I had a bearing go bad. Instead of buying another new full rotor and wheel bearing, I'd rather just buy a bearing and replace it. Any suggestions on how to do that? I've called many shops, and only 1 machine shop could do it for about$40, but that was a while back and now I cant find them again. So back to sq 1.


2004 2wd

 

In my younger years, we use to drive the race out with a hammer and good steel punch.
Putting them back in with a brass punch or drift so as not to damage the race. You have to go around the race and keep it level and square so you don't bind it up.
It does take some force. A press is much easier.

 

ya, was wondering if anyone had experience removing and installing new bearings in these F150 rotors

 

I just replaced my front hubs (2018 F150 4WD) and from everything I read online, Ford specifies that these are not serviceable/repairable and replacement of the entire unit is recommended.

Seems that you could use a punch or drift to knock out the original bearings and then use a hydraulic press to refit new bearings. Should be easy to get a cross reference to a set of Timken bearings.

I've noticed a greater number of threads posted on this forum about front wheel bearings going bad around 40-80K miles, which seems too early to have significant number of failures.

I'd guess this is another part that is poorly engineered and undersized for the weight of the truck. Never had to replace wheel bearings in ANY of my vehicles at such low mileage.

 

Wheel bearings are not serviceable. Rotor does not need to be replaced, hub and rotor are two seperate pieces.

Allow me to add, I just noticed this is a 2004 the OP has, the info above is for a 13th gen, so maybe the rotor is integral to the hub. Should have noticed this earlier.

 

A friend of mine did just the bearings in original hubs in his 2008 2WD. I sent him a text to ask about it for details. My father has a 2006 2WD and when one of his went, I bought two new hubs for him as time and work have a value to balance against overall cost but of course that was about 50 inflation points ago.

A friend left his AWD Honda Pilot at my house and we did a complete and I mean complete suspension overhaul of it and also changed out the wheel bearings which might actually be bigger than the ones in an F150 2WD. The parts store free rents both bearing removal and installation kits that you can use with a breaker bar or impact. We used that for ONE of them....then we split the cost of a 20 ton press from Harbor Freight and I kept it.

Edit:
Text received: "After removing the hub from the spindle, I used a socket and shop press to remove old bearing. I've done both sides now, and one needed heat, the other came out easier. Shop press to install the new bearing. Ford says to use a new spindle nut and torque to something like 300 ft lbs. Of course I have 2WD."

 

Agreed, the rotors have many many thousands miles remaining. It's a waste to need to replace over a simple bearing. **** the bad one doesn't even really need to even be turned yet. Frustrating

 

Thx for that, and good catch after the fact.

 

Unfortunately I don't have a press or access to a shops tools. And the only shop I've found that would do it is no longer open. Maybe a jack can be used somehow. But I'd def be interested in how your friend did it. Thx
At around $250 each to replace bc of a dam bearing is ridiculous.

 

Parts stores like AutoZone free rent bearing press kits like I mentioned. If you can absorb the down time you can see if it'll remove the bad one and then buy just the bearing to press back in. You get your money back when returning the kit. At a minimum you'd need a breaker bar and sockets to try it.
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Rockauto has the hubs for $112. I think the ones I bought for dad a few years ago were maybe $45.

You really need to make some friends with people that have tools. If you were one of mine I'd do it for you. I wouldn't warranty it though.
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