Wheel bearing bad after 2000 miles?

[LittleRed4wd]

Hey all-

My car has started making the same clicking as it did before I replaced the wheel bearing. I jacked it up, lots of play both up/ down and side/ side. I tightened the bolt and it took out some play and made it a bit quieter, but its gotten louder after even 2 miles of hard driving.

The CV's look good, and it's only been about 2000 miles since I replaced the bearing on that side. Is there anything else I should check? or should I just order the parts and try again?

[Petros]

How can you tell if the "CVs look good"? Did you remove the boot and inspect them? I do not know if there is a way of telling if they are good if not too badly worn. There are a number of things that can cause clicking, the most common are the CVs even if you can not detect any slope or wear in them.

I would drive it until it gets so obvious what is causing it you will know what to replace for sure. You are a long way from having it leave you stranded when it is just clicking, I let my CV joints click for well over a year before it got so annoying that I replaced it.

What do you mean "lots of play"? Play in the new bearing? There should not be any play, once there is any movement it means it is grinding itself up. What bolt did you tighten? If the large axle nut was not tight than the bearing is likely shot, it was not designed to run with the nut loose, it should have been torqued to factory spec and the crown and cotter pin installed to prevent it from backing out. A local repair shop once forgot to torque the axle nut on her Mazda, and it came lose and ruined the new bearing in less than a month, the mechanic got to do the whole job over again for free. Those parts are not there for looks, but are required to keep the nut tight.

It is possible the new bearing is junk, that is not uncommon now that new parts are junk right out of the box. But I would make sure that is the problem before I replaced it again. Replacing a CV axle is much easier than replacing the wheel bearing.

[LittleRed4wd]

The CV's were replaced about a year ago, and the boots are still looking fine, so for now I've been assuming that isn't the problem. (though I'll look more into them if nothing else works)

The play is all in the bearing, I tightened the axle nut to factory specs when I put the new one on. I also put the pin and crown back on. The clicking is really bad, the whole car shakes when cornering. Weird part is it only took a day or two to reach this point. The old bearing made noise before I even bought the car, and I didn't replace it till months later.

[xirdneh]

my experience with front wheel bearings has never included clicking
only growling that gets louder over time
turn right and left one growls
turn left and right one growls
the axles usually click when going bad, mostly while turning
the axles have caused shaking too

but if the axle nut was loose and there is play in the bearing you have to go with that
there is a snap ring that holds the main body of the bearing in place
i wonder if it was left out

[Petros]

were they new cv axles or remanufacutred? the remans are not reliable. Also, it possible that a bad spline that is loose can click, should stop when it is tightened. Supposedly the Cardon remans remachine the splines and thread, but unless they call having a minimally paid flunky run a wire wheel over the it "machining", they are not properly chased with a die. Some of their remans I have seen are in pretty poor condition, and it is possible the nut can work loose on them.