Wheel bearings and how to tell if they are bad

[XR7-4.6]

That's good to hear XR7. Nice to see someone enjoys their products from HF. I have lots of them, but I buy them for the "two time use and break" product and they tend to last much longer than that. I had a saws-all that lasted 4 times and the bushings fell out. I have a staple gun that lasted about 7 times and just jammed up and won't work anymore... 1/4" router that the plastic parts just broke (but I bought another one), but have had a Ryobi router and table that have lasted through hundreds of uses, just saying. Maybe I should get one of the crates of HF return tools and take a chance with what I get...

Yeah I certainly have my collection of broken or ghetto rig “repaired” HF tools too, but there’s definitely occasional diamonds in the rough in that store. Their earthquake electric impacts, the aforementioned torque wrenches, and I’ve heard from a lot of body guys their paint guns are pretty good as well. My floor jack is a model they no longer carry but it’s freaking 16 years old and I’ve used and abused it to hell and back.

Most of their powertools I agree are one time use, and worse yet they’re not even that good of a value compared to say ryobi at Home Depot or whatever. Gotta do your homework but I give credit where due to the decent/good stuff.

 

[Rodeo Joe]

What brand would you trust at HF? They have Pittsburg, Icon, Quinn.

Joe

 

[Zep5.0]

Icon looks good in this test as long as you aren't using it often and for years.

 

[White Lincoln]

Turns out the Craftsman 1/2" 250lb torque wrench I returned last black friday I bought again. $65 from $109 at Amazon, ACE Hardware and a few other places. I am just waiting on the wheel bearing assemblies to get here today. Got the car up on jacks, tires off and HOW TO GET THE GREASE CAPS OFF!!!!

The manual I have says toss em' once you remove em', but these are the OEM"s, never damaged so I am trying to take them off without putting a whole in the side and yanking it off with a screwdriver.

Thoughts?

 

[White Lincoln]

Never mind, I have a new pair of wheel bearing cap remover sitting in my tool chest I never used.

Dah.

 

[XR7-4.6]

I always just use a flathead screwdriver around the edge and remove it like the cap to a paint can, never damaged one

 

[Rodeo Joe]

White Lincoln,

Did you but this one?

Craftsman

Joe

 

[White Lincoln]

White Lincoln,

Did you but this one?

Craftsman

Joe

Hi Joe,
Yes, that is the one I bought. It should do the job. I am Craftsman nut and have been since i was a little kid. When my dad was young and out of the military, he worked at sears and sold Craftsman tools. And that is what we always had to work with. My parents bought me a Craftsman tool box and basic set of tools for my 18th birthday. I still have the box and the tools, some 45 years later.

 

[White Lincoln]

I always just use a flathead screwdriver around the edge and remove it like the cap to a paint can, never damaged one

Yeah, I started using a screwdriver and before I started pounding the crap out of it to get it off, I started looking around for something better. Then I remembered I had my Snap-On Hub dust cover tool I had not used yet. Lucky ME! (and I mean that). The caps needed some coaching, but they finally came out. Pretty darn clean too!

 

[White Lincoln]

Talk about an easy job. I thought I was going to have to use a hub puller because the hub had never been pulled in the 27 years I had the car. My hub puller was about an 1/8" too small from center, so I ground it out a bit to get it over the studs. Anyway, using my long breaker bar and an air ratchet, I took off the caliper and mounting bracket. Then I used my 24" 1/2" drive breaker bar and a 1 3/8" socket and the nut came right off. I used my air wrench to spin the nut the rest of the way off. I just need to clean it up and slap the new one on tomorrow. I thought the dang new hubs were not going to come because they were supposed to be here yesterday and finally around 7:30 tonight, the UPS girl swung by and dropped it off. Luckily she was easy on the eyes.

 

[White Lincoln]

Question:
The book I was reading to do this job said to: "Never, never NEVER re-use the hub bolt." Looking at the bolt, I can't see why it can't be re-used.

Suggestions?

 

[White Lincoln]

Well, I was looking at prices for a front spindle nut and decided this feller is gonna do the right thing....

... use the OEM original ones.

 

[Grog6]

They are designed to not accidentally come off, that's why they're one use only. I buy the rear ones from ford, and use those. They are a different design, but better than the dorman alternative. You don't want to lose a wheel.