well i did it this time, i havent been driving my car becouse it "had" a bad bearing.well today i had to take it to go pick up my lady from school and what ends up happening? the bearings got bestroyed, the spindle broke in half and the rotor got scratched beyond belief. my question to all of you is would it be jus better to get everything new or go to a junkyard? im thinking a pick-a-part becouse im low on funds. my ladies car needs a tranny rebuilt (2nd time,damn ford) and thats going to be 1200. my question to anybody in souther california (L.A.) where are the good junkyards here?





p.s. please feel free to flame me for my stupidness i feel so ashamed

p.s.s. if your bearings are going out DO NOT i reapeat DO NOT wait for the last minute do it, do it a.s.a.p. sorry for the long post

 

I'd get a junkyard spindle and maybe a rotor if it looks good enough, but buy a new bearing set for the front.

 

Yes, definitely new bearings. They're not too expensive new (14-16 a piece, from www.mazdatrix.com i think), and its always better to have new parts for stuff that wears out, and is as critical as wheel bearings are. Besides, why run the risk of repeating that horrible experience.

 

horrible is right i thought my whole car was about to come apart. i had that in mind going to the pick-a-part and getting the spindle but changing the bearings in all 4 corners better to be safe then sorry, while im at mazdatrix i need to get a caliper rebuild kit as well

 

Has anyone replaced the rear bearings? If so, is there an easy way to do it beacuse the last time I checked, it lookd like a pain in the royal *** to do. Also, how easy are the fronts?

Chris

 

the fronts are easy enough a lil dirty packing the bearings but trust me its worth it in the long run

 

The rear bearings suck, totally.

jerij

 

I've replaced the rear bearings - the tricky part is pressing the new bearing/collar on. I'd highly recommend having a shop press them onto the axle shaft for you, as the way I did it was lengthy and painful lol. You'll need an axle puller, and some type of cutting wheel (Dremel works) to cut the old bearing/collar off.

I've posted about this experience before - search and you'll find a thread all about it.

 

At MazdaTrix, when buying the wheel bearings, do you need two of each? They have three parts listed, an inner bearing, an outter bearing, and a seal. I assume that you need one of each for each side? So a total of 6 parts for the front? 2 inner bearings, 2 outter bearings, and 2 seals?

~T.J.

EDIT: Can bearings cause a gridning noise occasionally when braking hard like worn pads? I just replaced my pads recently, and every now and then, I get a grinding like a really worn pad from my front right wheel, and also some heavy squeaking from both from wheels when moving and "banking" to change lanes, or just swerving. Going straight, I dont hear anything, but as soon as I start to turn the wheel, I hear squeaking. Im thinking its the bearings, and not brake related. Ive visually checked the brakes front and rear twice now just to be sure, and everything looks good, and theres plenty of anti-squeal on the pads and shims and everything...Any thoughts? Once again, most of these problems seem to come and go. So one day, I could be slamming on the brakes and not hear a thing, then the next day, hear and feel grinding...

 

Rotormotor, the same thing happend to my s5 awhile ago. Put new brakes all the way around on it, with new bearings. Still had the grinding while braking on a corner. I know I had the proper tension on the bearings. I've done about a million bearing jobs over the years! Ok, well maybe not a million, but alot. Anyways, i just put anouther 1/4 or so on the tension. Grinding noise whent away. Might want to try it. CJ

 

Yes, 6 pcs. (actually 10, the bearings come with a new race, USE IT!)

TJ, your noise might be the pad shifting under g load and touching the rotor. Since you can duplicate it, next time it happens, just lightly push on the brake pedal to see if it goes away.

Autozone carries the front bearings and the rears IIRC.

Silver is right, the rears are a bitch unless you have the proper tools. A piece of advice, they rarely go bad. Dont change them unless they are bad. If you must change them. Pull the axle and take it to a reputable machine shop and let them do the bearing swap. At least youll save on the labor of the axle R&R.

