Bearings!

Typrus · Post by **Typrus** » Thu Mar 15, 2007 1:31 pm

How do I tell a Koito from an NSK? NAPA has a front wheel bearing ans a front wheel bearing ASSEMBLY. Which is which? Are NAPA's bearings good? Advance's good?
I dunno if I want to go straight to the stealer.
I'm getting funky clunks while I drive and it milds up a bit when turning right. I'm thinking my pass CV or bearing might be fritzy. Or something hidden is loose. Strut rod (AKA Sway-bar to control arm) bolt is torqued down, inner control arm bolt is torqued, strut-knuckle bolts are torqued, tie-rods are slightly playable, but not big. They are tight on at least. Ball joint is secure, and the FSM test yields no play, but they may be bad anyway. Aside from that, I dunno. My strut tower bearing is tight, my strut gland nut is tight (the nut that holds the cartridge in) and my lugs are tight. I can't think of much else.

Hi-Temp Li-Moly, right?

What about rear bearings... I think they are on their way. Or its my whole rear diff. If that happens, I'll try to find an AE86 axle assembly.

shogun · Post by **shogun** » Thu Mar 15, 2007 6:44 pm

the races have the brand name etched into them, in the races, for bearings, its better to use bearing grease, the high speed kind, industrial, that has much better properties than the one for automotive use, and the shafts change the boots and grease with a good solvent cleaning and you are done for, and also if you have the wheels off, replace the wheel bolts to longer ones, so when going off road slap some spacers and get a wider track

Typrus · Post by **Typrus** » Thu Mar 15, 2007 6:59 pm

I could go into the effects of doing something like that on our bearings but I don't want to ATM.... We need different bearings with better load distribution properties to be honest.

Wider track via offset or spacing= more positive camber needed. AKA the opposite of what most people do for cornering. Otherwise the bearings get loaded all funky and don't live to tell about it.

keith · Post by **keith** » Thu Mar 15, 2007 8:16 pm

I replaced the front bearings after 300k because I could feel some roughness when cornering. New wheel bearings didn't help. Now I'm thinking that the outer CV joints were the problem, that's why I went with a new EMPI on the drivers side (worse side) but I won't know if that was it until I get past the strut problem. But barring some unforseen problem, I should know by Saturday afternoon.

My point,I think the bearing design is adequate. BTW, I changed the rear bearings sometime after 200k, they needed it because they were roaring.

EDIT: the roughness went away with the EMPI axle.