Front wheel bearings ... The bearing or the assembly?

[NeedMoreCowbell]

My 2008 Rogue started getting pretty loud so, thinking it was the muffler I took it to Monroe. They told me it was the front wheel bearings.

Couple questions for anyone that might know:

1) How long can I safely drive a car that has front wheel bearing issues?

2) They told me that both of the front wheel bearings would likely need to get replaced, but how can they know both are bad for sure? Could just one be bad?

3) I know of a shop that charges $60 labor per bearing, and the owner said I get the parts. So checking on Advance Auto I see bearings for the Rogue cost about $50 each, but there are also "Hub And Bearing Assemblies" that are well over double that. Which do I need? Probably the most expensive one, that's just my luck, but I thought I would check.

Thank you!

[Rogue Jarhead]

1. You can drive it till the wheel falls off. Could be tomorrow or next year.

2. Just one can go bad.

3. I put the hub assembly's on mine. Do not cheap out on bearings. It's not a matter of price but quality. They are going to cost you about a $100 each. Moog, SKF, FAG or Timken are the only brands worth installing anything else is a piece of cheap Chinese made garbage that will often fail within days.

http://www.rockauto.com/m/mobilecatalog.php

Tell him to pull the wheel speed sensors first or you'll damage them getting the old hub off. New sensors are around $100 each also.

[disallow]

I recommend you do the hub assemblies, unless you have a tonne of experience pressing bearings into really inconvenient spaces... you'd need a press and probably some spacers etc to make sure you could press it in. Also haven't found the listing for bearings only, so you'd have to hunt that info down too.

The test for the wheel bearings is to take the wheel at 10 and 2 o'clock and try to move it. If it has any axial play, the bearing is done and needs to be replaced. Its usually pretty pronounced, and you should do it with the tire on as it makes it easier to move. Make sure that your outer tie rod end it tight at the same time. You can check for play by grabbing it and moving in and out to see if there is play.

As far as the type of hub assembly, I've had good luck with Timkin, National, and Mevotech. But had bad luck recently on my 05 pathfinder with Moog. The driveshaft wouldn't push through the splines. Changed to a Mevotech and the problem disappeared, but not before 2 days of cursing and swearing and wondering what I did wrong, along with a flat bed ride to the shop and $1000 of charges (had him do my brakes too, we were under the gun for time).

So to summarize, check for play, if there is play, change with the recommended brands above. Do the assembly, not the bearing, unless you have a lot of experience with presses.

[NeedMoreCowbell]

Thanks to both of you for your help.

Having a little trouble on the rockauto site. You both mentioned Timken, so I found this:

http://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.php ... 56&jpid=13

for my (SL AWD) car would this be a solid choice? It's quite a bit cheaper than anything advance carries, but then returning something to rockauto would be a bear.

I won't be doing the work, a decent mechanic w/his own shop would be.

Thanks again

[hpark21]

Are the front bearings something that goes bad on Rogues in general? Just curious.

I was looking at my new (to me) CPO car work sheet and it specifies that for my 2014 Rogue with barely 20K miles on it had front wheel bearings replaced as part of CPO work. I found it rather odd.

[disallow]

Are the front bearings something that goes bad on Rogues in general? Just curious.

I was looking at my new (to me) CPO car work sheet and it specifies that for my 2014 Rogue with barely 20K miles on it had front wheel bearings replaced as part of CPO work. I found it rather odd.

No worse than any other car out there. They are pretty standard fare for all makes and models.

[disallow]

Thanks to both of you for your help.

Having a little trouble on the rockauto site. You both mentioned Timken, so I found this:

http://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.php ... 56&jpid=13

for my (SL AWD) car would this be a solid choice? It's quite a bit cheaper than anything advance carries, but then returning something to rockauto would be a bear.

I won't be doing the work, a decent mechanic w/his own shop would be.

Thanks again

My vote is for anything except Moog.

[hpark21]

Do be careful with wheel bearings.

I had to return 3 of them because the store (Advanced auto) sent me 3 OBVIOUSLY used bearings. (1 did not even have inner bearing sleeve, just exposed rollers)

I can only think that these integrated ones are even worse where people would swap out the bad one, clean it up a bit and return it to the store saying did not need it and the stock boys do not know better. (When I swapped out my Minivan's integrated wheel bearings, I could not tell whether they were used at all, they were quite clean cosmetically, other than the fact that they were 100k+ miles wear on it and I know it.)

[Rogue Jarhead]

Thanks to both of you for your help.

Having a little trouble on the rockauto site. You both mentioned Timken, so I found this:

http://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.php ... 56&jpid=13

for my (SL AWD) car would this be a solid choice? It's quite a bit cheaper than anything advance carries, but then returning something to rockauto would be a bear.

I won't be doing the work, a decent mechanic w/his own shop would be.

Thanks again

That looks right, however I can't back up my browser and see which vehicle it is supposed to fit. The link only goes to the part itself.

That black ring around the top is the tone ring for your wheel speed sensor. It's just a piece of metal that forms a ring and sets in a grove in the bearing assembly. It will pop right off. The metal ring forms a little U shaped valley that the sensor rides in if you do not pull the sensor before pulling the hub you will damage both that ring and the wheel speed sensor. Yeah Timken is a good choice. Althought even some reputable companies are farming out their manufacturing to places they shouldn't.

[Rogue Jarhead]

Are the front bearings something that goes bad on Rogues in general? Just curious.

I was looking at my new (to me) CPO car work sheet and it specifies that for my 2014 Rogue with barely 20K miles on it had front wheel bearings replaced as part of CPO work. I found it rather odd.

