Wheel bearings and how to tell if they are bad

[Rodeo Joe]

Hi Joe,
Yes, that is the one I bought. It should do the job.

You talked me into it and I bought one, came today and this thing is a beast!

Greg and Matt,

Thanks for clearing that up. I think I have a couple of the rear ones kicking around here somewhere when I changed out the 7.5 axles with the 8.8s years ago.

Joe

 

[Grog6]

Matt, look at the photo:

https://s3.amazonaws.com/rparts-sites/images/996a7fa078cc36c46d02f9af3bef918b/41f69ac28e01d8575e6ff14627e31825.jpg

That is a nylock nut. The og one was red plastic, but I know Nuts. (I'm completely nuts, lol.)

 

[Rodeo Joe]

Greg, you do know nuts!

Not to get off the subject of nuts, but were the front hubs the same for all years 89-97? Looking around and some seem to be year specific.

Joe

 

[XR7-4.6]

Matt, look at the photo:

https://s3.amazonaws.com/rparts-sites/images/996a7fa078cc36c46d02f9af3bef918b/41f69ac28e01d8575e6ff14627e31825.jpg

That is a nylock nut. The og one was red plastic, but I know Nuts. (I'm completely nuts, lol.)

That’s a nylock nut, but that is not what these cars came with

 

[XR7-4.6]

Greg, you do know nuts!

Not to get off the subject of nuts, but were the front hubs the same for all years 89-97? Looking around and some seem to be year specific.

Joe

They changed with the updated spindles in 93. They will physically fit and fasten but they have rotor geometry issues. Learned the hard way converting a early SC to PBRs

 

[Grog6]

Like I said, it must have been a running change. Both Lazarus and the Red Cougar had those in front. I seriously will have to look thru the toolbox; I know there's a brand new set of the Dormans, that I looked at, and said, WTF!!??? It's a seriously deformed nut, and it eats whatever you screw it on. Both going on and off. Oscar and I discussed it, when I did the red Cougar. I had just seen a nylock fail after it was reused in a machine, and there ws no way I was reusing it. So, they both haveNew rear nuts, front and back.
The ford Nylock, That's a link to Tasca, you can order those. look at a set of dormans at az, that's all they have.
It must have changed before they were made in 96; they were made within weeks of each other.one serial ends with 699, the other 13xx. Got a pic of yours? I'm curious, if there's a third type.

 

[White Lincoln]

You talked me into it and I bought one, came today and this thing is a beast!

Greg and Matt,

Thanks for clearing that up. I think I have a couple of the rear ones kicking around here somewhere when I changed out the 7.5 axles with the 8.8s years ago.

Joe

It is a beast of a torque wrench. I hope you get good use out of it. Enjoy!

PS: Where are you going to put your wrench? I was thinking of hanging mine on the wall like I do my level's, including a 4ft one.

 

[White Lincoln]

Since I did the Cougar bearings, I figured the Town Car probably needs them as well. I bought a nice set from RockAuto this time, and they should be here today. I have everyone off, cleaned and ready to put the new bearing assembly on when it gets here. The old bearing assembly came right off like the Cougar bearings. I did find my sway bar links are shot along with some of the other steering and suspension parts so I ordered a bunch of parts for the Town Car. The sway bar links won't be here until Friday.

 

[Rodeo Joe]

It is a beast of a torque wrench. I hope you get good use out of it. Enjoy!

PS: Where are you going to put your wrench?

Right now it's sitting on a shelf in the cellar waiting for a call to duty!

Joe

 

[Jae 'Bird]

Here are some tips that may help someone down the line, or not.
Wash your wheels and spray a ton of some type of protectant to keep the brake dust from building up on the wheel. And its even harder to remove later on if not protected.
Use a plastic / PVC / ABS pipe to tap the grease caps on so they don't get dinged up from pounding on them.
Clean all of the brake and grease/grime build up off the wheel spindle assembly before putting it back together.
Put grease down on the spindle shaft so the next person that removes the assembly will have an easier time.
If the new bearing assembly does not seem like it will fit, try it on the other side and try the other new one on the same places. If one fits and the numbers are the same, give the problem assembly a tap with a rubber mallet and a large socket or, the above PVC/ ABS tubing.
If you don't have a 250lb torque wrench, look into getting one. I was surprised at how easy it was just putting on the lug nuts because of its size.
And, as always, spray copious amounts of brake cleaner over the assembly when done. Best to have a pan under it as that stuff is a black mess.

Enjoy your next project!

Question, what did you use to get the brake material off your wheels? I've got lots of baked on crud on mine and I feel like I've tried everything to get it off with no luck

 

[White Lincoln]

Question, what did you use to get the brake material off your wheels? I've got lots of baked on crud on mine and I feel like I've tried everything to get it off with no luck

Hi Jae,
Sorry for the belated replay, been busy with the Town Car. It's too dark now to take a pic of my Town Car (the "neglected" one), but I plan to try this stuff my wife uses that really pulls grease and grime. It sprays out in a foam and the does its work.

Dawn Platinum Power Wash

It is for dishes, but I used it on my brake caliper brackets and it pulled it of of them.

Otherwise, any heavy grease cutting spray you have and let it soak before washing it off.

Anyone else have suggestions for Jae on getting all that road grud, brake dust, crap off the inside of the rims?

In the past, I used Dawn dishwashing soap, a Scotch -Brite Non Scratch Scrub sponge and a bucket of water (oh, and a garden hose with jet sprayer).

​

 

[White Lincoln]

Right now it's sitting on a shelf in the cellar waiting for a call to duty!

Joe

I'm still trying to find a good place for mine. I have used it serval times so far and appreciate its "size" when it comes to tightening bolts that need 150 and up. I tested the Craftsman 250 lb against my Snap-On 200 lb and the torque that the Craftsman did was the same that the Snap-On did.

Shew... never know if your buying crap these days.

 

[White Lincoln]

Question, what did you use to get the brake material off your wheels? I've got lots of baked on crud on mine and I feel like I've tried everything to get it off with no luck

Thought I would drop this in on washing the wheels on these cars. I washed the wheels (inside) of my Town Car and could not get rid of this black stuff and figured it was an aluminum deuteration or corrosion of sorts for aluminum. The car is over 20 years old. BUT! The suggested items above did work to take off years of brake and road grime on the inside of the wheels. I even sprayed ONLY the Dawn Platinum Power Wash. I suds up the whole rim and then waited a few minutes for the suds to wear off. Then I washed it off with an old, used Scotch -Brite Non Scratch Scrub sponge to do the rest of the cleaning. Worked well! I was impressed.

 

[Grog6]

y'all reckon it's sae to use dawn to clean the calipers of oil so /i can paint them. $100 for red powdercoat was not happening.

 

[XR7-4.6]

y'all reckon it's sae to use dawn to clean the calipers of oil so /i can paint them. $100 for red powdercoat was not happening.

Fun fact the Ford manufactured red Cobra calipers(10th anniversary, Bullitt) are painted, not powdercoated. Good enough for them good enough for me!

I use.... appropriately enough... Brake clean. Scrub it real good with a brass wire brush to get the gunk off, scrub again with a toothbrush, spray off with another blast.

 

[White Lincoln]

Wow... Dawn loving, hand scrubbing folks on here!