[racin_ryan]

I just had the my 65 fastback aligned and wheels balanced. I thought I had a wheel out of balance because I have a vibration that feels like an unbalanced wheel. Unfortunately I still have the vibration after leaving the shop. Vibration is a rhythmic vibration that feels like small rumble strips before a stop light at speeds above 35 mph. I jacked the car up and I don't know how much play is acceptable. Only the driver's side front feels completely solid. The other 3 have a very small amount of play. I just recently bought the car, so for all I know they may be the original wheel bearings. How hard are they to change and is this my problem? Should I change all of them just for piece of mind on a 45 year old car?

 

[nigel]

They are really easy to change. The good thing about it is if you going to autozone and buy the parts. Mine came with the instruction.

 

[BillInCT]

I found it very difficult to remove the bearing cups. Unless you have a bearing puller. No one had the bearing tool to make it easy to install them and I wound up buying 3 large sockets to install the new ones.

There are several online how-to's on this topic which cover packing the bearings, installing them, and torquing the spindle nut correctly.

Bill

 

[rocky289]

Ive done quite a few wheel alignments over the years & it was standard practice to check wheel bearings, steering joints & suspension joints before starting the alignment.

"Only the driver's side front feels completely solid. The other 3 have a very small amount of play"

You check the front bearings by giving the wheels a spin & then listen.
If it's bad enough to hear on the road, it shouldn't be hard to pick up.
Rear bearings are a bit harder to diagnose but if you can eliminate the front ones first.

Just make sure you havent got some loose wheel nuts, they can sound similar before they fall off.

 

[The Greek]

Readjust the front wheel bearings. The passenger side sounds as if it's a bit too loose. If you're thinking of installing new ones, do it. They don't cost much. They come in sets of one bearing with its race.

You can remove the races with a hammer and drift punch. The hub should have machined recesses so that you can get behind the race with the punch and tap them out. You're not going to hurt a race by tapping on the edges. It's made of a very hard steel.

When installing, other than doing it the right way, as with a huge socket, you can use a block of hard wood to get the race started and tap it in as far as you can. Finish seating it with the punch, by carefully tapping on the edge. It's shade-tree, but it can be done. Always use new cotter pins and don't forget to put them in. Its happened.

The rear axle bearings are pressed on and they are sealed bearings. The bearings do not receive any lubrication from the differential lube as the newer rear axles do. You'll need to use a press to get the bearings on and off, unless you're real creative and work under a huge shadetree.

 

[racin_ryan]

Do you think the wheel bearings are causing my vibration? It has new coil and leaf springs. New shocks all the way around. Just had computer alignment and wheel balancing. And all other suspension parts (ball joints, control arms, etc.) look newer or in good working order. What else could be causing the vibration while driving above 40 mph if not the wheel bearings?
Thanks, Ryan

PS I went to a newer tire shop and I didn't see them spin the wheels. It was on a lift with the weight still on the wheels. They used another lift to remove the wheels for balancing, but this was done after the alignment and they seemed to be only balancing the wheels and not looking for anything else.

 

[mustang656man]

your first problem is you tried to diagnose the problem and told the shop what to do,not saying i have a problem and it is a vibration and let them diagnose what it is. wheel bearings will not cause a vibration like you described,they will sound like a grinding noise when they are about to go. it could be universal joints or an unbalanced drive shaft. it also could be something wornout in the drivetrain.

 

[kiwiboy]

Doubt it is wheel bearings causing vibrations like that. Sounds more like something in the drive line or possibly a tire issue. Check your universal joints as these are often overlooked in a service.

 

[BillInCT]

You can remove the races with a hammer and drift punch. The hub should have machined recesses so that you can get behind the race with the punch and tap them out. You're not going to hurt a race by tapping on the edges. It's made of a very hard steel.

My hubs were narrower in the middle than at the inner race edge so it was not possible to punch them out. That's what made this much more difficult for me than I'd hoped it would be.

 

[andrewmp6]

The easy way i learned to tell is compare the brake pads on both sides if the side you feel it on pads are wore more its the wheel bearing.

 

[racin_ryan]

update and thanks

Well, my initial diagnosis of wheel bearings was incorrect. Put the car up on jacks and put it in gear and gave her some rpm's and still had the same vibration, so that put it in the drivetrain. U-joints felt a little loose, so I took out the driveshaft and I found u-joints that weren't too bad, but could use replacing. Big thing was I found a driveshaft that had been shortened and welded back together by a hack. Took it to the driveshaft shop and they laughed and told me to throw it away. They made me a new one and that cut the vibration in half but not entirely gone yet. Next easy and cheap step looked to be an old cracked transmission mount. Got the new one ($8) in today and noticed that it was different from the one I removed. New one was an inch shorter and the bolts for the crossmember were wider and the whole thing was a little wider. Looked at the parts catalog and my trans. mount looked like one for a 79-81 Mustang. I took the new one home and figured I would see what I could do. Upon closer inspection of the cross member the holes had been widened for the wrong mount. The new mount fit in what appeared to be the original side of the holes. The new mount was going to lower the rear of the tranny by and inch, but it looked like it might give a better driveline alignment. Next step was measurement of the driveshaft angles. Did you notice that I said the next step WAS. SUCCESS.... My baby is silky smooth on the road. All the little rattles are gone and it is suprising how quiet this old car is on the road. Thanks to everyone for all the advice and help. I'm sure something will come up in the future when I start upgrading. Thanks again.:gringreen