I replaced my fronts at around 40k. I've never had bearing go that quick. If you do a search on this forum I think you'll find several people who say that the Rogue eats wheel bearings. I only have my own experience to go on and I've found wheel bearings usually last 100k or more, some people who trade new vehicles often never have one go bad. Then I guess folks like that never have to buy tires either.

That's one reason when I replaced them I bought Timken , I am hoping never to do it again.

[ImStricken06]

i replaced mine, when the axle was shot. i HIGHLY suggest you inspect and think about replacing the boots on the axles. otherwise you will be right back to this same job in a matter months.

[disallow]

i replaced mine, when the axle was shot. i HIGHLY suggest you inspect and think about replacing the boots on the axles. otherwise you will be right back to this same job in a matter months.

x2 on this, especially the passenger side it seems more people have issues with the inner boot on this side.

[NeedMoreCowbell]

The parts are in and with the shop. I told him about the speed sensors and he was well aware - but he said due to the age of the car and my location (Buffalo) it's pretty likely the speed sensors will break as they try to get them out. So... I'm preparing myself for the call to order a speed sensor or two. *sigh*

[Rogue Jarhead]

For a 2008, from Buffalo, yeah you may as well order then now. Even on my 2011 I had to hammer and drill the speed sensors out when I did the bearings last year. Ive said before, very poor sensor location design on the part of Nissan. I ordered 2 sensors from rockauto, Airtech Wells or some such brand. Made in china but they seemed ok they've been on for most of a year.

[NeedMoreCowbell]

For a 2008, from Buffalo, yeah you may as well order then now. Even on my 2011 I had to hammer and drill the speed sensors out when I did the bearings last year. Ive said before, very poor sensor location design on the part of Nissan. I ordered 2 sensors from rockauto, Airtech Wells or some such brand. Made in china but they seemed ok they've been on for most of a year.

Thanks for this post - just got the call that he's been battling w/my speed sensors for a while and has thrown in the towel ... I need to order two new ones. Argh! At least I know it's a pretty common issue in these parts, so thanks for that.

Can I get some help deciding on which speed sensors to get? I plan on selling this car next year so don't need top of the line for sure, but I don't want anything that would jeopardize safety (I cart 3 babies around regularly in this car) ... this is what I found on rockauto:



I have the SL AWD ... can I get away with getting two of the $77.79 Ultra-Power ones?

[Rogue Jarhead]

Wow a year ago when I did mine I bought the airtex wells brand and they were about $75 each I see they're now $116, that's quite an increase in one year. I've never tried ultra power but if it was me I'd be giving it a shot.

[NeedMoreCowbell]

So ... stupid question. I'm assuming this is not something that I can use?

http://amzn.to/2cY90UC

[NeedMoreCowbell]

I've been reading reviews on these low-cost abs wheel sensors and while there are a few people that say they didn't work out for whatever reason, there seem to be a lot that are verified buyers and say they work fine.

Any thoughts on these things? It seems crazy that a $16 part might work ...

[Rogue Jarhead]

Amazon is good on returns, if your mechanic gets it in the hub and it doesn't work or doesn't fit you'll know right away. Obviously if it doesn't fit he won't be able to install it. If it doesn't work he'll know when he starts the car and can't get the abs light to go out.

As far as the sensor pictured that looks right, but there can be differences. One thing I do note is Rockauto lists a sensor for the AWD ,all wheel drive and a slightly different for just the FWD front wheel drive vehicles. I'm not sure there is a difference but they list 2 seperated ones.

[NeedMoreCowbell]

Quick update for those that care - $16 sensors worked great. No idea why they are $100+ elsewhere.

[Rogue Jarhead]

Good to know, I've always thought nearly $100 was a bit much for a speed sensor. I'll be interested to see how they hold up for you, in the northern salt belt of buffalo. I'm only a couple of hours south.

[MY2J]

anyone else try the cheap sensors? I just installed new spindles all around (Chinese) and the truck wouldn't move. We disconnected the sensors and I was able to drive it home from my buddy's house. Obviously the vehicle is running incorrectly and I don't know where to start troubleshooting. My only thoughts are that we damaged the senors or one sensor... which leads me to this question... how do you know which side speed sensor goes bad when it goes bad?

[Rogue Jarhead]

You will need a code reader that can read a Nissan abs module. Generic code readers cannot do that. A reader that can read Nissan will tell you which sensor is bad. However I'm not sure you've got a bad sensor. I'd be more inclined to think the chinesium bearing or the design of the bearing was at fault. The tone ring the is attached to the rear of the hub is pretty specific. Maybe your Chinese part doesn't have one?

https://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog/nis ... embly,1636

Here is a link to rogue wheel bearing. Under standard replacement all the way to the right is a Timken front wheel bearing hub. There are four pics, in the first and third you can see a little metal ring that snaps into the back of the bearing. Does your Chinese
5000 mile bearing have that ring?

[MY2J]

I ended up putting the OEM's back on (only bought one that was bad) and trying to send these junk back to the seller. Turns out they sold me the AWD instead of the FWD rears.

[Rogue Jarhead]

The thing about these cheap bearings is many have a free lifetime guarantee, which just means you become an expert at replacing them every 5000 miles or so for free. Don't cheap out on bearing, brakes and other such stuff than can get you or someone else hurt. If you want to hang made in China fuzzy dice from your mirror or put Chinese mud flaps on go right to it. If a wheel bearing melts down at 70mph and the tire comes off on a busy interstate, you've got problems and so does everyone around you.