 

About 6 years ago, I was crusing down the highway at around 75 mph, when MY driver's side rear bearings fragged...result? The wheel, brake drum and spindle separated from the vehicle....THUMP! Sparks everywhere...pretty scary there for a sec, but got it under control and off the road. Pretty high towing bill seeing I was about 50 miles from my house! I ended up buying an entire rear end and wheel from a jy for about $100, but made the mistake of not repairing right away and let it sit for the last six years...now I'm trying to get it back on the road and am running into other problems...get it fixed right away.
Just wanted to say, Welcome to the 'Fragged Bearings Club'...

 

I had a shop replace my rear axel bearings. They slid a big pipe over the axel and slammed the bearings into place. They've lasted 5 years and MANY hours on the track... And yes you have to cut the old bearings off. Dremel is good, angle grinder with metal cutoff disc much faster.

-bp-

 

info on my beast, i just got it fixed and she's on the road causing chaos, it pained me to leave those poor 7's at ecology.BTW there was a 7 looked like a 84/85 GS model with a really nice body kit and black rims anybody on this forum? it was at santa fe springs Ecology.

 

What is "Ecology"? Is that some sort of "land of fruits-n-nuts" term for a junkyard?

 

Just another way of doing rear bearings.
I find it easier to get the coller off if you do this. put the axle in a vise. take a center punch and make three dots in a line parallel with the axle. Drill into those 3 marks almost all the way through. then take a chisel and hammer and whack it a few times accross the holes. it should split and slide right off.

You can also take your collar to home depot and get you a peice of steel pipe thats about the same size as the collar that will slide over the axle. Get about a 3 foot peice and you can use this to knock the collar back onto the axle.

This is not the best way to install a race and if you are not carefull it can screw things up. I have done it this way several times with no problem. If you are not sure that you can do it than just take it to a machine shop. They should be able to do this quick easy and cheap.

Good luck,
Mike

 

LOL! Thats was a good one!

 

Thats what I was picturing. Flowers growing out of the junked cars, hippies wandering around looking for VW microbus parts and Jerry Garcia stickers LOL.

 

Maybe it's not a junkyard at all but a place where they send the "bad cars". Maybe it's a place where they punish polluting cars, no... it's not punishment (that's cruel and not pc), it's rehabilitation. Yeah, that's it! It's a rehabilitation center for cars, California style.


Am I close?

 

"Junkyard" is not politically correct.
It's "Salvage facility", or "Auto recycler" nowadays.

 

Well, the other day, I went to my uncles house to jack up the front end and take a looksie. I wiggled each front wheel (up and down), and it had noticiable play from the bearings (I assume). So, my uncle popped the hub cover off, and looked in there. He took the coter pin out, the little silver nut cover (haha) thing off, and the nut behind there was LOOSE! We didint have a manual at the time, so he just reseated the bearings, and then backed it off, and hoped it was at least close. Put it all together (with newer, larger cotter pins that would actually do something) after doing both sides, and a lot of my play in my wheel went away, some of the sqeaking went away, and the grinding is gone for the most part. I think I should replace the bearings though, because they have been driven on for so long like that...Dont ya think?

~T.J.

 

"Ecology" is the actual name of the pick-a-part or salvage yard. Ecology Salvage Yard or something or other, i thought they where a national chain but i guess not

 

How loose TJ? DOnt jump to the conclusion that they are bad. To know for sure, youll have to pull them out, clean them and inspect them and the races too. The surface of the rollers and races will tell you if they are good or not. If theyre good, repack them with fresh grease and install porperly. A little play is fine and much better than too tight. Too tight will wipe them out quick. AUtocrossers leave them on the loose side to reduce friction since they only run short distances (another trick of the trade).

 

Well, the wheel moved about 1" up and down...Little too loose to be comforting . Also, I still have sqeaking, could that just be dry bearings? It sounds like brake sqeaking though, but the brakes looked good, and theres plenty of anti sqeal in there with the shims . Its just annoyoing...

~T.J.

 

junkyard, complete strut, spindle, brake assy!!!!! demolition man!!!!!!!!