Wheel bearing/seal/spindle problem

[white_fly]

I bought a project Festiva and one of the known issues were the front wheel bearings. Simple enough, I thought...

As I looked at the factory manual I figured it might be a more involved job than I thought. I decided to bring the whole hub/spindle assemblies to a few ford dealerships in my area, none of which were able to help. The final one suggested I go to a NAPA machine shop (pretty cool) and a guy there informed me that I would need a new hub besides the bearings and seals (not so cool). He seemed quite experienced and I'm inclined to believe him, but I also understand our cars have some quirks in the design.

So, what's the best way to get my car rolling smooth and tracking straight? If I truly need a hub will a Kia dealership be able to help me? There are approximately 0 junkyards in my area with festivas and a quick search didn't turn up anyone selling good ones so would I be able to use Protege or Rio or Aspire spindles? Any help is greatly appreciated.

I can provide pictures of my predicament if that helps. I have the factory manual and, yes, I searched.

[Levitan]

I'd like to see why you need a new hub. Post a pic.

KIA dealer, doubt it.

Aspire swap, only if you want to do all four corners.

Plus, where are you from? Add it in your UserCP at the top of the page.

We'll get you thru this.

[TONYCASH]

Where r u located ?

[white_fly]

Tampa, Florida. Basically the hub wiggles in the spindle quite a bit. I thought that would be ok with the proper bearings and seals but once again, the machinist didn't look very tentative about his recommendation. The car already has an Aspire rear end and I believe aspire brakes but my wheels have 4x100 and 104.3 holes so it's all good. I'll get the picture up later today.

[88FestivaLX]

I was wondering what all it took to do the front hubs. Just bearings and seals? I figure if I'm gonna do all this suspension work, might as well do the bearings and stuff up front.

[white_fly]

Here's the whole thing:

Sitting on the bench:

And with me lifting the spindle:

The other sitting on the bench:

And again lifting:


As you can see the center of the hub where the splines are to receive the cv/drive shaft slides in and out quite a bit on both sides. Once again, is this to be expected? What do I need to do?

[elcamino1]

Can't see any of the pictures!

[white_fly]

It should be the first 5 pics in this album:

http://picasaweb.google.com/brainpowerms/Festiva#

[m715]

I would have to wonder two things.....
1) From the pictures, are those Festiva or Aspire hubs?
2) Have the bearings been changed once, and the preload spacer that is in between the two bearings been left out?

Michael

[white_fly]

I'm really not sure whether they're festiva or aspire hubs. I suspect that the spacer was left out and that the car was driven afterwards, causing some damage but I can't say for sure as I haven't even been able to disassemble it.

[Jasin]

One way to get it apart is to use a slide hammer with adapter that attaches to the lug bolts. Takes some force. Then you need a press to reassemble, kind of a pain to do, good luck.
That is for the Festiva anyway.