New wheel bearings and a bit of my soul trashed... Help. Me.

One of the nice things about this forum is that only a couple of you know me... There are some advantages to anonymity when admitting to idiot moves. Mea culpa to follow..
Finally got my new control arms, bushings, brakes, wheel bearings, tie rods, sway bar connections/bushings installed, everything lubed up, torqued to spec, wheels on, jacks out, truck on the ground for the first time in months. With this 'life' stuff getting in the way of wrenching, it took A WHILE. As this was my first go at any suspension work, I felt like Tom Hanks in Cast Away when he made fire. I danced around yelling expletives at the seized bolts, challenging access, broken tools etc. that I encountered along the way. I tried to get the alignment as solid as I could by eye with plans to take it in for proper alignment this coming week. Hopped in, fired 'er up and took a roughly 3 mile drive just to settle things in and relish some. After a few initial groans, pops and squeaks worked themselves out, I was cruising high with a huge ******** grin. I did notice my steering wheel was about 50 degrees off of center but the Monty tracked pretty straight when letting go of the wheel. Things felt great until I flipped a rather tight left hand circle in a cul de sac. Pop, squeal, grind. I stopped immediately and stuck my head underneath where everything looked ok. I hesitantly felt the right hub and it was hotter than a two dollar pistol. The left side was warm but not nearly as flaming as the right. Limped it a few yards to the driveway, holding back man tears. Disassembled right side:
IMG_6481.JPG
IMG_6482.JPG
IMG_6483.JPG

The washer and hub nut had spun. I was able to pry the washer out finally but the nut is stripped and stuck on the knuckle with the destroyed bearing hidden behind it I assume. Sounded like nails down a chalkboard in a sandstorm when I tried to spin it.
Was it so misaligned that the bearing just disintegrated?
Was the nut too tight? I did the bearing preload procedure per the factory manual but getting the washer's holes to align with the hub nut holes did require putting more torque on the nut than perhaps I would have liked. The breakaway measurement (digital luggage scale) was a bit out of spec on the high side but even a tad bit looser and I could feel slight wobble when pressing the hub/rotor at 12 and 6 o'clock so I went on the tighter side.
I used Lucas "Red N Tacky" grease and got it into every crevice of the bearing prior to install. I put the race in the freezer to make install easier but did grease it some as well when installing it. Everything fit together well.
Think I torched the left side as well? I haven't opened it up yet.
New hub and knuckle ordered. Good lord those are $$$.
The axle shaft looks ok..
I'll take it to a machinist to see if he can remove the nut so that I can remove hub, see the destruction and salvage the brake rotor and ABS rotor.
How do I avoid a repeat?
Be easy on me, I'm still pretty raw.
 
grease running out past a melted seal?

generally 3 miles wont kill even an ungreased bearing.
misalignment will. but there must be uneven pressure on a tapered bearing to kill it that quickly.
cock-eyed. but again , how?

tapered bearings fit into the race, and thats that.


just guessing i might offer that the race was not seated completely, and offered a misalignment that "pinched" the bearing so it could not roll properly.
just a guess or as sometimes happens a bearing and a race are sold separately as there may be 2 or three races for different bearing numbers. usually different thicknesses of the race surface or depth. mismatched races would possibly cause this..

there was a time after the flood in my area that i drove a ford f350 4x4 with the big 60 series axle in front for several weeks before the bearing disintegrated on me.
a haphazard oversight on my part but i survived.
there was a lube emulsion of mostly muddy water and a bit of grease in the hub.
so they shouldnt disintigrate very easily.

the bearings in our monteros are the same bearing that ford uses in their 9 inch rear axle. they are tough bearings and should be almost indestructible and able to hold a lot of stress.
the only other explaination is ...
did you buy new wheel bearings??
 
All solid points taken. I did purchase new Timken bearings (set 47) all around and used a rented bearing press tool kit from Autozone. I checked to make sure the inside facing end of the race was flush with its seat inside of the hub several times before installing the bearing, torqued the nut down with the special tool, backed it off to loose, tightened to the lighter spec and backed off several degrees as the FSM states. It seemed pretty straightforward as you said, "a tapered bearing fits into the race and that is that." The seals were all new as well. Obviously I made a mistake at some point in the process but I'm not entirely sure where. I'm hoping once its sorted it'll help the next guy up to bat and me to avoid a repeat. I didn't think misalignment of the front end could destroy it so quickly if that was the culprit. More likely something misaligned in the hub? I'm hoping the axle shafts are ok and that the left hub isn't a mess as well if it was indeed due to improper front end alignment. I'll be anxious as hell getting it to the alignment shop after replacing the hub and knuckle once parts arrive. Any other theories out there? Thanks so much.
 
Last edited:
alignment or lack thereof will not kill bearings. (wheel alignment i am referring to)


timkin/koyo are the best bearing; the best of the best.
timkin, bower ntn etc.
there is no chance that the bearings would disintegrate as i had feared if you had used a bearing of lesser quality. china specials would last more than 3 miles.
please go over your activities with the assembly and tell us if there might be something you forgot to mention.
nothing makes sense at this point. not even bent spindles.
 

evomaki

Observer
Generally agree with everything round n back says. What is that stuff in the pics that looks like burnt coffee grounds? Is there metal in that? You are saying that you sheared the cleat on the big round retaining washer? There generally isn't a lot of room in the assembly of these to have things wracked and be able to get the snap ring on on the very outside. I would think if you were too far off that snap ring would not fit on. Generally I apply a feel test to pre-load on these sorts of assemblies vs. the rotating scale thing. Although that is not a bad way to give some objective criteria too it. I grab the rotor and try to jiggle the hell out of it. Do you feel a little play? I like to have my pre-load be where in my mind I have somewhere between the slightest micro amount of jiggle to no jiggle. This is a kind of deal where I fart with it 6 times to convince myself I'm right. Does start with tightening the nut too far to get the bearing to seat. This is the sort of feel thing that once someone shows you you get it. I first had some old timers show me this decades ago. My guess (and it is only that) is that you were too tight. Also, and I do not mean to insult, do you know how to "pack" a bearing it is different than slathering grease on it.
 

