The driver rear wheel bearing on my '02 Mountaineer is going bad and plan on ordering the parts this upcoming weekend. According to Mitchell1 (Mechanic's site) that i use at school for repairs it says that the hub has to be replaced? Can i not just press in a new bearing? The car only has 130k miles and i don't see why you would replace the hub... Any other parts i need to order? it says to get a new retainer ring? Thanks in advance for the advice!

 

FORD said it had to be a kit. Couple years ago thats all you could get. Now you can buy just the bearing. Snap ring can be reused, but a new one would be nice.. Its somewhat of a pain to push the bearing out and put the new one in. You take the knuckel off the A frames and have the hub and bearing with the knuckle. You have to get a 12-20 ton press to push the hub out of the bearing inner race, then push the bearing out of the knuckle. Clean everything with a wire brush before you try to push it back together. You have to do this in order and only push on teh inner race when your putting it onto the spindle, and only push on the outer race when you pushing it into the hub. Need a couple good blocks and i use the original bearing ID and OD races for push spacers. I use a 12 ton press and it is not quite enough. I have to load it up good and smake with a 5 pound hammer to get the bearing to start moving. It is TIGHT.

 

Thanks for the advice Steve. Now i just gotta find the 3-4 hours min. to install it

 

and access to a BIG hydraulic press... and a variety of blocks and shims to get the knuckle level on the press bed.

 

I just completed 2 on a 12 ton floor press..... Grunted a bit.... Philip

 

I appreciate all the input, i went to a buddys home garage to do it. For those of you doing this or planning to a 12-20 ton is a MUST! Even with a 20 ton press without PB the bearing didnt even budge! It actually bent one 1" steel plate and even stacking another it bent that alittle as well. Mind you this is a southern truck so there wasnt even that much rust on the inside. The hardest/longest part is pressing the bearing out. Before even attempting to press it out make sure you soak the bearing really well with PB and then let it sit for atleast 30-45 minutes. Everything else was fairly easy, but with that said it took me awhile.