Replace or repack wheel bearings?

[Jesse]

How do I know if I need to replace the wheel bearings vs just a repack? I've had grinding noise on my rear wheels and pulled out the old bearings today and found grit in one of the wheels (it felt like sand in the grease). The bearings seem to spin freely in my palm...so how do I know if they need to be completely replaced?

Also...can I reuse those stake nuts?

[TominMO]

I'd get new bearings. Even the cheap ones, properly packed, will be fine. You can sometimes re-use the stake nuts, esp. if you can stake them in another location.

[1chrisapple]

mine don't stake they both use cotter pins or at least the rear does

[JPT]

If your rear wheel bearings are making noise, replace them.

[Bert]

For what bearings cost and the fact that you've got the arse end of the car off the ground and taken apart (and you did admit to having had trouble with the bearings) just bite the bullet and re-do them. Bearing surfaces should be metallic colour and shiny smooth but I too have been fooled many times before in thinking another coat of grease would buy some time and save some money. How you get the old races out is not critical but pressing or tapping the new ones in requires extra care. Oftentimes aftermarket brake drums don't have a convenient groove between the inners and outers so as to be able to drive the races out with a cold chisel or drift. Having dealt with this a few times before I now grind slots in the drum dividers (if they aren't already there) whenever I install new drums.
Good luck!
Stake nuts. I hate them. If you can find a dead Aspire or late model (93) Festy (or this might even apply to an early Rio) their rear hubs are secured by a castle nut and cotter pin. Much nicer system and easy to retrofit; 1/8 inch drill bit goes through the axle stub a lot faster than you'd think, even with a hand held cordless drill.

[1chrisapple]

that explains y I don't have stake nuts both mine are aspire swapped

[Jesse]

Stake nuts. I hate them. If you can find a dead Aspire or late model (93) Festy (or this might even apply to an early Rio) their rear hubs are secured by a castle nut and cotter pin. Much nicer system and easy to retrofit; 1/8 inch drill bit goes through the axle stub a lot faster than you'd think, even with a hand held cordless drill.

Tell me more about swapping Aspire axel nuts. I have plenty of junk yards around me - what do I have to do to put the aspire nut on my festiva? I hate the stake nuts too...

And I know bearings are relatively inexpensive - but I picked up my festy for only $900 and it needs basically a complete overhaul. Trying to save where I can

[Spike]

I just tallied up a total for complete rear brakes (shoes, drums, wheel cylinders, Timken wheel bearings + seals, stake nuts), and new front calipers (rotors/pads free from AutoZone).

It was $149 shipped from Rockauto. Figure +$30 for rotors and pads.

But worst case scenario, $21 for both sides wheel bearings on Rockauto + shipping. That's two sets of inner/outer Timkens bearings, 2 Timken wheel seals. That's about 30% of my local AutoZone's price, and it pays for itself in fuel savings over time.

If you have a spare $30, just get 'em! :p

[Jesse]

I called my AutoZone - I'm picking them up this Wed. I had $20 in credit so its all good

[1chrisapple]

idk if u can swap just the aspire nut.the aspire swap usually consist of the whole rear axle b/c u get bigger brakes and a sway bar built into it and the all famous 4x100 bolt pattern and 13" wheels

[TominMO]

93 Festys and all Aspires came with the castle nut and cotter pin; far superior. You can drill the Festy spindle for the cotter pin, and then use the Aspire parts. Or of course do the Aspire swap, which will give you much better brakes and easy-to-change rotors in front.

[Jesse]

lol I don't care about any of that - I'll just pick up few nuts next time I'm at the JY and see if it fits

[Jesse]

93 Festys and all Aspires came with the castle nut and cotter pin; far superior. You can drill the Festy spindle for the cotter pin, and then use the Aspire parts. Or of course do the Aspire swap, which will give you much better brakes and easy-to-change rotors in front.

Perfect; thanks!

[WmWatt]

Photos of rear bearing replacement here...http://www.photobucket.com/Festiva-backwheel

[TorqueEffect]

I know this sounds unsafe. But I have been running with used staked nuts (Which have been removed, and reinstalled.)

Driving about 10k miles like this, and they haven't moved at all.