Ok I've had this problem for a while now.

Back in October of last year I replaced my front wheel bearings as they were worn out. At this same time I managed to not torque my wheels on properly. The car wasn't driven much.

Fast-forward to this January. My wheels are making a clunk sound at low speeds. It's mild at first but keeps getting worse. I notice that the rears aren't fully tight so I torque them back up. Clunking goes away.

FF again to around may when I start driving the car regularly again. Now the fronts are making noise. The noise manifests itself as clicks first only audible (and felt through steering wheel/pedals) while turning and biasing itself to the opposite side of the turn (right turn, left wheel.)

I figure I might as well look at the bearings so I take them out, the bearing nut wasn't quite as tight as it should have been. Bearings aren't 100% packed with grease (lithium grease) so I slather them up some more, reinstall and retorque on the axle nut. Clicking goes away.

About a month later it came back. First it was only on slow right hand turns. Then any speed right hand turns. It seems to be related to a specific speed at a specific turn angle. Now it's starting to click while driving straight. Pressing the brakes doesn't seem to stop it as my first thought was that it might be the pads chattering on the discs.

Does anyone have any experience with this? I had planned to go out and repack them (again) today and inspect for any broken cylinders in the bearings themselves but it was already sweltering by the time I was able to start.

Any info/suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

Are you following the FSM when checking the bearing nuts? The fronts aren't really tight at all. They get torqued down, then loosened until it take about 2LBs to move the hub when pulling on the wheel stud.

Also, have you check the rest of the front end stuff? Like tie rods, ball joints and strut tops?

Oh, and missing any of the springs on the top of the front brake pads?

 

Frankly, any time me or anyone I know has experienced anything like this, it's been the wheel bearing or the carrier bearing.

Did you check to make sure there is no play in your hub?

And the million dollar question.... Does it click once for every time the wheel goes around?

 

The hub seems fine. The rest of the joints are old, but don't have appreciable play in them.

I'm not missing the spring clips (one of the first checkmarks )

and I torqued the FSM.

Yes it clicks either once or twice per revolution. I think I hear two "tones/volumes" of clicking.

 

If it clicks while going around, there is an issue with the bearing. Torquing it probably won't help, it just needs to be replaced.

 

Kinda what I figured. Guess it's off to find a napa.

 

Get new races with the bearings, have a blast removing the old races : )

 

Removing the old races is very, very easy.

You'll find details on removing the old races in this thread:
https://www.rx7club.com/forum/showthread.php?t=906757

 

I've already done that when I replaced them last year. It seems that I should learn how to properly pack them this time

 

So today was fun. First the grease on the inner bearing was quite dried up. Then I discovered that the inner race was loose in the hub. So I think to myself "oh no big deal it warped or something and there's my problem."

So after an hour of trying to get it out, I put the new race in and it's all loose too. I'm 90% sure that's not good. It's almost like the hub was undercut because the space in front of the race is tight.

So how screwed am I?

 

new hub time...

 

indeed.

sorry to thread jack but since we're talking about bearings, the rear is a unit bearing which usually means to replace the whole assembly and cant be serviceable. i remember awhile back that theres a write up that you can service the rears. anyone else remember this?

 

Ok so I am correct that the races should be a press fit. Do I get a "new" new hub or just one that's not messed up?

 

I believe you have the rears and fronts confused. I think the front ones are supposed to be the harder of the two to replace.
Here is a write up of how to change the fronts. They sell both front and rear bearings, and only have a write up about the fronts.
http://www.mazdatrix.com/faq/frontbrg.htm

Just get a good used one. New parts are awful expensive. $511.74 for a new one (mazdatrix price), and I'd guess around $40-50 for a good used one.

 

So now my front right wheel is apparently jealous that the left one got new bearings and grease and has decided to click up a storm. I'm going to assume its got the same problems (dried grease, loose race.)

A few questions though: Could the loose race be due to my aforementioned neglect on fully tightening up the wheels?

And also should I not be using lithium wheel bearing grease? I had used it in the past on my 323 and it seemed to work fine but after seeing it so dry I'm beginning to wonder.

 

If you don't seat and torque the bearings down to specification and use the lock nuts properly I guarantee you will be coming back for more bearing servicing soon. Follow the specification in the FSM to seat and torque the bearings. Did you also pack your bearings properly? You can't just toss them out of the box into the hub and toss grease on top of the bearings and call it a day, thats a guaranteed bearing failure.

I prefer to use Moly based/fortified grease on my bearings (valvoline "synthetic" grease is moly fortified).

 

I'm using Valvoline Semi-synthetic Durablend. I don't have a bearing packer so I pack by hand. I put a gob of grease on, roll it into each individual roller and so on. Then after those I fill in the sides and then grease the race.

 

Yeah the dura-blend should be moly-fortified. Seems like you are packing them correctly, no need for a bearing packer... Just make sure to seat them properly by torquing them down to specs and rotating the hub a few times and re-torquing, then loosen the nut and follow the final torquing procedures in the FSM. Don't forget to check the pre-load using a fish-scale or similar device and the lock washer.