Front Wheel Hubs

[papatioman]

Hello again everyone,

I have a 2011 F150 XLT Eco Boost 2WD. March of 2017 while on vacation I noticed a grinding and popping noise in my front end. Took it to the local Midas shop. They test drove it and then put it on the lift. Front left wheel had major play up & down and the right side had play as well. Had both hub assemblies replaced. The mileage at the time was 61,000, just outside of warranty. Complained to the dealership where I bought the truck new from, waste of my breathe. He did look up the part numbers that Midas had installed and they stated that they were OEM parts. 18 months later, My front end is pulling on the right side. I have checked the tire pressure, it was fine, Jacked both sides up and when I give the left side tire a good spin, it rotates about 7 times afterwards until it stops. Did the same for the right side and it spins 3 times before it stops. Removed the brake pads from the right side to make sure that were not dragging and the wheel still feels very stiff when I turn it. The rotor assembly is tight with no play. It appears I have a wheel hub that is dragging. There is no noise when I turn the wheel, but feels stiff. My current mileage is 79,000 miles.

How do I remedy this.............tired of the constant pull to the right when driving....thanks.

 

[Sparky83]

you can have new bad parts right out of the box... its not unheard of... while my trucks not the same year as yours i can tell you ive literally had the hubs fail 6mo - a year after i had changed them... and agree it is annoying for them to fail so quickly... downside is my trucks life expectancy for the hubs is said to be around 20K miles... but not unheard of for going longer than that... in the time ive had my truck ive gone through 5 hubs.. first 2 were replaced by the dealer... the next 2 i did when the dealer said it was past the 2yr replacement warranty since they worked on it... the last one i had fail a yr later.. nice thing was the company i bought it from has a good name and lifetime no questions guarantee.. so i just swapped them again... reason that one failed was due to the press fit seals went letting the lifetime no maint bearings run dry till they failed...

if you feel its the hub id suggest asking midas what theyre warranty is on service theyve done... if its still covered id take it in and let them play with it... usually with chains if one store does the work any of them will service it for the warranty...

 

[Old_Paint]

Not sure what you're calling the hub, but if you're spinning it with the caliper off, then I'll assume it's the front rotor assembly. Are you meaning that it spins only 3 revs with the wheel ON? The ONLY reason that should be stiff to turn is that someone put too much pre-load on the wheel bearings by over tightening the spindle nut. That ain't gonna last, and may in fact be already failed. There is a specific procedure for installing the wheel bearings in a new rotor/hub, and for installing that on the spindle, that MUST be followed. Not doing so will cause you to wind up distorting/cracking/damaging the race, particularly the larger inner race, or you put too much pressure on the bearings which won't let the bearing stay properly lubricated. There's even somewhat of a skill set to properly impregnate the bearings with grease before installing them. It's a nasty process and few younger mechanics these days know how to do it, or don't want to if they do. That wheel should roll free and smooth and nearly forever if you spin it with no caliper/brake touching the braking surface of the rotor. It's the closest you're going to get to 'frictionless' anything, especially with the monster size wheels and tires on vehicles these days. The 7-8 revolutions even with the caliper/pads in place is about right, because disc brakes always touch the rotors and have some slight drag. That's the only real downside of disc brakes. The pulling is a sure sign that the bearing is already failing, especially if you spin it with the caliper off and it stops in three revolutions. The damage is done, and it's quite possible the rollers are sliding between the race and cone rather than rolling. Your problem is approaching disaster.

Ask Midas what they did during the installation, meaning a complete description of their work. If the word "preload" is not in the conversation, they probably didn't do it. Some don't understand that you can get a wheel bearing too tight, or too loose. Loose is bad, but not as bad as too tight. The preload torque on the castle nut is usually available from service manuals, and your dealer might actually tell you. But, since they repair vehicles as a business, maybe not. Depends on the relationship you have with them. Since it's 2WD, wheel bearing replacement on the front spindles is extremely easy to handle. Just watch out for and keep the wheel speed sensor and wiring out of the way while you work. At minimum, you're gonna want a new set of bearings and grease seal. Shouldn't be too expensive from a local parts store, but make sure you're getting quality parts. Don't pinch on parts, just shop harder for better prices on name brand parts. OEM parts are not always the correct answer. If you're replacing a brake rotor, aftermarket stuff is often better and lasts longer for rotors and pads, but you need a QUALITY brand, not the cheap stuff. Bendix is a favorite brand of mine for brake parts. I prefer Timken for bearings, races, and seals. I have a '92 F-150 that still has the original wheel bearings with 180K miles on it. I've repacked them and replaced the seals ONCE since I bought the truck with 16 miles on it, 30 years ago. I don't buy into just accepting bearing failures after 20,000 miles. In fact, since it's got M5OD transmission, the rear brakes on my 92 are STILL the factory shoes and drums. Wear and tear doesn't have to be simply accepted. There's a reason this is happening. If the truck ever hit anything significant, it could be a bent spindle which would misalign the bearings and cause them to fail quicker, but bearings have a certain amount of tolerance. They have to. You have a serious problem in that right front that might need a little machinists' input to determine if something's bent, or if Midas just didn't do the job right.

At the end of the day, make sure to have the alignment verified by a quality tire shop. Watch that right front very closely for wear, and how it's wearing. If the tread is feathering on the trailing edge, that's too much drag on the spindle, or perhaps too much caster. Too much negative caster may amplify a different alignment issue. If one edge or the other wears, then that may be camber or toe, or a combination. If it's wearing in the middle, that's under inflation. Both outer edges wearing or cupping on the outer edges is typically loose/worn suspension parts. A bad shock can do this as much as any alignment adjustment. But, NONE of the alignment adjustments should cause a bearing to be stiff. When everything is set right, that truck should drive like it's on rails.

I don't normally bash on chain stores, if I get from them what they're supposed to be good at, and it's a quality job. But, I don't go to an oil change place to get a new windshield, no more so than I would go to a muffler shop for wheel bearing service. I trust very few mechanics at chain stores these days. There are not enough good ones with the right experience, and most are under pressure to get the job done as fast as possible so it can be billed at maximum profit. Big companies aren't really interested in your satisfaction despite their propaganda. They're only interested in what they can get from you, and less time spent providing their service or product means greater profit. I spent a lot of years working for big companies, and was that 'mechanic' under that pressure. Rarely in the past 20 years have I had the opportunity to do right by the customer because of pressure from management. This is why good mechanics leave and go into business for themselves.