Thread: Wheel bearing diagnosis ... let's rough draft a sticky

If you have play that you can feel it is beyond fucked. I have had them fall apart in my hand and still had no play or noise....and I have had them howl so bad it gives you a headache.It seems theres no consistent dignosis in my experience anyway.

If you wait too long you will be buying hubs and/or knucles too.

Exactly as I said.. If you feel up and down play its beyond fucked and needs to be changed asap. lol as I said I am a mechanic who does this for a living

Thanks for all the anecdotes. Gathering a lot of useful information.



Funny you posted this up. Was finally warm enough to get out in the garage, but it was a little late, and I'd had a cocktail/2 last night. Soooo wasn't about to crawl under the car. Was farting around with the tunes instead (which will be it's own thread). Cheeep head unit came w/ car and a pretty ghetto install as well. After scanning the wiring diagrams real quick was actually reading this exact section before turning in.
Can say that I probably don't have any noticeable play because it all felt pretty solid while I was turning the tire listening for noises.
Will be going out in a few to double check.

It's not 'up and down play'...and that's not what the pic is showing either.

I used to be a tech for Nissan...I'm no greenhorn and have replaced many a wheel bearing. Bottom line is, if it's noisy or has movement, it needs to be replaced sooner than later.

@eggman the Chinese wheel bearing that was used in Super Sentra failed so fast the rotor made contact with the edge of the Brembo calipers! Now THAT had up&down movement...haha.

My NX currently needs a wheel bearing as well...and slight movement can be felt the same way.

Well guys after jacking it back up, it was pretty obvious.
There was a good 2-3mm of play grabbing the top of the tire and moving it back and forth. Will check one last time, cause as I'm typing this don't remember torqueing the wheel on fully when I had it off several days ago. Did hit it with the battery impact and going through the pattern twice does get it very close though.
Not looking forward to this since I butchered the control arm ball joint on the donor getting the knuckle off. But here, there is the opportunity to try the double wrench trick 1st. Will take a blowtorch to the bottom of the joint if it doesn't pop right away. If all else fails, we start with the big pickle fork this time.
Another ghetto touch I've found on this kids beater, drivers side axle nut cotter pin is ...... a nail. At least the axle boots are in great shape.
Fortunately the passenger side axle is very recent. No corrosion on the threads or nut, yet.


Just as well, since we realized our insurance hasn't been notified yet. They give u a few days to call after buying a car, but it's been 2 weeks.
Guess I'm forced to drive Björn to werk one more day.
Poor me, Lulz

Granted I don't live in the salt belt but this tool makes ball joints (and tie rod ends) easy peasy.

That looks like a substantial quality tool 1fast.
Brand and where you get it?

Ive found that torqueing wheel bearings is very touchy... Too much or too little will result in failure very quickly

These are trapped bearings. There should be a torque range, eg 100-200 ftlb. But anywhere within this range is an acceptable torque. You may want to take a closer look at your hubs if you have had issues in the past.

In my experience, ive found trapped bearing to be more susceptible to the installation processes rather torque. I've had bearings fail in a shorter time frame using a shop press vs. my hub bearing press kit.

Im talkin over many many customer and or friends vehicles whom have thought they could do the job and then its bad in a few months leAving me to fix it. Look up the specified torque for bearing of vehicle your working on and use a torque wrench is all im saying. +\- 100 ft lbs is not ok. Personally id accept up to about 10 ft lbs over but only would use that range for line up of a locking device.