blew up a front wheel bearing on the freeeway coming home from work. No warning or nothing, bang bang crunch, hang on man we are in for a ride. It was all over the lane until I got it stopped. Don't know the extent of the damage yet, wheel had lots of camber and was rubbing on the spring, came home on the hook. I will get a look at it in the morning. only put 200 miles on it since I brought it home. Welcome to the world of the 7, gotta love it.

 

Ouch! Hope everything is ok.

 

at least you keep the car under control an didnt wreck it

 

Sounds like a ball joint. Shitty deal...

 

If nothing else is broken, should be an easy fix. Not as safe as coughing up a seal, but a lot cheaper.

 

At least you walked away from it, good to hear your ok

 

well somethign like that is a failure that can happen on any car... that sucks though. i was taking my rear suspension appart and noticed one of my bearings had quite alot of play im going to replace them before something bad happens. 210K mile wheel bearings cant be good...

 

Agreed- that sounds more like a ball joint than a wheel bearing- wheel bearing starts going/goes, you get a lot of noise and hard steering since it usually welds itself to the race, and then the entire wheel will lock up.

Ball joints (particularly load-bearing) will drop body onto suspension, and you're going to have little/no control of that wheel. That also explains your camber issue- your lower suspension hinges on that ball joint.

You're seriously lucky, dude. I've seen cars that happened to that people didn't walk away from. Kudos on your driving skills.

 

Yeah I wouldn't complain about the repairs too much...You are lucky to have walked away to ***** later I've seen more than one car have that happen and catch asphalt at the track.....roll roll roll crunch. Glad to hear you are ok man.

 

some seat time on the track was my savior, did not freak out just took action and dodged a few cars. gonna go out and jack her up right now. will post back with results of repairs

 

as suspected it was a wheel bearing failure. right inner wheel bearing was total dust when removed, no rollers left at all. Never had one do this to me ever, always heard some indication of failure, was related to the clunk I heard on the way to work? Damage was minumal, big groove in rotor, brake pads toast and minor damage to spindle seal lip, all fixable.

So found replacement bearings and seals, had pads already but took a gentle massaging to get the seal area of the spindle back to a serviceable condition, will be replacing it in the future. When replacing to left side found rust on the bearing races, not rough but rust stained. All good now, went for a nice drive late in the day and felt good about doing the repairs. see ya at the next gathering of rotor heads.

 

Glad I relpaced mine last week.

 

Just found out both my front wheel bearings were going bad when I went to get it aligned. Both have some play, but the passenger side has the most. I'm ordering the parts now. I'm definitely gonna replace both after reading this story lol.

I just have a quick question, do you have to press in the race with a special tool? Or would it be ok just to do it in my driveway?

 

putting the race in easy, taking old one out very hard, must cut a relief behind race so a punch can push it out '5lug', don't know on 4 lug. IIRC there is a how to, so try searching.

 

did mine in the gravel, yes the races need to be driven in to the hub. use a small pin punch and a good size hammer, but remember, try your best to drive as straight as possible, keep moving around the race and use light taps. you will know when it hits bottom as the brake rotor will ring like a bell. also remember to put lots of grease in between the races in the hub to help lube the bearings as time goes on. when reinstalling the hub/rotor, do not over load the bearing with too much preload. I use a wrench, spin the hub while tightening till the nut feels firm and resistance to turning is felt, now the trick. back it off while turning and retighten. do this several times to help seat the bearings. now use your fingers to tighten the nut to no play. install the nut retainer, back off the the first slot for the cotter key and install. recheck bearing free play after 100 miles, you will be good to go.

hope this helps

 

That helps a lot guys. I appreciate it =D

 

One more question, how did you remove your race? (Mine is the 4 lug if that makes any kind of difference. )

Sorry, I just don't wanna get it taken apart and get stuck. I've replaced wheel bearings before, but it was on a 94 Ranger, and we just used the races that were already in there and replaced the bearings.

 

use a small flat chisel, there is enough race material to hit to drive it out. no problem there

 

Gotcha. Thanks a lot man

 

what model 7?

 

1988 base model NA