Wheel Bearing Gone Bad?

[chrismartin]

mjos,

Could you elaborate more on "Look how far the stock bearing is pressed into the hub before removing it so you know how to press in the new one for depth."

Thanks

 

[mjos]

Sure, the unit bearing presses onto the hub spindle. Before you take the stock assy apart, make note of how far the the unit bearing is pressed onto the stock hub spindle. Then, set your new one to this same depth when you press it on.

 

[scottm]

It might be useful to mention where you live. I have everything needed to do this job and would like to help out if you're near. It might cost you a beer, but I'm not much of a drinker.

And 03L4, why the bearing heater? Would pressing it on cold be a problem? Or would heating eliminate the need for the press?

 

[03L4RUNNER]

It might be useful to mention where you live. I have everything needed to do this job and would like to help out if you're near. It might cost you a beer, but I'm not much of a drinker.

And 03L4, why the bearing heater? Would pressing it on cold be a problem? Or would heating eliminate the need for the press?

I froze my spindles for 24 hours to shrink them and heated the bearings with the heater, , and if you do this there is no need to press the bearings on, they should drop right on and might take a blow from a rubber mallet, thats just the process thats most used to seat a bearing, u can press them on at regular temp but them you take a chance of damaging the bearing with the force of the press

 

[scottm]

Is this the correct bearing?

Timken shows bearing BM00007 for the front wheel bearings. Autozone should be able to get it using that number.

 

[chrismartin]

I froze my spindles for 24 hours to shrink them and heated the bearings with the heater, , and if you do this there is no need to press the bearings on, they should drop right on and might take a blow from a rubber mallet, thats just the process thats most used to seat a bearing, u can press them on at regular temp but them you take a chance of damaging the bearing with the force of the press

03L PM Sent.

Could you elaborate more on what you headed and froze. Doesn't the bearing slip into the I guess you would call it knuckle or assembly?

The first picture shows the entire bearing housing. Did you replace this?
The second picture shows where the bearing slides in. Is this the part you froze?

Thanks

 

[chrismartin]

It might be useful to mention where you live. I have everything needed to do this job and would like to help out if you're near. It might cost you a beer, but I'm not much of a drinker.

And 03L4, why the bearing heater? Would pressing it on cold be a problem? Or would heating eliminate the need for the press?

I'm in PA.

:cheers:

 

[03L4RUNNER]

See pic for details

 

[03L4RUNNER]

 

[chrismartin]

I froze my spindles for 24 hours to shrink them and heated the bearings with the heater, , and if you do this there is no need to press the bearings on, they should drop right on and might take a blow from a rubber mallet, thats just the process thats most used to seat a bearing, u can press them on at regular temp but them you take a chance of damaging the bearing with the force of the press

A few more questions.

What size is the axle nut?
What temperature did you take the bearing up to?

Thanks!

 

[chrismartin]

It's not a hard job. Just take your time. Look how far the stock bearing is pressed into the hub before removing it so you know how to press in the new one for depth. It takes a BIG press and a bearing puller or similar tool to put between the hub/bearing to press them apart. I'd have a shop do the press work if I were you.

Hey everyone,

Yeah not a hard job at all. The only catch I found was we messed up the dust collar (guess that's what you call it) that goes between the wheel hub and the bearing. I know they tell you to be careful and not damage it but we still damaged it.

Bought a new one from Toyota (a steal at $20 :bs and replaced it.

20 Ton press does the job quite nicely.

Anyway vibration is gone.

Thanks everyone for the help.

Chris

 

[Sungod]

Sorry to dig up an old thread, but it has a lot of good info that I have referenced.

I have the helicopter sound in my 2003 and getting ready to swap the bearings. I have the FSM and the procedure is slightly different than what 03L4RUNNER has posted. It looks like he is pulling the hub off the knuckle using the axle shaft for leverage. I can see that it would save the time of pulling the knuckle then pressing out the hub, but I would be a little apprehensive about applying pressure to the shaft. How much force was needed to pull the hub off the knuckle?

