Def

At a recent autocross I toasted a rear wheel bearing, or at least I'm pretty sure I did. There is about a 1/2" of play all around on the wheel with it jacked up(pretty easy to move too), and the spindle/caliper is staying perfectly still.

They are Z32 NA rear hubs and came out of a pretty low mile car(I think maybe 80k miles, and I've probably put 9-10k on there) so I'm thinking this might have been a fluke, but they do see pretty hard usage since I'm rarely just driving this car on the street.

What's the best way to change it out? Get a new hub from Nissan? Get a new bearing and press it in(OEM or get it somewhere else?)? Get some cheap Chinese made hubs off Ebay?

slideways2004

definitely advise not to get the ebay china hubs/bearings

i would first make sure its not anything else, like a ball joint and any other bushing. it is pretty rare for a nissan bearing to go out like that. usually happens when you hit something or it wears out over time which you can tell

p.s. just read that the spindle stays still. have someone move it while you look at what is actually moving

p.s.s. if it is really out, just get a used one from a junkyard or something. if you have to buy 2 from a forum or something, do that and keep one as backup

louisdaboois

just get an OEM replacement bearing or if you want to spend the extra cash go to nissan (sometimes the dealership has stuff cheaper, who knows you might get lucky). i wouldnt risk getting a ebay hub, you may just be delaying the inevitable and spending twice the money and doing twice the work in the near future.

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Def

The eBay hub thing was a joke, Stuff like bearings are pretty easy to "mess up" with cutting corners in manufacturing.

I am going to take the rear apart to see what it is, but everything is staying still except the whole wheel/brake rotor/hub face that I can see. I thought maybe the bolts could be loosening to the hub, but they felt like they were tight, and it is an equal movement up down/left right so I wouldn't think it was that(the bolt pattern isn't square).

How hard are the bearings to push/press in?

racepar1

You can get another set of z-32 rear hubs for cheap enough that is is not worth trying to replace the bearing. Also most of the time when a bearing goes that bad it takes the hub with it. I would suspect that the axle nut came loose and that is what took out the bearing as the factory bearings rarely go bad.

Def

Axle nut feels tight by hand, and the cotter pin is still in there.


Thanks for the replies guys. Just reinforces what I was figuring - needing to buy a new or used hub and just toss it in there.

Or maybe it's something else... which I'll figure out when ever school stops crapping on my limited free time.

projectRDM

Remove the hub first and make sure it's not damaged. Bearing play can ruin the hub shaft, enough to require a full replacement. I had a friend leave one of his spindle nuts hand tight accidentally, the bearing came apart and fused to the spindle, creating a huge gouge in it. If the hub is salvageable buy a new OE bearing or find a quality used one with the hub already in it.

If you do have to press it, it's easy. I use my 6ton press to do them with zero effort, but you will need a bearing splitter because one side of the race usually comes out with the hub.

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