D44 wheel bearings replacement

socalrubi

socalrubi

New member
How easy is it to replace your own wheel bearings? And if so dose anyone know any write up's that could be of some help. Thanks!
 
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wayoflife

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
socalrubi said:
How easy is it to replace your own wheel bearings? And if so dose anyone know any write up's that could be of some help. Thanks!
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is it safe to assume you are talking about the ones on your rear axles? if so, getting them off isn't too bad but, you will need a press to get the new ones on. if you don't have a press, you might be better off pulling your shafts and taking them to a shop to have it done.
 
wayoflife

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
socalrubi said:
I was thinking about both of them just to check em...how long are they supposed to usually last for?
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depends on a lot of things like how big of a tire you're running and on wheels with how much back spacing. stock or close to, you should be able to get a lot of life out of them.
 
bob-o12jk

bob-o12jk

Banned
Eddie, have you replaced your front unit bearings yet on RubiCAT. Yesterday I noticed that my front passenger tire is cupping on the inside. So I jacked it up and grabbed the tire at 12 and 6 o'clock and I have some play but I didn't see it coming from the BJ's. My setup is stock moabs with 1.5" spidertrax spacers with 37" km2's and I have 27k on my 12' jkur. I'm going to tear it apart today to see if the unit bearing is bad.

Sent from my EVO
 
wayoflife

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
bob-o12jk said:
Eddie, have you replaced your front unit bearings yet on RubiCAT. Yesterday I noticed that my front passenger tire is cupping on the inside. So I jacked it up and grabbed the tire at 12 and 6 o'clock and I have some play but I didn't see it coming from the BJ's. My setup is stock moabs with 1.5" spidertrax spacers with 37" km2's and I have 27k on my 12' jkur. I'm going to tear it apart today to see if the unit bearing is bad.

Sent from my EVO
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Nope, haven't had to change them out yet and I wouldn't think you would have to either. When checking your ball joints, you need to use a dial indicator and the amount of moment that would cause a condition like this will NOT be something you could see with the naked eye. Having said that, bad unit bearings could cause this but, so could shocks that are starting to go bad or even a bent axle C or housing.
 
bob-o12jk

bob-o12jk

Banned
wayoflife said:
Nope, haven't had to change them out yet and I wouldn't think you would have to either. When checking your ball joints, you need to use a dial indicator and the amount of moment that would cause a condition like this will NOT be something you could see with the naked eye. Having said that, bad unit bearings could cause this but, so could shocks that are starting to go bad or even a bent axle C or housing.
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Ok. I am on stock balljoints right now so that's probably the problem. On the passenger side I noticed some clunking sound when moving the tire at the 12 and 6 position. I welded my evo sleeves gussets just a few months after I got my jeep plus I don't think I have wheeled it harder enough to bend the C's, and they don't look bent at all. I also have new bilsteins on too. I will replace my balljoints asap and see if that fixes it. Thanks Eddie.

Sent from my EVO
 
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wayoflife

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
bob-o12jk said:
Ok. I am on stock balljoints right now so that's probably the problem. On the passenger side I noticed some clunking sound when moving the tire at the 12 and 6 position. I welded my evo sleeves gussets just a few months after I got my jeep plus I don't think I have wheeled it harder enough to bend the C's, and they don't look bent at all. I also have new bilsteins on too. I will replace my balljoints asap and see if that fixes it. Thanks Eddie.

Sent from my EVO
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Well, before you do that, you really should check them with a dial indicator - just in case it's not them. No need to go through all the trouble if you can determine things with ease. You can borrow a dial indicator from Autozone for free.
 
mrmet1983

mrmet1983

New member
auto zone is great with the free tool rental id give that a shot first "work smarter not harder":clap2:
 
bob-o12jk

bob-o12jk

Banned
wayoflife said:
Well, before you do that, you really should check them with a dial indicator - just in case it's not them. No need to go through all the trouble if you can determine things with ease. You can borrow a dial indicator from Autozone for free.
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Ok I will try that today then, in fact I'm pretty sure I have a dial indicator.....somewhere in my garage full if tools and spare jeep parts lol. Anyways I will go to AutoZone today to borrow one. I figured it was the balljoints cuz I put about 22k on so far with the 37's and 5k stock rubi 32's.

Sent from my EVO
 
bob-o12jk

bob-o12jk

Banned
Just jacked up the jeep again and used and pry bar to pry the tires up and I saw about 1/16" of play up and down on both upper ball joints. Going to order new ones right now. Thanks Eddie

Sent from my EVO
 
biggy

biggy

Member
bob-o12jk said:
Just jacked up the jeep again and used and pry bar to pry the tires up and I saw about 1/16" of play up and down on both upper ball joints. Going to order new ones right now. Thanks Eddie

Sent from my EVO
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You should have no more then 1.5mm play in the ball joint according to the service manual. That being said I have about the same movement in mine as you do and it still drives fine as I checked them a couple weeks ago. You said you checked the unit bearing and it had some play in it. Their should be zero play fyi.
 
bob-o12jk

bob-o12jk

Banned
biggy said:
You should have no more then 1.5mm play in the ball joint according to the service manual. That being said I have about the same movement in mine as you do and it still drives fine as I checked them a couple weeks ago. You said you checked the unit bearing and it had some play in it. Their should be zero play fyi.
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I plan on checking the unit bearing too, probably going to remove it after work to see if its bad

Sent from my EVO
 
bob-o12jk

bob-o12jk

Banned
Well I just ordered a new Timken hub assembly from autozone just now. It should be here Tuesday and then next sat I will install it along with my new balljoints too.

Sent from my EVO using WAYALIFE mobile app
 
bob-o12jk

bob-o12jk

Banned
Well yesterday I replaced the passenger front wheel bearing and all the ball joints. Drove it 30miles to work this morning and it drove like a dream. When I got home today when I got out I noticed the driver side rear tire was cupping, jacked it up, shook the wheel and now that bearing is toast also. :(

Sent from my SPH-L720 using WAYALIFE mobile app
 
ksk

ksk

New member
The stock ball joints are so crap its not even funny. If you're running a lift and bigger tyres its inevitable they are going to fail. The bigger the tyres the quicker the fail imo..

There are some good aftermarket ones available:

http://www.dynatrac.com/products/jk/dynatrac-ball-joints.html

http://www.synergymfg.com/Synergy-S...Heavy-Duty-Front-Ball-Joint-Sets-p-26182.html

I'm running the Synergy's

Finally here is the DIY Install if you have the tools.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frP1-do4K08


KSK
 
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