Hello everyone! Hope all had a great holiday- I have a 1971 Mercury COMET and I think I have a wheel bearing issue- Drove it this morning and a "knocking" noise was heard from the passenger front r side- How do I trouble shoot, confirm and repair a faulty wheel bearing?
I think I have the same problem drivers side knocks when I start slowing down. I also hear the knocking when I apply the brakes sometimes. Took the wheel of tightened the outside bearing and I turn the rotor back and forth and it kinda clunks. So i assume I have a bad inner wheel bearing. Also they are new bearings put in a few months ago.
You have to be careful these days. In todays economy the price gos up and the quality gos down, I noticed a lot of reproduction stuff being made in china now. Chinese made wheel bearings and ball joints just dont last as long. I bought upper chinese made ball joints for my 71 comet and the rubber was all cracked and coming off after 6 months. Funny thing is that my car is a restoration and hasent even hit the road yet, I plan on replacing them in the next few weeks.
This wheel bearing issue happened before. Mechanic assured me it would not happen again- What would cause a wheel bearing to "pop" out?
Got a jack ? Jack up that side. Grab the tire on opposite sides and wiggle it. Feel any unusual motion ? Next, give the tire a spin, fast as you can. Hear any unusal noise ? To fix it, you're REALLY going to get your hands dirty. Remove the tire/wheel, pop the little cap off the center of the hub. Inside you'll find (should anyway) lots of nice, greasy grease. In that goo you'll find a bent cotter pin stuck thru the axle, remove that, then the thin metal nut retainer, then unscrew the nut behind it. Once all that's out, pull the hub off the axle. The front bearing will come out when you do this. The rear is held in the hub by the rear seal. To remove it, drive it out from the front using a long punch, you're going to drive it thru the seal. (that will need to be replaced too) To remove the bearing races, they have to be driven out with a long punch and BFH. To install, reverse all this. JUst be careful not to damage the bearing races in driving them into the hub.
on the disk brakes i have found that the modern replacment disk pads will sit loosely in the caliper. the out board pad has 4 ears that wrap around the caliper to keep it in place. the factory pads were pretty snug on wraping around the caliper. the after market ones are not and this extra slop can allow them to move and "rattle and pop" over bumps and when you touch the brakes. it is entriely possible that both of you may have bad wheelbearings. you can also have bad suspension componets. you will need to see if you can duplicate the noise with the car siting still. if you can get a helper and have them do the action that duplicates the noise, like bounceing up and dwon on the bumper or turning the steering wheel left and right just the right amount, or pumping the brake pedal. while they are making it happen you need to crawl around the car trying to zero in on the noise.
