A&Q about 350Z
Q:
This past spring I replaced the front bearings in my wife's 97 Tercel because one had failed. Why it failed at 64,000 I'll never know. Anyway, within a week of the new bearings being installed they started making the same noise. I have the spindles off again and (sure enough) one bearing is completely shot. Its a completely stock vehicle with no carfax record of being wrecked, nor does it have any evidence to support even a repainted panel. I strongly feel that its never had any body damage anyway.
This last time I bought parts-store bearings and had a machine shop press them in. This time I think I'll buy either Timken or Toyota's bearings and them the Toyota garage press them in. Normally I wouldn't do that except they may have personal experience with the proper tolerances and proceedures that accompany the process.
Here are the questions.
-I didn't take note of which side had failed the first time. If the same side has failed this time, it suggests a problem with the spindle or shaft. What could be wrong about the car that would cause such rapid bearing failure?
-If its the opposite wheel's bearing that failed one could assume that it was a faulty bearing from new, but why would the original bearing have failed at 64k?
I'm tired of buying bearings at $50 each and paying for the labor to press them in. What would you folks do?
A:
Just a couple of questions.
It sounds as if you did not replace both sides at the same time.
Are these sealed bearings??
With sealed bearings, I have had both sides fail within just a couple of thousand K of each other. If one side goes, the other will follow soon.
Therefore, if it was the side that you did not change the first time, then IMHO you do not have a problem, you now know how long a Tercel bearing lasts.
Now 64 K is low mileage for a bearing to go, but not unusual......especially if you drive this car enthusiastically.........uh, how badly do you scorch the onramps, Curtis??
Of course, if it is the same side, there is a big problem. Possibly, the inner race has seized. The inner race is designed to slowly rotate (much slower than the wheel) to even out the wear. If it does not rotate the weight of the car on the bearing rollers creates a flat spot. Perpaps the machine shop presses them in incorrectly, or as you say, the spindle is warped or out - of round.
A:
Sorry to be confusing, but yes, I did do both sides at the same time.
By definition, yes. They are press-fit ball bearing units with plastic rings that seal in the pre-packed grease.
Well... I have been known to use all 84 horses at once.
I do have an update. Regardless of what may have been wrong the situation goes as follows. I pulled the knuckles off again and took them to a "good" machine shop. Of course I thought the last one was "good". They are the shop that the local Toyota garage uses so they were well versed in Toyota's weaknesses. They identified that Tercels sometimes get scoring on the hub from improperly pressed races and this was the case on my example. They had a good hub sitting on the floor under a pile of lathe filings and gave it to me for $5.
The other potential cause for the failure may have been mechanic error; namely, ME. Not having the proper torque specs for a Tercel hub nut, I guessed at 110 ft-lbs. The proper number is 137 ft-lbs. The other error I may have made was using an impact wrench to drive the nut part way before putting the torque wrench on it. I was told that the impact part of the drive may pull the hub in tighter regardless of the actual torque and crush some critical stuff.
So basically, what I'm saying is. I might have screwed it up myself
Like I told a shop foreman at an interview; I surprise people with what I know and I surprise myself at what I don't know.
Thanks for the great analysis, MagicRat. For now the new bearings are in, they're quiet, and I have an appointment for an alignment tomorrow morning. Hopefully; problem solved.
A:
Thank you for the update curtis.
As for impact wrench adventures, it happens to the best of us.
In my early days of wrenching, I once installed spark plugs with an impact wrench with less then desireable results!