I recently discovered that my front passenger side wheel bearing, which I replaced about 1.5 years ago, had excessive play again. I ordered a new bearing and finished putting it in this morning. The result? There's STILL too much play! I noticed that when I went to press the hub into the center of the bearing, I pressed it for maybe 1/4 of an inch and then it slid on the rest of the way without any resistance. It basically fell into place. This makes me think that the play is between the inner race of the bearing and the hub. Is this possible? It doesn't seem like the hub is a part that would ever wear. Plus it didn't look like it was worn in any way. Is it possible that the inner diameter of the bearing is incorrect? Or that someone has installed the wrong hub on my car? (It's a 1999 JXR VIN 876xxx)


This is very frustrating.

 

Front or rear?

On my VDP I had a rear wheel bearing go bad. When the mechanic changed it he commented it didn't fit as tight as it should and that it may have spun. A few years later it loosened again - the nut would back off. Finally fixed it by buying a used hub carrier with bearing. Put it on the car with the used bearing and it's been fine ever since.

-Mike

 

This is the front.

 

When you are supporting the inner race on the backside of the bearing and you're pressing the hub into the bearing, that hub will always fight you up until that final 'TING' on the press when it's fully sat. Since you said that it only fought you 1/4" into the bearing and then willingly slid the rest of the way home, I can tell you with 100% assurance that the hub is defective. Your best bet would be to get a knuckle from the junk yard and be done with it. A new hub is $$$. Also, don't expect to press out the old hub from the new bearing and press in another hub into that same new bearing and think you won't have any problems. Your best bet would be to warranty the bearing if you can and then press in a different hub into another new bearing.