I've been needing to do my ball joints on the front of my 86 GXL, and I was thinking of just doing all four wheel bearings at the same time.. Looking over mazdatrix's website, it appears that the bearings will cost me nearly 200 + shipping.. anyone know of any other places to get them? There's a local bearing supply place here, I was going to give them a ring, and see what happens..
Has anyone ever replaced these? is it as much of a pain in the **** as I imagine it's going to be?

What to look for might be useful, so I can double check that I do, in fact, need them replaced.

Thanks!

~Wonko The Sane

 

I was worried about mine but I just cleaned and put new grease in them and tightened up the nut--problem fixed

Mazda made sure that it was a huge chore to replace the bearings--(hard to get the old ones out)

 

I wouldn't replace them unless deterioration is experienced. Bearings worn, cracked from heat, cages shot, scuff marks on the inner race etc. Just pack 'em good and be done with it.

 

Sounds like a plan guys, Thanks for the advice. I'll take make a thorough investigation of thier status when I get the wheels off (hopefully this weekend), and decide from there. I was just a bit worried about them since my chassis has 218k on it

 

For now just pull the bearings out & inspect them- you can almost always see a bad bearing visually...inspect the outer races with them still in the hub (don't worry about taking them out at this point)...if all looks good, repack them (with a packer tool, or just a pile of grease on your hand) and reinstall...