Front right wheel bearing

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My Car
1973 Mustang Grande 351C 2v
Ok. So this has been going on for a while now. Front right wheel bearing was shot. Replaces both sides. Worked great for a while (about 150 miles) Started to get some noise/vibration in front. Pulled the wheels to check bearings again. Left was perfect just as set. Right was loose. Castle nut and cotter pin still in place. Thought maybe it didn’t get fully seated when installed so went through the process again. Worked great for a while again then same thing. Pulled wheel and castle nut and cotter pin still in place. Removed them and tightened down the main nut per the shop manual again. Reinstalled castle nut and another new cotter pin. Again worked great then started in again. Repeat the above. Now is doing it again. Am I missing something. Why does this one bearing keep getting loose to the point I can tighten it a good 3/4 turn after every 100 or so miles. Any help appreciated. New bearing were properly greased with red high temp wheel bearing grease using the tool you press down on to grease the bearings.

 
Taking for granted that you replaced the races. Question - is one of them not seated all the way. I would try driving the races down and make sure they are seated. I really don't know nothing else that could cause your problem unless you were to have extreme wear which you would be able to tell.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
73pony,

Suggest that you remove the rotor or drum and remove the grease seal and hand fit the bearings on the spindle and see if the bearings slide all the way on by hand.

then clean out the rotor or drum and re check to see if both bearing races are fully seated.

Many times when a bearing goes away , it will spin on the spindle, causing high spots that will not allow the bearing to easily slide on the spindle.

also check for proper grease seals.

Have only seen one spindle snap in my lifetime, but carefully inspect the threaded area to make sure that the threads are not coming apart.

Boilermaster

 
Yes new races when new bearings installed. I’m sure they were seated properly. I have another full set. Might try replacing again tonight. Maybe that one was bad.

 
Kilgon.

You again, I should have known.

You will have to tell me where you took the typing classes.

 
73pony,

Suggest that you remove the rotor or drum and remove the grease seal and hand fit the bearings on the spindle and see if the bearings slide all the way on by hand.

then clean out the rotor or drum and re check to see if both bearing races are fully seated.

Many times when a bearing goes away , it will spin on the spindle, causing high spots that will not allow the bearing to easily slide on the spindle.

also check for proper grease seals.

Have only seen one spindle snap in my lifetime, but carefully inspect the threaded area to make sure that the threads are not coming apart.

Boilermaster
Good point on the bearings possibly not going on the spindle. I will check that as the original failed bearing was complete toast and the grease seemed almost burnt when I pulled that side.

 
73pony,

If the grease seal stays on the spindle when you remove the rotor, that is usually a good sign that the inner bearing is too tight to the spindle.

I usually just remove the outer bearing and washer , then re-install the nut to remove the grease seal, but suggesting you NOT do this, just to see that the inner bearing is not too tight to the spindle.

Boilermaster

 
Got it. When I removed the first time I used the nut to remove the seal like you stated. I will pull without doing that this time. Thanks for the info. I will post what I find.

 
Ok. Removed and seal did not stay on spindle. Still fully seated in hub. All grease looks good. Here are some pics of spindle after cleaning. Some discoloration but in what appears to be good shape.

Previous change out I used a wooden hammer handle and slowly tapped in the new races until seated.







 
Ok here is what I did. I had another set of inner and out bearings and seal here. Removed all. I now have a shop press. Used that to press the new races into the hub. Installed new bearings following ford manual. I guess we will see.

 
I agree with others that the only thing it could be would be outer races not seated in the rotor. You need to get you a double ended piece turned on lathe. One end fit outer bearing and the other fit the inner so you can always press them in. Unless the rotor itself was cracked in the middle and acting like a spring do not see another way it could happen.

The bearings are made to such a close tolerance you can change just the race and not the bearing if the bearing is good. 

If the virus had not taken over the world I would be in China right now working on a tooling project for Timken bearing.

 
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