alrght, so i need to replace my front wheel bearings.
how hard is it?
how do you do it?
what do i need to buy and where?
What makes em go bad?

 

I bought a front LS1 brake upgrade kit so my mechanic installed the whole kit at the same time (including the wheel bearings that came with the kit).

 

what did that run ya?

 

hmm lol.. about 1.2k... :S

 

They are not hard to at all.
First thing you want to do if you are doing it your self is check you pads and rotors if they are worn replace them.
parts to get
2 inner bearings
2 outer bearings
2 bearing seals
good brake pads
2 rotors
tub of bearing grease
2 pins
tools you will need
laytex gloves
brake clean
c clamp
pliers
torx or alen bits for the caliper pins
large socket for the bearing nut.
short bungee cord to hang the calipers so the brake lines dont have pressure on them

 

When re-tightening the bearing nuts, dont overtighten.

A "Chiltons" style book will say torque to X Lb/ft, back off a 1/4 turn, then re torque to X Lb/ft...

 

So....what does that have to do with this?

 

I did not explain myself properly. The point I was trying to get across was that I replaced my front wheel bearings when I installed an LS1 brake kit, and that is where I got it from; from Ed's LS1 brake kit. The OP did ask where to get it from, so what I should have said, if I may correct myself, is that he could upgrade his brakes and install new wheel bearings at the same time rather than just replace the wheel bearings. This is merely a suggestion so he would not have to do the job twice IF he decides to do the LS1 brakes in the future. If not, then disregard the post. Sorry for the confusion I was very tired last night and I should have explained it like this instead!

 

alright..seems pretty straight forward
i just did my brakes 2 weeks ago so im good on that..

2 pins? what kind of pins? just need to know what to search for...

anyone have part numbers for all that?

 

couldnt find bearing seals either..

 

Mikey, when you install new bearings you will have to pack them with grease first.

Best way to do this at home is to take a glob of bearing grease in your palm and with the other hand literally slap the bearing against the palm forcing the grease up into the large tapered side of the bearing. You will have to hold it in different positions around its circle to pack the entire circumfrence of the bearing.

The races need to be pryed off and new ones can be hammered back on with the right large socket staegicallly placed against it and mild hammer taps. Socket chioce is critical so as not to damage the new race. You need to be creative and find one with the surface area flush against the race where it doesn't gouge the race with hammer taps. Use a large deep socket or galviniszed pipe or any such item that may do the trick, This will work also on the seals.

 

the cotter pins that keep the bearing nut from moving. Like Hairysox33 said dont over tighten the bearing nut. good way to judge if it proper torqe is the way I do it - tighten the nut with a socket by hand till you feel slight resistant when you spin the rotor then back the nut till that resistance goes away which is about 1/8 of a turn from my experiance. Make sure you dont distort the new seal when installing on the back of the rotor. clean all the old grease out of the rotor and spindle make sure there is no scoring from the bad bearings. When putting back together use lots of bearing grease and only bearing grease. Properly grease the bearing (Do not just drop it into the tub of grease that not good enough). Ask you local parts store manager to show you the proper way to do it.

 

spin the rotor with one hand while tightening the castle nut with the wrench. You want it just snug but yet the rotor needs to still turn freely but with no slop in the castlenut. It you tighten without spinning the rotor you will pretty much always have slop. Always best to turn tight to the next cottterpin hole and not backing up to the last if in question on which to use when the nut falls inbetween hole postions.

I've never used a tq wrench on a wheel bearing castlenut in my life.

 

Use the old bearing race to drive the new one into place. The second race will sometimes get stuck but its never hard to get back out.

 

I completely agree with you vetruck

 

bearing seal part numbers
Autozone 8871 $2.99 each
O Reilly Auto Parts 8871 $2.99

 

When all of us mid-life crissis farts put our heads together we come up with some pretty good backyard mechanic ideas. Good tip Chris

 

lol

I changed this stuff all the time in a machine shop. Using the old bearings, races, and collars makes life easy for lots of things.

 

okay so i bought timkens bearings today and some grease...
whats a race?
collars?

i cant use the old ones?

 

The race is what the bearing sits against in the rotor. If you open one of the new one's you will have the bearing, and you should also have a collar/cover over it. That metal "cover" is the race. It is pressed into the rotor. One for each bearing.

 

I wouldnt advise using the old ones. Use a chisel to drive the old ones out from the opposite side.

 

oh..just realized that the ones i bought came with all that
thanks so much for all the help fellas!

