Gearheadloco
LVC Member
While I'm rebuilding the engine in my 2001 3.9L V8 I thought I would get a set of new tires for the car since my 20 year old son will be driving this car next. With the wheels off it was clear the car needed brake pads, rotors and ... why not, new go-fast red calipers. Putting the passenger rear wheel back on I noticed about a 1/4 inch of play which turned out to be a failed wheel bearing.
Fortunately, Timken still makes front and rear wheel bearings for this car, so I ordered all four from RockAuto. Here's photos of the fun if you want to give it a try!
Lots of PB Blaster to loosen the rusted nut holding the spindle and knuckle!
After much struggle pulling the spindle off the axle, here's the knuckle with the bad bearing
And here's what you see with the knuckle off - you can see the serrated ring for the anti-lock break sensor to sense wheel rotation (or not)
I ended up taking both knuckles off of the car. With one wheel bearing definitely bad, I figured the other may not be too far behind.
I made some videos of the process of pressing out the old bearing, which leaves one bearing race on the wheel spindle that must be removed in some way. Our solution was to cut the race and then use an air hammer to drive it off of the spindle. Pressing the new bearing into the knuckle and then pressing the wheel spindle back into the knuckle is shown in the videos. If I can figure out how to post videos to the forum I will place a link here -
(clicking on this link should take you to my Google account where I've shared the videos to all)
https://photos.app.goo.gl/74A6DYFya63dKGMN2
Finally here's the new tire on the car with new caliper, rotor, brake pads and rear wheel bearing. Now over to the other side of the car!
Phil in San Diego
Fortunately, Timken still makes front and rear wheel bearings for this car, so I ordered all four from RockAuto. Here's photos of the fun if you want to give it a try!
Lots of PB Blaster to loosen the rusted nut holding the spindle and knuckle!
After much struggle pulling the spindle off the axle, here's the knuckle with the bad bearing
And here's what you see with the knuckle off - you can see the serrated ring for the anti-lock break sensor to sense wheel rotation (or not)
I ended up taking both knuckles off of the car. With one wheel bearing definitely bad, I figured the other may not be too far behind.
I made some videos of the process of pressing out the old bearing, which leaves one bearing race on the wheel spindle that must be removed in some way. Our solution was to cut the race and then use an air hammer to drive it off of the spindle. Pressing the new bearing into the knuckle and then pressing the wheel spindle back into the knuckle is shown in the videos. If I can figure out how to post videos to the forum I will place a link here -
(clicking on this link should take you to my Google account where I've shared the videos to all)
https://photos.app.goo.gl/74A6DYFya63dKGMN2
Finally here's the new tire on the car with new caliper, rotor, brake pads and rear wheel bearing. Now over to the other side of the car!
Phil in San Diego
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