Just a follow up.

My right rear bearing was toast. It made the noise when turning left and going straight, but the rhythm quieted down when going right. It also made a noise similar to brakes going bad when I was slowing it down. Particularly when it was warmer out. I thought my brake shoes were suspect too, but it turned out the bad bearing was the culprit to that noise as well.

My buddy and I did this job by ourselves. Changed just the right rear hub assembly, and the noise is gone! The old bearing turned very rough when I took it out. It was bad for a while, and I'm lucky I got as much time out of it before seizing up on me. Though when it first started going bad, I just thought it was tire noise. I got an aftermarket brand for about $200 bucks or a little more. I figured I'd rather get a cheap part than the stock parts that go bad, especially if the stock brand goes at the same time or even earlier than the aftermarket one does.

I would also advise people not to take this to the dealership to get done. If you have a local mechanic, they can likely do this for cheap and the right way if they are more than decent mechanics. My buddy and I are not that mechanically inclinded, and had no trouble doing this ourselves.

 

I just replaced the right rear wheel bearing hub assembly. I'm at ~85k miles.

One of the first posts in this thread said to use a 13mm socket. My bolts appear to be 12mm.

Did anybody else have trouble plugging in the wheel speed sensor wires? Is there a trick? I can't get it to snap in place and it comes undone while driving. I even tried to bang it in place with a hammer.

Thanks!
Andy

 

8 pages and 144 replies and NO one bothered to include the torque specs for the 4 bolts that hold the hub on the axle? Really....

Just for information: I torques mine to 46 ft/lbs but that doesn't seem to be enough because I am getting a rub between the brake drum and the backing plate. I am going to try 60 ft/lbs and see what that does?

 

46 lbf-ft. is what the factory Service Manual calls for...I don't think cranking them down to 60 lbf-ft. is going to fix the problem you're having.

 

I checked the bolts to make sure they were still tight by torqueing to 48 ft/lbs. It didn't take much to tightened them just a little bit so they didn't loosen from the 46 I had them at. I grinded the edge of the back plate a little bit because there was zero clearance between the drum and the back plate. I either bent the back plate when I removed the rear wheel hubs or the aftermarket drums I have are a just little off in the measurements. What was weird was that it only make the grinding noise when I went around the corner. One would think that just wouldn't happen, but I guess there is enough give in the bearing to allow enough deflection to allow the drum to rub against the back plate when a side load occurs during a swift turn around a corner

Thanks for the official information about the 46 ft/lbs torgue for the rear wheel hub bearing assembly!

I DO NOT RECOMMEND 60 FT/LBS!!!!

 

I am going to go out on a limb and say it's the aftermarket drums that are causing the issue. What brand are they?

 

The brake drums are made by Power Stop and the rear wheel hubs/bearing assembly is made by MOOG. I bet the new hubs I installed set the wheels in closer to the center of the car ever so slightly. I used MOOG hubs which come pre-assembled with bearings in them. The MOOG hubs are very poor quality because the ABS relocator rings don't fit on the hubs because the circle they fit on is too small which makes the ABS ring fit on too loose. They are supposed be pressed on the new hubs. I ended up using grey RTV silicone on them to "glue" them onto the new hubs. The ABS rings look like gears and are removed from the old hubs by lightly tapping them with a hammer.

 

My (limited) experience with Power Stop brake parts is pretty good. My recent experiences with Moog parts however are pretty bad. They used to be among the best, but got bought out recently and appear to have gone to hell as far as quality goes. Unfortunately, most folks remember when they were good and they're living off that reputation - for now. I'd be pulling out the Moog bearings and replacing them with something better instead of band-aiding the situation with RTV.

 

I'd agree...lots of stories about Moog's slide downhill and I try to avoid them where I can. Rear wheel bearings I would go with either SKF or Timken, after doing a fair bit of research it seems they're both equally well-rated so I'd choose based on price. As a side note, both SKF and Timken rear wheel hubs are $1.00 less than the Moog hubs at Rock Auto.

Where are Moog Parts Made?

 

Just reaffirming the Timken HA594245 that I got on Amazon in 2012 have worked just fine the past 9 years. They're from an OEM Manufacturer, Toyo or Aisin IIRC.

I installed them at 140k, the car has an additional 60k and there're zero issues.

Totally the easiest part to replace, way faster than brakes. After the car was jacked up, it took like like 20-25 minutes on the first one and then 10-15 minutes on the second one.

 

If it's not Timken, SKF ,NSK or Toyo/OEM bearings, I wash out all grease and re-pack with Mobil 1 Synthetic Grease. Lower-end, no-name bearings tend to have poor grease and very little of it. Using better-than-OEM grease tends to make everything last longer.

 

Bumping this thread as most xB owners will have to do this one day. I replaced both driver's side bearings and went with SKF. Drone went away and they've held up fine for the past 2+ yrs and ~20K miles. Neither of these parts were made
in Japan, but are very high quality. These were much cheaper than OEM, but I see a lot of aftermarket companies offering bearings for 1/3rd of the cost of Timken/SKF/NSK nowadays. My passenger side rear sounds like it's about to go.

Anyone have luck with brands like Detroit Axle, TRQ, Durago, etc? They seem to have decent reviews on Amazon.

 

The thread that keeps on giving!!!

Not sure what issue with rear wheel-bearings. My 2004 xB went 220K-miles on original rear-wheel bearings, although I did replace left-front @ 180K-miles.

My current 2005 xB has 170k-miles on all original wheel-bearings.

Are you guys banging into kerbs when parking or going off-roading or driving on massively potholey roads?

 

The problem with most of those reviews is that people replace failed OEM bearings (with 150,000 miles on them) with cheap aftermarket bearings. Then they post a glowing review after 500 miles stating how great they are. I don't know about you, but that's not a valid test in the world I live in. I'll take the higher quality - and higher cost - parts any day of the week.