wheel bearing nightmare!!!!

313blkstang

New Member
Nov 10, 2005
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ok I went and had the wheel hub assembly replaced. All is fine right? Wrong.. on the way home I hear a thumping noise on the same wheel that was worked on. So I take it back and the guy tries to tell me that it's a bad tire, then when I didn't buy that he said it was the wrong lugs.. I took it to a couple other shops and each one said that it looks like a defective bearing because the wheel still has some play in it. Also the faster I drive the louder it gets. I asked the mechanic if he used a new nut on the bearing and he said no he reused the old one. I read that you MUST use a new one. They are replacing the wheel hub assembly again this weekend. Does it sound like a defective part to you guys?
 
A new nut must be used. The dust cover is not re-useable either.

Sounds like the shop you chose SUCKS :notnice:

Ask him to show you the OLD hub bearing assembly. Maybe he did not even replace it...
 
Kilgore Trout said:
A new nut must be used. The dust cover is not re-useable either.

Sounds like the shop you chose SUCKS :notnice:

Ask him to show you the OLD hub bearing assembly. Maybe he did not even replace it...

that's a good idea.. I think since it's a saturday I'm gonna stand there and watch them do it.. I would have done this myself but I don't have anything strong enough to torque the nut down to Ford specs.
and yeah they suck right now.. I've never had this problem with them before. last work they did for me was a year or two ago, they put in a new rack an pinion for me and I never had any problems at all.
So what could be the reason that the abs kicks on on that particular tire? it does it just before the car comes to a complete stop and you can hear it on that side of the car.
 
There are two hub bearing assemblies, one with ABS ring and one without. Perhaps he installed the one without... This would make the ABS not work on that wheel of course. Another possibility is that he damaged the ABS sensor while doing the work.
 
Kilgore Trout said:
There are two hub bearing assemblies, one with ABS ring and one without. Perhaps he installed the one without... This would make the ABS not work on that wheel of course. Another possibility is that he damaged the ABS sensor while doing the work.

oh really? damn I didn't know that.. I'm calling the shop now.. Thanks a million man.. really appreciate it..
 
ok I'm nervous.. I just called the shop and they have the new hub assembly in.. I asked if it came with an "exciter" ring because I called the dealership parts dept and they said that all those assemblies (for my year) come with an exciter ring. You must remove the ring for non-abs cars. Since mine is abs I asked if the ring was on it and the mechanic says "uhh your car doesn't need an exciter ring", I said "well the dealership just said it does and it needs to be left on there", he says "well sometimes it's on the rotor", I said "no the dealer specifically said that it will be with the assembly" so he finally looks at the assembly and says "oh yeah it is on here".. maybe I should just go get my money back and take my business elsewhere..
 
Damn that sounds sketchy. I would either go back and have it fixed correctly or get my money back and go elsewhere. I can't stand people like the mechanic you are describing! :mad:
 
I have never seen the tone ring/exciter ring on a rotor but I suppose thats possible. It would be dumb tho because it just adds to the cost of new rotors every time you go to buy them.
 
I replaced my hub bearings about six months ago. I made a thread on it in 4.6 tech with pictures, you can search for it if you want...

Anyways, the ring is absolutely on the hub bearing assembly. Also two different styles are available one with and one without the ring.
 
313blkstang said:
that's a good idea.. I think since it's a saturday I'm gonna stand there and watch them do it.. I would have done this myself but I don't have anything strong enough to torque the nut down to Ford specs.
and yeah they suck right now.. I've never had this problem with them before. last work they did for me was a year or two ago, they put in a new rack an pinion for me and I never had any problems at all.
So what could be the reason that the abs kicks on on that particular tire? it does it just before the car comes to a complete stop and you can hear it on that side of the car.


if your getting false abs activation ( vibration in the pedal) just before you come to a stop this is caused by damage to the tone ring on the hub or damage to the sensor. If he installed one without a tone ring you would have a ABS light on and ABS would be deactivated so it's not that.

most likely what happend is the ABS sensor got damaged durring this repair.

I would question this shops ability to repair your car.. I hate to see this stuff happen but I would bring your car to a Ford dealer for this concern ( we are better equiped to diag ABS concerns, plus documentation from a ford dealer might come in handy if you need to sue) get it all on paper what happend and threaten to sue him for the amount of the labor if he does not refund the amount of the labor plus the new abs sensor plus the diag and labor to install this sensor.
 
Kilgore Trout said:
I replaced my hub bearings about six months ago. I made a thread on it in 4.6 tech with pictures, you can search for it if you want...

Anyways, the ring is absolutely on the hub bearing assembly. Also two different styles are available one with and one without the ring.

I saw that yesterday.. I should have just done it myself.. what did you use to remove and replace the nut? I heard that autozone rents out air tools... I should have just done this myself. thanx for all the help..
 
svttech76 said:
if your getting false abs activation ( vibration in the pedal) just before you come to a stop this is caused by damage to the tone ring on the hub or damage to the sensor. If he installed one without a tone ring you would have a ABS light on and ABS would be deactivated so it's not that.

most likely what happend is the ABS sensor got damaged durring this repair.

I would question this shops ability to repair your car.. I hate to see this stuff happen but I would bring your car to a Ford dealer for this concern ( we are better equiped to diag ABS concerns, plus documentation from a ford dealer might come in handy if you need to sue) get it all on paper what happend and threaten to sue him for the amount of the labor if he does not refund the amount of the labor plus the new abs sensor plus the diag and labor to install this sensor.

that's what I'm gonna do if they don't have everything back to normal after saturday. I'm gonna just take it to the dealer and have them fix it and then take that bill back to the original shop. If they don't reimburse me then I'll be filing a claim in small claims court. It's messed up because they have done work on my car previously with excellent results. Also they are on some shady stuff because yesterday they also said that they were gonna take it to the dealership themselves and have them check the bearings. Then they said if the dealer says it's not the bearing they'll just leave it there for them to fix and I'll have a bill with the dealer. Then when I said "well what dealership are you taking it too because I want to be there when you take it", they suddenly agreed to just order a higher quality bearing and fix it. Judge Mathis here we come lol..