Rear Wheel Bearing

This is a draft.

Warning

If you follow this guide, you're going to be working underneath a car that is jacked up with the handbrake off; and you're going to be replacing the bits that hold the rear wheels on. If you don't feel confident with that responsibility, get a qualified mechanic with insurance to do it.

The author, MEG and FordWiki accept no liability for injuries or damage incurred through following this article, or for inaccuracies therein.

Symptoms

A worn rear wheel bearing may show various symptoms:

• Play in the wheel: jack the car up and see if you can wobble the wheel side to side. There should be no play at all.
• Steady "thrum", maybe peaking at certain speeds and on certain surfaces
• Grinding noise, perhaps getting worse or better on corners as the weight distribution and lateral load changes

Make sure you're not misdiagnosing poor wheel balance or dodgy tyres. If you're at all uncertain, swap your wheels front-to-back and see if the noise remains.

What you'll need

Parts

1. A new wheel bearing. Your options here are: buy from your Ford dealer (expensive); buy the same part (SKF ????) elsewhere; buy a cheaper pattern part; get a secondhand bearing.
2. Bolts. The SKF kit comes with new bolts. Otherwise, re-use your old ones or preferably (as these are holding your rear wheels on) buy a set of 4 new ones per side from your Ford dealer (about 30p each). FINIS code?

Tools

1. Jack
2. Axle stand
3. Wheel chocks - you're working on a car with the handbrake off and the rear wheel jacked up. Don't take chances here.
4. Wheel brace
5. Long-reach Torx T50 bit. The bolts holding the hub to the car are accessed through a small hole (diameter ??mm). You'll need at least 3" of extension bar to get to it. 3/8" drive sockets should fit through the hole; 1/2" ones won't.
6. If you use the bolts in the SKF kit, you'll need a Torx E12 socket - again, 3/8" with an extension. Halfords sell these.
7. Thread lock compound - SKF bolts are pre-treated with some blue gunk, otherwise apply your own.
8. Torque wrench. Bolt torque is important, and the hub bolts aren't the place to go guessing.