Salonika

Monterror Pilot
Not sure what the consequences would be for this, but there is a shim set and runout spec for the driveshaft I think. I've only had mine apart once for brake work but I remember checking and setting the runout in that neighborhood.
 
Not sure what the consequences would be for this, but there is a shim set and runout spec for the driveshaft I think. I've only had mine apart once for brake work but I remember checking and setting the runout in that neighborhood.

there is, and i noticed shimming in the gen2 parts im installing and hoping there is no trouble brewing on that. as I'm clueless to know where to begin. i suppose i keep them loose but not too loose.


even so the drive axle is a different system than the wheel bearing.

his evidence points to burned up bearings; classic evidence. .... but how?
there had to be tremendous pressure , as in tons of pressure , and no lubrication to chew up bearings that quickly. 3 miles?? yikes
i dont think our spindle nuts can even exert enough force to do that. even if they could it would mean the wheel is frozen up. and wont turn
 

Salonika

Monterror Pilot
Um, I'll bet over-torquing the axle nuts would lead to bad news real fast..........:

"A hub that is adjusted too loose will allow the hub and wheel assembly to oscillate laterally. This will cause bearing wear and will cause a further increase in hub looseness. The loose hub allows excessive movement of the bearing rollers resulting in roller cage wear and uneven race wear or "scalloping". If not repaired, the bearing play will increase progressively to the point where the hub fails. A hub that is adjusted too tight will not have a lubricant barrier between the bearing rollers and bearing races. Without a lubricant barrier, the bearing will overheat and fatigue. This condition will lead to full bearing lock up and hub separation if not corrected. This condition will be evidenced by heat discoloration and fatigue spalling on the bearings."

Said some website I googled that looked legit. Just being honest here.
 
I did follow everything to spec per manual with one possibly important difference I'll address. Greased the bearing by hand, squeezing grease into all of the spaces around the rollers, mounted, tightened nut, backed off, tightened a bit and backed off a few degrees. When I look at the hub, the washer (and nut as they are joined by the two screws) spun so that the tongue on the washer was no longer in its groove on the knuckle's shaft, destroying the threads on the shaft and essentially 'locking' the nut in place for now. If I get out of work at a decent hour, I'll take it to a machine shop nearby and have them remove the nut so that I can inspect the carnage behind it.
Sooo, in trying to remember back (I did this right side in Nov/Dec ish), I recall a neighbor coming by and saying I needed to turn the hub with the nut tightened to the preload torque. This didn't seem right to me on this vehicle but he said he'd done tons of bearings in his day and that this was an important step that he couldn't believe was left out. I was a couple beers deep and went with it hesitantly. He couldn't turn the wheel with the nut torqued to the 100 odd foot pounds the manual calls for to preload the bearings so he took a tow strap, bolted the wheel/tire back on, wrapped the strap around it and pulled like mad until it all turned some. I was literally grinding my teeth. We loosened the nut and completed the rest of the process per manual. A little EtOH and time and I'd forgotten this part. More shame and regret. We did back the nut off so its not like it was driven with the nut still set to the preload torque...
 
the preload spin is unnecessary.
counterproductive snd a waste of time.
but it's not harmful generslly.
preload is to seat bearing in race, and squeeze all excess grease out of the bearing.that's all.
spinning it should have caused no harm.
I don't beleive.
but...obviously something did.
and kicking the tang out of the keyway in the spindle.
I've never seen that.
except for very loose hubs,
there is a misalignment somewhere gotta be
 

Factoid

Three criminal heroes
Once you thought you were done and gave the wheel a final spin just before lowering it to the ground, did it spin freely and sound normal? Your answer is why the beer drinking always waits until the job is complete, a reward for a job well done.

If you have a pickle fork, you can try to get it under the nut while you spin it off. Any pressure you can get behind the nut while you turn it should allow you to spin it off. Try a screwdriver first and twist it to provide a bit of lift while you turn the nut. Once you have a slight gap between the nut and washer, push the pickle fork in and spin it off with an impact wrench.
 

Salonika

Monterror Pilot
Yeah the beer thing is for another thread probably.....some of my Montero projects involve plenty of beer, others are beer-free, depends what I’m doing. Wheel bearings would have been beer-free, along with brakes or engine troubleshooting. Oil changes or exhaust work however can be done with various levels of beer consumption LOL.....
 
this whole thing is bugging me.
when u get this open i....., well let me ask u this.
maybe I have already asked. did u buy bearing and race as a set, in one package?
or seperately.
I would like to know the numbers on the races, and the bearings.
what is thst bearing 249o1 or something I have to say they have a mis match in there. either bearing to race or bearing to spindle.

it's the only logical answer. the only way 3 miles could have killed 4 bearings.
on some cars the dust seal on the back side is left on can't remember where I read thst, and the new seal installed into hub and hub installed. the old seal, keeps the hub from seating properly, and the bearings explode from not riding on their seats on the spinfle.
can't recall just now which rig that is a common problem for distracted mechanics.
 

Forum statistics

Threads
185,543
Messages
2,875,693
Members
224,922
Latest member
Randy Towles
Top