2007 Right front wheel bearing

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Fred Hardy

Member
Joined
Mar 24, 2016
Messages
10
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Location
Phoenix, AZ
What engine do you have?
V8 engine
What year is your Sport Trac?
2007
What Generation is your Sport Trac?
2n Gen Owner
2007 SportTrac V8 AWD 115k miles
Right front wheel bearing has gone bad twice in last 2 years. First time at 105k miles; 2nd time at 115k miles. Anyone else have this issue? Is there anything special I should be aware of prior to new repair?
Thanks in advance!
 
I had issues with new bearings sent to me that had slop and play, rock auto sent me a knock off timken not once but twice, so went to napa and now i have 2 in boxes that if i would of used i would been doing it again in a year. one thing people on here have mentioned for the 19 years i been on is quality parts with wear items and growing up in glendale az the heat and dust is not kind to tires and bearings and skin..not sure if that is your case but more so often these days.
 
Hate to say this (I’m the proverbial “shade tree mechanic”), but I burned through a set of front wheel bearings very quickly on my ‘02 ST, and THEN I learned there was a torque spec for the axle nut. Lol. No probs with the next set. Lol
 
I had issues with new bearings sent to me that had slop and play, rock auto sent me a knock off timken not once but twice, so went to napa and now i have 2 in boxes that if i would of used i would been doing it again in a year. one thing people on here have mentioned for the 19 years i been on is quality parts with wear items and growing up in glendale az the heat and dust is not kind to tires and bearings and skin..not sure if that is your case but more so often these days.
I've had better luck with the Motorcraft from Rock Auto.
 
I have had good results with timken but the box they sent 2 different times said timken but they were not, they put knock off brands in boxes, they have a reputation from consumer reports and reviews of doing it but i did not do my home work on them. if any one ever wants a new hub bearing they can have one it has some play but with my large tires i did not want to install.
 
see previous thread,

https://sporttrac.org/threads/anybody-else-replaced-wheel-bearings-5-times.86588/#post-748864
It sounds like whoever replaced the bearings did not replace the bearing races that are pressed into the rotor. Unless the rotor is new with new bearing races, the bearing races in the rotor should always be replaced when you replace the bearings. They have to be tapped out with a hammer and punch through the rotor, and then the new one is tapped back into place.

see how the race of the new bearings feel when you slide them onto the spindle.
They should slide on and have no play when in place and yet be able to remove them with the use of no tools.
If you can get the race to wobble or you have to use a hammer to tap them in to place or remove them from the spindle, then either the bearing races are wrong, (maybe there is a difference between Job 1 and Job 2 for example) and or the spindles are damaged, worn or were built defective...

I replaced both my front wheel bearings with Timken from RockAuto.
One rotor was replaced and those bearings have been fine for about 40k now.
The other reused the old rotor. The Timkens came with matched races but I couldn't get the old races out of the rotor..
About 10k so far on that. The new bearings seemed to be OK with the old races, no play I could feel and fitted right in.
At next replacement I'll just put in a new rotor too.

On that first replacement I got something wrong. After about 10k the wheel wobbled noticeably when I was rotating tires, went in and found the nut was not at the right torque and the bearings were loose. Retightened to torque spec and it's been fine since then.
 
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