after reading some of the above threads, I can only remember the money I spent to get the noise out of my 97 Ford Explorer AWD SLT. The noise sounded like a bad front bearing. I had a passenger and he said the noise was coming from his side; although it seem it was from my side. Anyway, I put a Ford parts search on the Net and was able to find a hub assembly from a Place in NY. After shipping cost it was about $140.00US. I replaced it and the noise did not go away. Of course this was after a dealer in Germany told me my tires did qualify for full replacement--they replaced 5 tires. I did not get an alighment because I felt it was OK. (let me go back just a bit)--the 97 Explored was pulling a bit to the left and I had it alighned. The place said, the alighnment was not perfect becasue i needed an alighnment kit. once the tires were change no noise was heard; but after a while, what i thought was a bearing noise increased. Once back in the States, i checked front suspension components and found a bad left lower ball joint. I replaced it and it took about 5 hours because the removing kit was not complete. once the left ball join was replaced, i took it for an alighnment and that is when I paid about $80.00 for the alighnment kit. At the same time the repair shop told me the right hand side lower ball joint was defective. I asked them to replace it and thought it was finished. the noise was still there. By now I had replaced both lower ball joints, left hub assembly and a kit to properly alighned the wheels--noise did not change. I went to another guy and he mentioned that the tires the Dealer in Germany had replaced showed a cupping on the outter side and that it was possible the noise was comming from the tires themselves. Therefore, I went to a tire place and told them my problem. the mechanic took a road test and said, "I think you have a bad bearing". I told them what I had done and two other tire guys looked at the tires and mentioned the tires could be the problem. Fed-up with the issue I asked them to replace the tires with the condition that if the noise was still there they would put the old tires back. They change the tires and believe it or not--noise was gone and has been gone for the last 6 months. I believe that a combination of bad ball joints, improperly alighned tires and tires that were semi-off-road were the cause of my problems. Of course the steering assembly has gone bad since and had to be replaced--5 hours and lots of patience. I had to purchase a CROW FOOT FLARE NUT 18 milimeter wrench to take the hidraulic lines off the steering assembly and a 25 Impact wrench to remove the mounting steering assembly bolts. 4 hours worth of work. i think the tentioner and chain are next--any comments are welcome. HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL v/R marwin

 

I just paid $344 for the hub assembly for my 95 explorer at a service station. I went on Napaonline.com and found it for $284 for one. Total service job was $344 + $122 labor. I will do it myself on the front passenger side when I start to here the wa wa wa sound again. Sound like an easy job.

 

Bob Bell Ford charged me $726 to replace front driver side hub and bearing. Was I scammed?

 

It doesn't sound like it. You don't mention what year your Explorer is, whether it is 4WD/AWD/2WD, or what else they replaced or repaired in the process.

Also, you went to a dealer which likely used and OEM part (typically more expensive) and charged you dealer labor rates (also typically more expensive).

Could you have had this done for less expense? Very likely had you used an independent shop. If you found an independent shop that would install a customer-provided part, that probably would have been cheaper yet (although without any warranty from the shop). And if you had the tools, ability, and time to do this job yourself, you would have saved even more yet.

-Rod

 

Thanks Rod. Old Blue is a 2002 Eddie Bauer 4 WD w/ 4.6L V8 and 134K miles. We bought her new and she still looks and drives like a new vehicle. Got lucky with this one......