06 SR5 4wd with abs and 260k miles here - Courting the replacement of rear wheel bearings, and am a bit concerned....
Normally Im a diy guy, but the reseating of the new retainers scares me a bit. Seems from watching a few videos that the toughest part to all of this might just be the correct position/seating location on the axle shaft of the two retainers? The inboard one seems to be the only thing that rides against the seal and its position sounds critical, so much so that Ive heard many guys who complete this repair, DIY and dealership, continue to have gear oil leaks afterward. The outboard retainer also seems ciritcal, if pounded or pressed too far, it might preload the new bearing too tightly and cause failure? Can anyone give me some guidance here? It sounds like a nightmare of unknown measurements and eyeballing. Which kind of leads me to question using new retainers? Seems the old ones can be removed properly with a splitter tool and then reused, seating in their back in their original spots on the axle, using the previous witness marks? Does that make sense?
Also, backup for a second - how does everyone diagnose the wheel bearings as faulty? Ive looked at the procedure in the repair manual, but Ive no experience with a dial indicator, and guessing that an eleven year old vehicle with 260k miles is probably going to have some play in original bearings - but perhaps not enough to make it a faulty part? How can I be sure I need to do this repair?
My symptom is basically a slight noise like a hum or grinding noise (not severe) that sounds like its coming from the front, from say 35mph on up. But Ive heard that the sound can actually be coming from rear bearings and not the front ones? So I removed the brake pad caliper from each of the rear axles, rotated each hub/rotor and I can definitely hear metal scraping sounds for at least half the rotation...as if something is scraping as it rotates around but only about half the arc - say from noon to 6pm. Then quiet rotation from 6pm back to noon. And possibly easier to rotate the rotor when no scraping sounds are evident, but not sure as it might be just easier to turn the hub on the downstroke, etc.... but I have no gear oil seepage or leaking evident on the alum wheels or brake rotors, etc.
Is that enough to suspect bearings?
Normally Im a diy guy, but the reseating of the new retainers scares me a bit. Seems from watching a few videos that the toughest part to all of this might just be the correct position/seating location on the axle shaft of the two retainers? The inboard one seems to be the only thing that rides against the seal and its position sounds critical, so much so that Ive heard many guys who complete this repair, DIY and dealership, continue to have gear oil leaks afterward. The outboard retainer also seems ciritcal, if pounded or pressed too far, it might preload the new bearing too tightly and cause failure? Can anyone give me some guidance here? It sounds like a nightmare of unknown measurements and eyeballing. Which kind of leads me to question using new retainers? Seems the old ones can be removed properly with a splitter tool and then reused, seating in their back in their original spots on the axle, using the previous witness marks? Does that make sense?
Also, backup for a second - how does everyone diagnose the wheel bearings as faulty? Ive looked at the procedure in the repair manual, but Ive no experience with a dial indicator, and guessing that an eleven year old vehicle with 260k miles is probably going to have some play in original bearings - but perhaps not enough to make it a faulty part? How can I be sure I need to do this repair?
My symptom is basically a slight noise like a hum or grinding noise (not severe) that sounds like its coming from the front, from say 35mph on up. But Ive heard that the sound can actually be coming from rear bearings and not the front ones? So I removed the brake pad caliper from each of the rear axles, rotated each hub/rotor and I can definitely hear metal scraping sounds for at least half the rotation...as if something is scraping as it rotates around but only about half the arc - say from noon to 6pm. Then quiet rotation from 6pm back to noon. And possibly easier to rotate the rotor when no scraping sounds are evident, but not sure as it might be just easier to turn the hub on the downstroke, etc.... but I have no gear oil seepage or leaking evident on the alum wheels or brake rotors, etc.
Is that enough to suspect bearings?