 

[Sungod]

In addition to the previous unanswered question, if someone can answer that I have another. I have seen posts that have have said that you need to carefully set the bearing when pressing it on. I am not sure the source of this concern, and I don't understand the concern. It seems to me that the bearings dept is dicated by the snap ring, and even going too far in won't matter once you torque down the axle nut. If it goes too deep then it should be pulled back with the 200lbs of torque you put on the nut, right? I didn't see anything about this in the shop manual so I don't know if this is a legitament concern or just 'internet fear mongering'. Although I have seen several people repeat this concern, I haven't seen anyone posting of repeated bearing failure.

 

[03L4RUNNER]

Sorry to dig up an old thread, but it has a lot of good info that I have referenced.

I have the helicopter sound in my 2003 and getting ready to swap the bearings. I have the FSM and the procedure is slightly different than what 03L4RUNNER has posted. It looks like he is pulling the hub off the knuckle using the axle shaft for leverage. I can see that it would save the time of pulling the knuckle then pressing out the hub, but I would be a little apprehensive about applying pressure to the shaft. How much force was needed to pull the hub off the knuckle?

Around 10,000 lbs to press the hub out of the bearing, Do what you like, just stating what process worked for me.

Good luck

 

[03L4RUNNER]

In addition to the previous unanswered question, if someone can answer that I have another. I have seen posts that have have said that you need to carefully set the bearing when pressing it on. I am not sure the source of this concern, and I don't understand the concern. It seems to me that the bearings dept is dicated by the snap ring, and even going too far in won't matter once you torque down the axle nut. If it goes too deep then it should be pulled back with the 200lbs of torque you put on the nut, right? I didn't see anything about this in the shop manual so I don't know if this is a legitament concern or just 'internet fear mongering'. Although I have seen several people repeat this concern, I haven't seen anyone posting of repeated bearing failure.

Press the 2 part bearing on one part at a time, ask me how I know, If you choose to press the hub unit on all together there is a chance that the 2 parts will be too close together and end up with no tolerance between them resulting in friction forces creating heat, in turn leads to you replacing the whole unit again, trial and error if you like but just some helpful hints

 

[Sungod]

Around 10,000 lbs to press the hub out of the bearing, Do what you like, just stating what process worked for me.

Good luck

Thanks for the response, I am talking about removing the bearing from the knuckle not the bearing from the hub. In your picture you show a 3 jaw puller pushing on the axle shaft. How much force was needed to break that loose? The reason being is that the FSM shows pulling the knuckle and then pressing the bearing out before you seperate the hub from the bearing which you obviously have to use a press.

The way you did it using the 3 jaw puller looks eaiser than pulling the knuckle, but I am afraid of messing up the axle shaft using it as leverage. Another option I thought about is using a slide hammer. I just don't know how much force would be needed to yank it out.

 

[cloh09]

I had a very similar issue, but the shop told me it was the axel, not the bearing. It's getting done tomorrow. Am I having him replace the wrong part? When we got it on the lift, we rotated the wheel and the noise seemed to come from the axel near the transfer case, not by the wheel. Has this ever happened or is it really the bearing?

 

[Sungod]

I had a very similar issue, but the shop told me it was the axel, not the bearing. It's getting done tomorrow. Am I having him replace the wrong part? When we got it on the lift, we rotated the wheel and the noise seemed to come from the axel near the transfer case, not by the wheel. Has this ever happened or is it really the bearing?

In my case no. My inner boots were shot and new axles were cheaper and easier than the hassle and costs of new boots. My noise and shake are no different with the new parts that I replaced last week. One thing that has me thinking mine is related to the bearings is the fact that it goes away when turning to the right. Now you could make the claim that it could be the front diff, but that doesn't seem to be a common problem as wheel bearings seem to be on this generation of 4 runner.

 

[cloh09]

In my case no. My inner boots were shot and new axles were cheaper and easier than the hassle and costs of new boots. My noise and shake are no different with the new parts that I replaced last week. One thing that has me thinking mine is related to the bearings is the fact that it goes away when turning to the right. Now you could make the claim that it could be the front diff, but that doesn't seem to be a common problem as wheel bearings seem to be on this generation of 4 runner.

So both of us are replacing the axles when it probably IS the bearing?

 

[Sungod]

So both of us are replacing the axles when it probably IS the bearing?

In my case the axles needed to be replaced because the boots were shot so I needed to replace them anyway.