bit more stress.

My last one I replaced grease with neo syn
Torqued down to 200FT/IB

Well see...

[eye-5]

This kind of scares me becuase I just replaced my perfectly good ones with 143,000 miles on them when I did the 5 lug conversion.

[WilloW]

I replaced mine with some old ones for my 5-lugs swap in 2002 and they 're still fine now. I've logged over 100k miles on them already.

The hubs that I used were some dried out ones from the junk yard so I had to repacked them with bearing grease before the install.

[e1_griego]

s13 front bearings are serviceable (I thought s14 fronts were too, but maybe not). Bearings have all been new, and the axle nut has been torqued to spec.

I have s5 5-lug conversion hubs, and I have killed 3 bearings (including the s5 one which was probably crap anyway). Though the s5 bearing lasted longer than the Federal Mogul or timken replacement.

[hai1206vn]

I wonder if the quality of these OEM replacement bearings has gone down after our cars left factory. The original bearings that were installed 15-20 years ago seem to last the longest.

[e1_griego]

Yeah, I just am concerned that these are symptoms of a bigger problem.

I am planning to pirate some stock nissan bearings from some 4 lug hubs and see how long those last + dust cap replacement.

Maybe I'll get lucky? lol

[Matt93SE]

I've found it necessary to torque the crapola out of wheel bearings. I've found several wheel bearings falling apart on the 2004+ Maximas. replaced with new OEM and retorqued to factory values (like 180-240 ft lb.) Within 2 weeks, the bearing would be loose again.
Next time I torqued the thing to about 300 ft lb and I haven't had a problem with that car since. I've had several other cars come in with bad bearings too, and torquing them to about 300ft lb will prevent them from coming loose.

just a random thought from the issues I've seen in the FWD world.

As for my car, I picked up a set of 5 lug spindles at the junkyard about 5 years ago. no idea what kind of mileage was on them when I got them, but they're still doing fine.

[e1_griego]

S13 torque is 108-150 iirc. I have been torquing them to 150.

[marcinko]

^I'd torque them more than that.

Is this just the front bearings people are having problems with?

The rear hubs cannot be serviced to my understanding.

Also look into some better wheel bearing grease.

Neo Synthetic is the **** but is also $40 for a jar of it.

Amsoil series 2000 is pretty good I hear and is only about $10 a tube.

I have about 10k on my front ebay hubs... no problems yet. I plan on re-packing them with better grease soon and maybe swap in my OEM 4-lug hub bearings.

[djsilver]

S13 OEM front hubs have replaceable bearings.

S14 OEM front hubs have integral bearings/races but I saw a thread somewhere recently where you can pop out the dust seal, extract the cages/balls and pack them with the good stuff before you install them.

All the rear hub bearings/races are integral, but if you're buying new ones I guess you could do them the same as the S14 fronts and pack them with Neo-Synthetic (or whatever else you prefer) before you install them.

[marcinko]

^I was looking at my old rear hubs the other night and it would be pretty tough to do. You'd have to put them in a press to get them apart and seems like a good deal of work.

I thought you could swap out the front s14 bearings like an s13 but I guess not... so much for swapping bearings.

[CoupedUp]

While we're on this subject. My Haynes manual say ~108 ft-lbs. or something but online in a "tutorial" it says 75~85 ft-lbs. Also, when I unbolted the nuts for the first time they didn't feel like 108+ ft-lbs. (http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Nissan_...lug_conversion)

The hubs I am swapping to now are S14 hubs modified to allow an S13 bearing in them so they bolt onto the S13 Knuckle. The OEM bearings that have 150k+ miles felt smooth and spun decently free. The new ones when torqued to ~75 ft-lbs take a good amount of force in comparison to turn. Is this normal for a freshly greased bearing? Will it get significantly better once it 'wears' in?

I planned on leaving it as is and driving them and without hard braking trying to measure bearing/knuckle temp. to make sure I'm not chasing the grease out with too much heat from internal resistance.

[e1_griego]

^I'd torque them more than that.

Is this just the front bearings people are having problems with?

It's only the RF one. I will try more tq, stock bearings, and new dust cap and see where that gets me.

[Epstein]

My last car ate a set of S14 front bearings because I'm retarded. The front wheel bearings are not sealed. If you don't have a dust cap, water will accumulate and run right into the bearing. They had no play, but sounded like a rented pair of roller skates. Replaced with OEM bearings, which I think were NKK.

Is this forum visible without logging in? I know a guy that designs wheel bearings at Timken.