Front wheel bearings

[heyhar]

What sort of symptoms would worn front hub/ bearings show? They are not grinding, popping, clicking, etc., but at certain speeds, it feels as though the wheels want to come off. Not in a Death Wobble sort of way, but just a grainy, rough sort of feeling. The only things that have NOT been replaced recently are the bearings and the ball joints. One reason that I suspect the bearings is that over this past winter, driving on the nasty Interstates, I've bent two wheels, broken an LCA, and needed to replace the tie rod ends. But, I suspect the bearings, because the feeling of looseness is speed related, and up around 70+ MPH, ths gyroscopic effects of the tires seems to smooth things out again. The tires are new and well balanced on steel stockers, so I don't think that they're part of the equation. At 172k, is it time anyway? TIA.

 

[Matthew Currie]

In my experience bad wheel bearings will do one or both of two things. They will usually feel loose or sound rough, perhaps making a bit of scraping, if you jack up a wheel and try turning it, wobbling it, etc. the other thing I 've experienced is a bearing that did not feel loose, but gave a rough feeling and a buzzing noise that increased with speed, caused by a pitted race. I suspect you may be feeling the beginning of the latter problem. Try jacking it up, and rotate the wheels at various speeds, and see if you can feel any roughness. You should also feel no play at all. If there's even a little bit of play, the bearing is toast.