wheel bearing saga

Oh, I forgot to mention -- yes, I removed the axle nut as well...

You forgot to mention what kind of car this is also.

Sorry --- was too tired after the whole day of banging -- '01 Chrysler Concorde

Get some good penetrating oil and spry the spline of the axle and the bearing itself and it should just come right off.

Glenn

Tried to remove it again today -- no luck. I used a chisel set as well as penetrating oil, followed up with an attempt of getting it off using PB blaster.... it just does not want to move...

I basically succeeded in chiseling through metal, but the assembly shows no signs of moving...

I think I am going to give up on trying to remove it and will replace the following:

1) steering knuckle 2) control arm (ball joint boot is starting to crack -- so might as well do it now) 3) CV shaft (I doubt very much that I will have any more luck getting the shaft out of the bearing) 4) the hub assembly -- what I wanted to replace in the first place

So, the plan now is to remove the knuckle from the control arm -- with the bearing still in place. Remove the control arm. After this I want to remove the steering knuckle from the strut.

I am not sure it it will work this way, b/c the service manual says to remove the bearing prior to removing the knuckle...

Any thoughts/suggestions would be appreciated...

P.S. There is a LOT of rust on the undercarriage of the car -- but I did not come across posts about the hub assembly being completely frozen solid inside the knuckle -- has anyone seen that before?

Not I, but I guess if you're in the rust belt, it could be a problem.

Bill Putney (To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my address with the letter 'x')

Yes - you can remove the knuckle with the hub/bearing assy. still in it. But if you can't push the axle out of the bearing, then you'll of course have to remove all three as a unit. (Dont't forget to remove wheel speed sensor from knuckle before removing knuckle from strut.)

Also get a new knuckle-to-ball joint clamping bolt and nut (they may come with the knuckle or control arm - not sure). Torque that bolt by the book - you definitely don't want that one too loose or too tight.

The ball joint stud comes out of the knuckle without any puller once the clamping bolt is removed - stud is not tapered - makes disassembly easy.

You may already know this, but final-tighten the control arm-to-frame bolt only after the vehicle weight is fully on the wheel (car back on ground) so the control arm bushing does not rip apart from being over-rotated.

You'll need your alignment checked/adjusted afterwards.

Bill Putney (To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my address with the letter 'x')

p.s. -

You can save some money by buying the knuckle from the junk yard - $35 is a typical price - a non-wear item. Just be sure to get one from any LH car (Concorde, Intrepid, 300M, LHS) that has 16" or larger wheels from the factory (either the number '15' or '16' will be cast into the knuckle - you want one with '16' cast into it). A junk yard one will have the bearing in it, but it would be a definite gamble to re-use the bearing on the junk yard part.

Bill Putney (To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my address with the letter 'x')

Should have said "...any 2nd gen LH car..."

Bill Putney (To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my address with the letter 'x')

Thank you Bill,

I will get the parts and go at it again, though I am not sure when my next "window of opportunity" for car work will be -- may be in two weeks.

For now I am driving it as is -- there is absolutely no freeplay in the wheel when you grasp at 12 and 6 o'clock and try to rock it. Though now I know that the bearing is bad for sure because as you spin the wheel you can here clicking noise about each quarter of a turn coming out of the bearing and you "feel" that it turns roughly. Fortunately, it is not so bad that you would need to apply any extra force to get over the "rough" spots when you turn the hub with the wheel off though.

Once again -- many thanks,

Alex

Hello,

Another question -- I just picked up the steering knuckle (thank you for mentioning the "16" mark that is cast on the back side). The bearing inside of it looks pretty good -- came off an '02 with about

60K miles. I was wondering if there is any way to tell how good or bad the bearing is -- spins freely without any signs of binding.

I am still inclined to replace it prior to install with a brand new SKF one -- does it make sense or it is a waste of nearly $100.

Thank you,

Alex

If you get a front end part off a junk vehicle make sure that the reason it is in the junk yard is not due to front end damage or you may have tire wear problems

Just a thought Glenn

The bearings are only good for around 80 to 110k miles. So you can figure chances are good you'll have to replace that one not too far down the road (literally).

As far as the lack of freeplay you mentioned in your previous post - I've replaced 8 or 9 bearings in my personal cars over the years. Not one of them had any free play when I replaced them due to noise. The noise they make is due to pitting, and they have what's called pre-load

- hence noise without play.

The clicking noise you heard may be the CV-joint. But if you replace the bearing and axle, it will be taken care of either way.

Bill Putney (To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my address with the letter 'x')

Good point.

Bill Putney (To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my address with the letter 'x')

If his prediction that the axle is also frozen in the bearing is correct, that won't help. But I do think the axle will come out with a good 3-jaw puller.

One post puzzled me. He said that he used a 3-jaw puller when attempting to separate the bearing from the knuckle. Seems to me that that would tend to push the axle from the bearing ID - and be ineffective in separating the bearing from the knuckle.

Or perhaps the OP's pseudonym is a clue as to what's going on here?

Bill Putney (To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my address with the letter 'x')

Hello Bill,

No, the pseudonim is the consequence of the reason why I first created this account -- to post in reply to the Google's April 1st joke this year (TiSP).

Yes, I tried three jaw gear puller to see whether I could get the axle to loosen up. At the time the idea was to see whether it was time to give up on the knuckle, or whether I should proceed with removing the existing knuckle and going the press route. Since the axle has a considerable amount of slack in it, thus I was basically figuring that it would have enough slack in it to budge enough to break loose the rust seal between the hub and the axle. Unfortunately, I started to damage the threads on the gear puller, rather than achieving any result -- hence I had to give up.

Once again, THANK YOU all for your help (especially Bill & Glenn). I will post an update when I actually get to replace the knuckle...

Thanks,

Alex