I'm planning to repack or replace the front wheel bearings on my 93 Ford Festiva. Have not worked on this part of the car before. So before starting the job, is there anything about it that I should be especially aware of? Any surprises or extra steps that would not occur with other car models? Or is it straight forward.
No, the front wheel bearings are relatively easy to replace on the Festiva. They just knock out and press back in. I recently replaced the front bearings and all (4) struts on mine and it went well.
bearing preload can be a big problem
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There are also many different bearing shims that may be needed. If you mistakenly throw out the ones that are installed. The bearings are easy to do but hard to do right....if they are not perfect....they will seem fine for a while and then will go bad quickly. Like aboe poster said....if they are not bad...do not mess with them.
The only thing is these are pressed on bearings and unless they are bad I would not worry with them. These have to be pressed out of the spindle and off of the hub and then pressed back on again. So, unless you have the press I would not worry with them unless they are bad.
Only do this if you need to replace your front rotors. this was a nightmare.
Even the mechanic screwed up the wheel bearing when replacing. They forgot the shims all together and then the second time they didn't get the shims right. So I still have a wheel bearing noise on both front wheels. My guess is that to do it properly, you need to use a vernier scale to get the shims right.
I found out with much effort that the car uses metal shims as well as two metal rings.
Basically if the rings are missing, the shims will flap around in a gap that is almost a 1cm in width. I don't remember the size of the rings but they would be between 6mm and 7.5mm in width. Without them the shims are useless...
you need a shim tool to get the proper preload and they use to sell shim kits as well
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Anyone one who replaces front (or rear) wheel bearings in either a Festiva or an Aspire is headed for trouble if they don't very carefully check the preload and add/subtract spacers. It takes special tools. I am gathering them up as I have 3 cars with bad bearings now.
I have found a source for Festiva/Aspire wheel bearing spacers. They come in a kit with both bearings and seals for one side, a main spacer and six thin spacers. Maybe too late for a lot of Festiva/Aspire owners. And no telling how long the supply may last.
Whatcis the source? Thanks.
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You will need a bearing kit that comes with one wide spacer and 4-6 thin spacers. these are to set the preload on the bearing when you do the CV shaft nut up tight.
You can either buy fancy tools to do this, pay a mechanic a vast amount of cash ( I like this one, I am a mechanic) or get yourself a long threaded bolt and 2 large washers.
without greasing the bearings put ALL the spacers in the middle of the bearings , a large washer each end and bolt the lot together , firm but not over tight.
One tight the bearing assembly should be slightly loose, because all shims are too much. one by one remove shims and reassemble checking for looseness each time.
Eventually you will get to the point when you tighten the bolt, all free play has disappeared, THAT is how many shims your hub likes.
Cya!!.
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