Another front wheel bearing question....

[jimdigs]

....so I have had a back yard mechanic kinda guy do my front wheel bearings on my last two festivas with no problems. This last time something didn't work and she is now howling pretty good. He put it in in late June. My question is...How can I tell which side is the one howling? It sounds like the side he did in June but want to be sure. Thanks, Jim

[Gomez]

Jack it up and see if there is any free play by wiggling the wheel in every direction. Won't be a definite answer, but if it is loose I'd say 99% chance it is the bad one. Especially if the other is tight with the same test.

[Chobobulous]

After a good drive you can touch it and it will be hot. I constantly check mine lol

[WmWatt]

One way is to drive along a wall in each direction. The noise will bounce off the wall and you can tell which side. One place to find such a wall is behind a mall.
Another way is to put the front end up on stands, start the engine and put it in gear. Then step out and listen at each wheel.

[cburkett65]

It could be the wheel bearing or it could be the bearings in the differential/transmission. If the wheel bearing is making that much noise you can probably jack it up and rotate my hand and feel the roughness.

[Bert]

It's pretty common for new techs and lo techs to screw up on Pre-load-type bearing setups. I messed up a few and ultimately got smart enough to take the failed hub, new seal and bearings plus a 6 pack of beer over to my local garage. The owner/operator mechanics know these things and have the proper press kit for doing them up. And they know enough not to overlook the spacer!

[koRnhead]

Drive into a corner on the road. The wheel bearing will stop making noise when you steer into that direction. Then you will know.

[jimdigs]

It could be the wheel bearing or it could be the bearings in the differential/transmission. If the wheel bearing is making that much noise you can probably jack it up and rotate my hand and feel the roughness.

Now ya have me worried. Is there a way to tell if it is either the differential or wheel bearing? In neutral the noise is still there.

[jason_]

I've never had these issues. Never. Ever. Always used a hammer to drive them apart, and a vise and round stock to squeeze back together.

I always used new bearings on the same spacer. I've done 2 sets. Set on each of my cars, 80k ago.

I just don't understand the issues people have. It's baffles me. There's nothing in between doing it wrong or right. It's tight or its not. The spacer keeps them spaced only so close, when the axle nut is ran tight, unless people are mixing left spacer for right hub and vise versa. There's a huge difference there. I wired the spacer with the hub to keep them mated.

I been using a junkyard knuckle with my original hub/spacer, on the old bearings. No issues. Go figure.

I'd have to guess it's not sufficient grease application. Unless I'm misunderstanding the feisty and they're different types then the Ford aspire. Then I stand corrected.

Ugh, rant over. Good luck.


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[WmWatt]

If you suspect a transmission noise I'd take the car to a reputable transmission shop for a free test drive. They can tell which is which.

[jimdigs]

For those of you who have tried doing the dreaded front wheel bearing job how close does this kid do to what is involved with the festiva bearings. I know we have an inner and outter bearing and not one solid bearing like on his vehicle but is the procedure about the same? If so I might try and do this myself.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLSXQ_LLpWY

[Movin]

The important parts are not the same.

[jimdigs]

Hey Movin..........such as..............

[eurotiva]

Aspire and Festiva are different

[Movin]

Those bearings are made so that the shim we use are not needed. I believe somebody on here has posted a video of this. When done on our festy and aspire bearings it is important to check the rotating torque, or at least to note that the bearing assembly is slightly harder to turn after the big nut is torqued. This is often overlooked on here as there are stories all the time of short lived front bearings and this only happens if this step is skipped assuming clean grease is used.