bearings

[Brian Smith]

I just got all the parts for my 96 brake upgrade. These parts were from 93medusa's car which i believe was in an accident. How can i be sure the knuckles are not bent, making the car unalignable? Also, one of the bearings was partially pushed out of the knuckle when the PO was removing the halfshafts...when i got it home, i took a socket and sat the hub on top of the socket for support then put a short length of pipe which fit the diameter of the bearing top. Using this pipe I *lightly* tapped the bearing back flush with the rubber seal with a hammer. This hub now turns slightly less freely than the other undisturbed hub...Is this a problem? Have I likely damaged the bearing? It really didnt take much force to get the bearing back into place...Incidentally the bearings are nearly new. I am worried about these two issues messing me up down the road and necessitating my dissassembling the car again. Any insight?

 

[rangerj]

PO? Do you mean "press operator"?

It sounds to me like the guts of the bearing were pulled, or pressed, out when the half shafts or hubs were removed from the bearing. That bearing is now junk, period.

Get new hubs and bearings (sets) and have them properly pressed in, that is the bearings get pressed into the knuckle, and the bearings in the knuckle get pressed ONTO the hubs. The Auto zone web site has the proceedure for this, with pictures or illistrations. Do not assume that the person doing the pressing knows what he/she is doing. Show them the Auto Zone proceedure, which is a copy of the Ford Helm manual.

I have only seen one knuckle bent. It is very hard to tell if the bend is very slight. Inspect the knuckles carefully. Also looks for any cracks in the knuckles, especially around the location for the bearing. rangerj