Rear wheel bearings question

[Pocket_Rocket]

Hey guys, last fall I did my Aspire swap, and recently I had my front bearings go really bad (spun a race inside the spindle) and now I'm pretty sure my rear one are playing tricks on me (clunking noise on sharp bumps, some play in the rear wheels even after repacking and re-tightening the bearings, and starting to howl when taking corners); I inspected them before putting the beam on my car and only one looked bad, which was an outside bearing and had a damaged roller cage, which I replaced. I noticed that the bearing came with its race, but only put the new bearing in and threw out the race. So my question is: for all you guys that change rear bearings, do any of you ever swap out bearing races exept for when they're damaged? My bearings looked fine so it got me wondering if maybe my races could be worn to the point of causing play? Because even though they howl a little bit, my mom's '89 323, which had a lot of rear bearings problems, made much more noise without having as much play as my Festiva...So... What should I do?

[leapin]

Ive done rear bearings on both of my festivas and never changed the races. i drove thousands apon thousands of miles with no problems. BUT i only had noise issues never excess play. i used my eyes and best judgement when i did mine. also my bearings looked good except for the dirty grease but they were obviously bad. im no expert but i always thought that even though the needles looked good the cage would wear and allow then to move too freely.

[milehighbear]

the races do wear down after awhile. I always change the races just to keep from having to ask the question are they still good or not. It dont take that much more time or effort to change them when you have it apart

[blkfordsedan]

With Tapered Roller Bearings, the cup (outer race) and cone (inner race w/ rollers) wear in together as a set. Same principal as gears, lifters on a camshaft or in our case, rocker arms on the camshaft. They should always be replaced in sets. Running a new cone in a used race will cause the roller elements to wear prematurely. With this in mind, a lot of people still re-use the outer races because it takes more work to replace them. The choice is yours...............I myself have reused old races (and even used lifters) in applications where I felt the decrease in service life was not worth the added cost or trouble.

As a related note, metric TRB's always come as a cup and cone set. Their ID, OD and Width are designed to match the dimensions of a specific ball bearing. Inch dimension TRB's are typically sold separately because they are designed as a series group. Any one particular cone can be run with any one of several outer races within that same group. This allows a multiple fitment combination of shaft sizes and outside diameters.

[Pocket_Rocket]

Ok, so are the races hard to swap out? Do you need a press and/or torch? 'Cause I'd like to do the bearings myself, but if I'm not equipped to do the races, I might as well let my mechanic do the whole job...

[Levitan]

Just hammer them out with a round punch or scrap metal rod. When you look/feel/whatever through the outside race to the back race, you'll note there is a lip on the back race. Put your punch on that lip and tap the race out. Flip the hub over, find the lip on the outer race, tap it out. Not sure how they operate in "eh" country, but in the states, you can rent the bearing press for free...well, refundable deposit.... and hammer the races back in. PACK YOUR BEARINGS!!!! Then install the bearings. Put the nut on, tighten with a torque wrench to 16 ft lbs while spinning the tire. Then do the same to 18, then the same to 21. Back off 1/4 turn, then tighten to 3 ft lbs. Your torque wrench won't go that low so figure a good fart has more torque than 3 ft lbs.

I am not telling you what to do, I'm telling you what I would do because Midwest Festiva Inc takes no responsibility if something mucks up!

[ndice87]

get a foot long piece of one inch by one inch steel bar and go to town with a hammer, it should take two hits.

[Pocket_Rocket]

Just hammer them out with a round punch or scrap metal rod. When you look/feel/whatever through the outside race to the back race, you'll note there is a lip on the back race. Put your punch on that lip and tap the race out. Flip the hub over, find the lip on the outer race, tap it out. Not sure how they operate in "eh" country, but in the states, you can rent the bearing press for free...well, refundable deposit.... and hammer the races back in. PACK YOUR BEARINGS!!!! Then install the bearings. Put the nut on, tighten with a torque wrench to 16 ft lbs while spinning the tire. Then do the same to 18, then the same to 21. Back off 1/4 turn, then tighten to 3 ft lbs. Your torque wrench won't go that low so figure a good fart has more torque than 3 ft lbs.

I am not telling you what to do, I'm telling you what I would do because Midwest Festiva Inc takes no responsibility if something mucks up!

Thanks for the advice, as well as everyone else's. I never saw a store that rented a bearing press over here, and it makes sense since we don't like simple things where I live (eastern part of "eh" country); for example, why rebuild a minefield-like road when you can just re-patch it for ever and ever? Or better yet, take a look at our hilarious, contradictory exhaust laws, which I fell victim of, december 24th...Anyways, getting off topic here, just wanted to vent off !!! I often did bearings pretty much like the Festiva's (Tercels and Paseos) when I worked for Toyota, but we never changed races, so that's why I don't know how to do it. But short of using a press, can I just tap the races in using a wooden block and hammer?

[elcamino1]

But short of using a press, can I just tap the races in using a wooden block and hammer?

This is what I do,after removing the old race,I use a bench grinder to grind down the old race just enough to slip in and out of the hub,then flip it over and use it to seat the new race!