2018FordF150frontwheel bearingreplacement

The short answer is: Not for too long. Having bad wheel bearings can range from inconvenient and unpleasant to downright dangerous.

If you have bad wheel bearings, you might experience the vehicle pulling to one side, sloppy or loose steering, grinding and rattling noises, and uneven tire wear.

If water, grit, salt or sand get to the bearings, the grease in the hub assembly gets contaminated. This will wear down the bearings, and they will eventually give out.

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Once you’ve repacked everything it’s time to put it all back together. I’m not going to go into torque settings or ‘feeling the bearing preload’ as it’s different across the different 4X4s out there… suffice to say, you’ll find it in the workshop manual or you can ask Google. From there it is just a matter of completely reassembling things opposite to the way you’ve taken it all apart… and then you’re done. Oh, make sure you check for play in the wheel when it’s all back together.

Wheel bearings are something you don’t think about until they’re whining their head off like a millennial having to go to work, or you’ve just lost a front wheel on the way down Toowoomba plateau. So first and foremost, let’s look at what leads to a quick death of wheel bearings – and how to minimise their wear and the chance you’ll lose a wheel.

2018 F150frontWheel Bearing2WD

Remove the circlip from around the end of the CV and undo the six 12mm nuts holding the manual hub on. Under the nuts you’ll find flat washers and cone washers. Use a brass drift and tap the end of the studs to loosen the cone washers and pull them out – a light tap with the hammer on the side of the hub will loosen them enough to get them out, or you can get a tiny flat-blade screwdriver into the splits in the cone washers and pull them out. You can use a pair of screwdrivers to lever the hub off if it’s a little tight.

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2018 F150rearwheel bearingreplacement

2018 f150 wheel bearingreplacement cost

More than just noisy or bothersome, bad wheel bearings could also lead to real performance issues like inconsistent braking, spongy steering and handling, uneven tire wear and, in extreme cases, the wheels could fall off. No matter how much (or how little) you know about cars, you don’t want the wheels falling off, right?

Something that might blow your mind a bit here is that genuine bearings (and seals for that matter), that come in a little genuine parts box, will actually hold an SKF or Timken (or other brand name) bearing. True story. As an example, Toyota doesn’t make bearings; it purchases top-quality parts and puts them in a genuine box; most often a quality Japanese bearing. All of the Toyota Genuine seals I’ve come across were NOK branded, too, so you don’t need to buy ‘genuine’. Just make sure you go to your local bearing shop (CBC, for example) and buy high-quality ‘brand name’ bearings. Alternatively, you can absolutely get a Drivetech or Terrain Tamer wheel bearing kit; they only use quality Japanese bearings in their kits.

2018 F150 wheel bearingtorque specs

In theory, wheel bearings could last as long as your Ford. Unlike oil changes or tire rotations, there’s no standard maintenance schedule for replacing them. However, wheel bearings can be damaged if you hit a pothole, smack into a curb or bounce over a speed bump too fast.

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If you hear noises at the wheels, one explanation might be a need for a wheel bearing replacement at one or more wheels. The noises might be described as rattling, clicking, humming, growling, or squealing. It can be a real symphony of sound if you’re not careful.

An inherent aspect of wheel bearings (and bearings in general) is heat. Driving for three hours with a boat on the back, pulling up at the boat ramp and launching the tinny as soon as you get there is going to cool the bearings down to cold pretty bloody quickly. This can crack the bearing and cage (that holds the rollers in place), and you’re gonna have a bad day. The other issue is that going from hot to cold creates a vacuum behind the seal, and can draw water into your hub or behind the bearing. If you didn’t know, rust is bad, and chocolate milk for oil just won’t cut it, m’kay?

Next you’ll need to fold the tabs down on the lock washer to give access to the first wheel bearing nut. Once you’ve got the first nut off, you should be able to remove the lock washer and get access to the second wheel bearing nut. Make sure you flatten out the lock washer at this point so you can reuse it if it’s still in good nick (my kit didn’t come with a new lock washer). Then go ahead and undo the final wheel bearing nut and remove it from the hub.

Despite all the pros of going bigger and wider in the rubber department, one of the cons is that it increases the side-load on wheel bearings, which will cause the rollers to run with more pressure on one side than the other. We’re not saying don’t do it, just understand that your bearings will flog out sooner than they otherwise would.

2019F150 Wheel BearingReplacement

For a national average across all vehicles, the average cost to replace the wheel bearings (for 1 wheel) is about $350 (including parts and labor). But KBB.com goes deeper than that. Based on analyzing 100s of actual repair orders, we put together the Kelley Blue Book Fair Repair Range to show you what you should expect to pay for this repair for your Ford. Simply tell us the year, model and style of your Ford and we’ll show you a fair price for the repair.

Sometimes this happens if the vehicle is brand new, older, the manufacturer no longer makes vehicles, or we just couldn’t get our hands on the information.

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Recalls may not affect every vehicle of the same year, make and model. Use your VIN or plate to find out if your specific car has open recalls.

2018 f150 wheel bearingsize

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Same deal as above… by putting the contact point of the rubber and wheel outside (or even inside) the centre of the mating face of wheel to hub, you’re going to increase side-load again. Go neg 44s and it’ll be even worse…

My bearings were in good nick, but the grease was closer to oil than grease, so I repacked them and retightened to spec. Essentially, you put some grease in the palm of your hand and push the bearing onto the grease so it forces the grease through the bearing. Keep adding grease, and pushing it through the bearing until it’s coming out the other side (the whole way round). Should you need to replace the bearings you’ll have to knock the cups out of the hub assembly, knock the new ones in until they’re all the way home, and grease the cones up as outlined.

Now you’ve got the hub assembly off, give it a decent clean – cleaning out any grease and checking the seals for marks or obvious signs it’s been rubbing untrue. After cleaning the grease out of the hub assembly you’ll be able to see the wheel bearing’s cup and cones.

Wheels and brakes come off first; and if we need to tell you how to do this, then you’re better off leaving the job to a mechanic! If you’re game and not bad on the spanners, once you’ve got the wheel and brakes off, you’ll want to pull off the outer locking hub. It’s easiest to do this with the hub in ‘Free’ as it pulls the hub together, so it’s a nice tight part when you pull it out (not a hub hanging on the end of a spring threatening to break up faster than Sting and The Police). After the six 10mm bolts are out, this should just pull straight out.

2018 f150 wheel bearingreplacement

Don’t. Buy. Cheap. Bearings. Ever. If you absolutely must save a couple of dollars on your rig, stop putting those stupid My Family stickers on it (chances are, your life and the lives of your family members aren’t going to rely on the stickers). Wheel bearings, however, stop the wheels falling off… which is kinda important. Cheap bearings are cheap for a reason, whether through the manufacturing process, materials used or both, so cheap won’t last. Make sure you get Japanese bearings, or European – think Timkin, SKF, etc. Do not buy crappy Chinese bearings!

Last but certainly not least, over-tightening (or under-tightening, for that matter) will lead to a swift death of the bearings. If you’re going to have a crack at doing them yourself, know how to torque them up properly, or leave it to an expert. On this thought, it’s absolutely worth getting and keeping the right size hub socket in your vehicle, just in case you’re 500 miles from home and a wheel bearing does work itself loose – you can nip it up to get yourself home safely and not have to worry about a wheel falling off.

For more on any of these complaints – not to mention more than you ever knew you wanted to know about wheel bearings, read the full article

Do this by grabbing the outside of the tyre and giving it a bit of ‘wiggle’ top and bottom and both sides. If there is any movement your wheel bearings are more than likely shot.