play, grease leaks, rough spots. not sure what to look for

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ICON Motorsports
1st & 3rd
MM Black Diamond 538 F&AM

 

there should be no play, no rough spots and it should not spin free. you must take it off to check it and they are only $65 at autozone/pep boys kind of places.

 

Ed,

Don't you mean a RWD hub (on a Fiero)?

As outlined above, there should be no lash nor should the bearing set coast when spun unloaded. There should be some preload on the bearings to prevent any radial or axial play, and this should also inhibit free spinning. There shold be no roughness or noise, and minor grease leaks are a sign that the bearings have been hot, wet, or are beginning to wear and allow some play.

Since many GM FWD (er, RWD Fiero) hubs have an blind flush outer race for the inboard bearing, there is not a good way to rebuild them unless you can get a real bargain on replacement bearings. A correct set will probably cost as much as a new Timken replacement hub (513011K Timken $76.99) by the time you weld to and pull the old races and install replacements. If you were doing a lot of them it might be profitable, but not for one-sies and two-sies.

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Later,
Vader
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"Let the bodies hit the floor!"
Adobe Acrobat Reader

 

When they start to rumble, replace them.

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350 with stealth intake, holley carb, 470 lift cam. 700r4 with .5 boost valve, vette servo, tci lock-up kit, B&M megashifter. Richmond 3.73 gears, powertrax locker, timkin bearings, synthetic lube. Custom 3 inch single into 2 2.5 pipes. 1 1/2 drop springs, 1 5/16 solid front sway bar, 1 inch rear bar, custom subframe connectors, custom LCA relocation brackets. Kobel ground FX, current red metallic paint. Lots of other stuff...
82camaro

 

ok thanks guys, being the dumb *** that i am i was a little confused. a garage told my daughter she had a bad bearing in her car. i took the wheels off today to take a look and couldn't see, hear, or feel anything wrong. she said they never had the car on a lift, wheels off, or for a road test so i figured they were trying to make their boat payment this month.

 

ede, To further what Vader and 82camaro said, you'll hear a click around turns, when you hear that click, you have about 2 miles before all hell breaks loose.

 

Normally that "click" is the CV joints.

As for the bearing, usually you will get a "roar" or sometimes a "whine" noise from the affected wheel, and its speed related. If its on a FWD car, you can cut the wheel back and forth while driving, and the noise will come and go. (as the bearing loads and unloads).

I put one on my '97 Bonneville and it set me back over $200 (gotta go w/ the OEM parts )

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Yes, CV joints Click, but so does a Hub on an 88 Beretta