Is it my axle or is it my bearing?

wiwo99conv · 04-01-2009

Hi everyone, I'm a newbie to a Mustang and new to this forum... Anyways, my car is shaking a hell lot on the freeway, so I thought it was the tires that were not balanced, so I took it to a tire shop and found out that my left rear wheel was wobbling, the guy took the rim out and put it on the balancer, and the rim was straight. So he told me that my axle is bent and it needs to be replaced, so I went ahead and called a local auto parts store and he told me that it could be a messed up axle bearing...who's right? Is there any way I can diagnose without pulling the axle out? I don't want to spend money that I don't have to u know? $35 for the bearing VS $110 for the axle... Help please.

232-K7 · 04-01-2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by wiwo99conv

Hi everyone, I'm a newbie to a Mustang and new to this forum... Anyways, my car is shaking a hell lot on the freeway, so I thought it was the tires that were not balanced, so I took it to a tire shop and found out that my left rear wheel was wobbling, the guy took the rim out and put it on the balancer, and the rim was straight. So he told me that my axle is bent and it needs to be replaced, so I went ahead and called a local auto parts store and he told me that it could be a messed up axle bearing...who's right? Is there any way I can diagnose without pulling the axle out? I don't want to spend money that I don't have to u know? $35 for the bearing VS $110 for the axle... Help please.

they could both be bent...did you hit something?
i would probably figure its the axle.

.boB · 04-01-2009

If you can grab the tire and move it up and down, it's probably the bearing. If you spin the wheel and it wobbles, it's probably the axle.

Keep in mind that a bad bearing can tear up an axle. So it could be both.

wiwo99conv · 04-02-2009

Well I didn't hit anything, probably the previous owner did, cuz I just got the car for a week and I thought the car only needed alignment...geez I'm scared to drive the car like that.
I think it's only the left side, since the right side wasn't wobbling.
plus, if it's a bad bearing, wouldn't it make a really annoying noise while driving? Humm......I guess I'll have to drop the differential cover and take a look huh?

.boB · 04-03-2009

The bearings you need to look at are at the outside of the axle housing. You'll need to pull the axles.