wheel bearings?

Typically it's a growling noise that changes with your speed. If you hear this, try to determine where the noise is coming from and jack up that tire. Grasp the tire at the 12 and 6 'o'clock position and rock it towards you. If you have a bad bearing, there should be some play in the tire.

Before you go changing the bearing, try to tighten the big hub nut first. It might be loose, although if you've been driving with a too loose bearing, odds are that it's damaged, what the heck, it's worth a try.

How easy is it? I suppose that if you feel comfortable with removal/replacement of the brakes you'd probably do ok. You're almost halfway there...

With front wheel drive, the bearings are large and are pressed into the hubs. It's also not an on-the-car job. The hub assembly has to be removed to press the bearing and its attendant protective parts on. That's why you need the special tools, although most of them could be improvised.

Check out the shop manual under Toyota Gen2 (1987-1991) Camry Repair Manuals, Front Axle & Suspension (2.4MB, 62 pages), pages FA-7 to FA-14 for details on what's involved. There's also some diagnostic information at the front of the chapter.

Cheers,

MD

oops, forgot the url:

Ok, growling noise... thanks. I thought I'd ask because a friend of mine mentioned he needed to have his wheel bearings replaced at the shop... "wheel bearings?" I'd never heard of those...

Michael

I recently changed the front bearing on my Taurus SHO, excuse me, I mean Taurus POS. :-) My brother in law was using it to run errands and he told me that my front bearing was making "some noise." When I pulled out the drive shaft, the inner bearing race fell out along with small pieces of metal which I guess must have formally been the roller bearings. That must have been some noise! :-)

The 94 Taurus had to have the spindle pulled and have new bearings pressed in at a shop which is also the case with the 96 Camry. These days, my guess is that the bearing replacement on most cars can be done without removing all that junk - a lot easier!

Generally speaking it's related to vehicle speed. It may disappear with the light application of brakes. And in turns, the side getting the vehicle load may become louder or change in pitch.

Look at the Timken articles:

Check> Hi guys,

As far as special tools go, if your local parts stores don't do it for about $30 each, you'll need something like a Hub Tamer:

http://www.h> Hi guys,

Wow.

Amazing. Thanks. I don't think I need them yet, but I'm still learning.

Thanks all,

Michael

That's fine. I remember seeing the Harbor Freight kit for "rent" at O'Reilly's. Different from Autozone's free loaner program you pay several dollars per day. Not sure how much this kit would cost to rent.

Amazing. Thanks. I don't think I need them yet, but I'm still learning.

Thanks all,

Michael

You are to be commended that you are willing to learn. It would be good if you could find a somewhat experienced person who could walk you through some of these things.

A lot of this type of work is not really complicated, but the use of the tools is sometimes best learned by someone skilled in the art.

Go get em!