So Monday I changed both front wheel hub assemblies on our 2012 Sentra SE-R. We took it for a test drive after and thought we heard a noise but the radio was on and it was gone by the time we turned it down. Wife goes to leave the next morning and comes back saying it's making a god awful sound. I take it around the block and it starts making a grinding noise as soon as it starts forward and then it goes away after a couple blocks. I thought it was the dust shield rubbing the rotor cause that's what it sounded like. Wasn't it. long story short she insisted on taking it to the shop as the temps dropped from almost 40f to in the below zero teens almost over night.

The shop had it a couple hours and said something wasn't torqued to spec and they cleaned the brake components up a bit and that'll be $82 and its good to go. It did the same grinding noise pulling out of their parking lot. So we went back in, waited a while and the guy comes out and says he "thinks" it's the hubs I installed cause they tore it down to just the hubs and it was still making the noise. Now, the hub assys weren't on the expensive side but it seems to me it would make said sound all the time if it were the bearings in the new hubs. It seems to be temperature related as it stops doing it after driving less than a mile and it apparently wasn't doing it when they pulled it out of their warmish shop.

Is there something I could have mucked up when changing the hub assemblies? I mean its 6 bolts and a nut, i pushed the axel back a little hard a couple times but i didn't bang it with a 5 pound sledge or anything. is there something that could have gotten kinked by doing that? I've got a ham test to take that I've had to postpone already and if i don't get this thing fixed by Saturday the wife is going to give the shop $500 to throw parts at it.

The axle nut MUST hit the full spec torque there or the bearing can tear up in minutes.

If cheap crap Chinese parts I have seen the bearing not have any grease in it at ALL. Bone dry. Needless to say only minutes before torn up.

amc49 wrote: ↑

Thu Jan 31, 2019 1:46 am

The axle nut MUST hit the full spec torque there or the bearing can tear up in minutes.

If cheap crap Chinese parts I have seen the bearing not have any grease in it at ALL. Bone dry. Needless to say only minutes before torn up.

Unless my torque wrench is out of calibration, I torqued the axle nuts to 140 ft lbs. It's a dial, not one of those cheapie needles. Does the same apply to the hub mounting bolts? I didn't have a socket to fit those for the torque wrench. Is there a way to check definitively without having to buy more hub assemblies? They were Drivestar parts btw.

I am used to Fords which torque at 200+ pounds. Regardless, the spec has to be hit and even more if that low. I always over torque a little bit anyway.

The torque is responsible for positively holding the bearing/hub/axle snout assembly very tightly, that is what keeps all parts running well.

The axle nut is the most important thing, I don't torque the other bolts using a torque wrench myself.

Judge the part quality by dissecting the price. You must have enough room in there for the bearing to be around $50 by ITSELF, and how I used to separate them when I was in parts. The assemblies with bearing already pressed are the ones that go bad quick, I press all bearings myself to positively get the better bearing. If you pay only $25 for bearing alone it will likely be the Chinese crap one. Brands count too, never use a chain house brand wheel bearing, they are the worst. I've used BCA, Timken, FMF as long as they were the expensive ones, they can have a cheaper Chinese line too if not paying attention. Ignore the bearing box, open it up and see what is inside, there is so much bearing re-boxing going on you will freak out, very common for the part in box to be worse or better than the box label says. I re-boxed probably a thousand by myself, you look for 'made in China' or the better markings of one you desire, sometimes you pay cheap and the best part in the world is in the box.

I warrantied so many of the hub/bearing or drum/bearing assemblies I could not count, many fail in minutes and most in a year or two. The Chinese have a thing about putting less grease in bearings than they should, I used to see it over and over when I bought printing press supplies. The second shortcoming is that they do not spend as much to get the better heatreats that better bearings require.