 

I packed mine the easy way and used this tool on the end of my grease gun.



Put the bearing between the two cones, screw it down tight, and squeeze. You can visually tell when there is enough grease in the bearing as it comes out between the rollers. It probably uses a bit more grease, but gets it around all of the rollers and through the race, and not as much to clean from your hands

 

lol..pretty nifty

dont have a grease gun tho

 

alright...new problem -_-
which are the inner/outer? the ones on the bottom say "set 6" and the top say "set 3" and the ones on the bottom are bigger..

not sure if u guys can see it but does it look like everythings there that i need?

 

It's not that hard but make sure when you buy your parts that the parts store guys give you the right stuff. Nothing like making 3 or 4 trips (forgetting wallet on one trip making it 2 extra drives!) just because a auto clerk went by the computer's info.

 

Yeah, that looks about right. When I bought mine last fall they had an outer piece and then the inner ring like your picture shows.

 

Larger set is the inner bearing. Looks complete with the race you need to press into the rotor (as mentioned above, you can use a large diameter socket and hammer to drive it in).

I referenced a service manual I borrowed for a different project. To preload the bearings, tighten to 12 lb/ft, then back off until just loose. Tighten to just hand tight and to where you can insert the cotter pin through the castle nut. 12 lb/ft is supposed to be enough to overcome any burrs in the spindle threads and seat the bearing in the race.

 

alright thanks appreciate it

 

Where's the smilie banging his head against a wall?

New problem is right. Do you have the larger 1LE front brakes on your car? I'm thinking not... in which case those bearings are wrong. The fronts are A34 or Set 34 if Timken sells them that way. The Set 3 is for the cars with 1LE front brakes.

 

Here are the 1LE bearings:

A6 Inner bearing set
A3 Outer bearing set

JamesC

 

yeah i had to make another trip to autozone lol..its all good tho..got em in and they work fantastic

autozone is on some *** though,,lol..they asked "is it the 5.7 350 with the GTA performance package?" i say yes and thats what they gave me..same thing happened with my break pads...they keep giving me 1LE stuff

 

That seems to be a common ailment lately with the garbage data being fed to those useless counter computers, 1LE brakes for all! Wish it was like that, we'd all be happy.

At least you got some good bearings, Timken is good stuff.

 

"Performance package" means 1LE brakes. You obviously don't have them on the front--not many people do--but all 89+ rear disc cars were equipped with the so-called 1LE's. So, no performance package on the fronts, performance package on the rears. To order the correct parts, you usually see something like the following:
Rear Disc brakes; Exc. 1LE Performance Pkg (standard 10.5" rotors and iron calipers)
Rear Disc brakes; 1LE Performance Pkg (or just Performance Pkg) (11.7" rotors with alum PBR calipers)

JamesC

 

they said GTA..lol

 

I know this is an old thread but does anyone have the correct part numbers for the Timken bearings for the non 1LE cars? I have a 91Z28 and need to replace all the bearings in the front but the Autozone website only list SET 3 and SET 6

 

If you go to the store, they carry more than that. Just let them know it isn't the performance 1LE brakes and they will get you the ones you need. I just did mine a couple weeks ago. Went with Timken set as well.

 

All cars use the Set6/A6 inner bearings, the 1LE uses the A3/Set3 outer and the non 1LE uses the Set34/A34. The C5 caliper upgrades are all based on a std. hub so A34/A6 combo. The C4 & C4HD setups (including PBR, Baer calipers all use a 1LE hub w/ A6/A3 hardware.

 

This is a great thread full of info. They sell these rotors bare now, with just the wheel studs. I had to make several trips to get them to sell me the right parts.

National Bearings:
A-34 (bearings)
A-6 (races)
8871 (seals)

 

Here's my DD Brake job using a Napa Auto Parts Store.

Link = https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/brak...brake-job.html

 

just did my 86 yesterday larger bearing is inside,smaller outside. make sure you repack them good.same as everyone took about 20 minutes a side

 

What I have used for years to repack bearings is a zip-lock sandwich bag. Put gloves on, take a hand full of grease put it in the bag. Place bearing in the bag and start working the grease into the bearing by putting pressure on the outside of the bag.

 

That is my favorite method, too. Much less messy and doesn't waste much grease.

 

When using the used race to install the new race place the thin edge of the used race to the edge of the new race. Hammer only 1/4 of the circumference then knock out the used race and work on the next 1/4. This keeps the entire used race from becoming embedded completely and difficult to remove.

 

For reference: