Bearings. what a pain.

See Last Post.... http://www.aveoforum.com/forum/f81/b...15/index2.html

Well, the my drivers side bearing has finally worn out. It's making the typical low growl as you drive down the road. At least this side held on until a more reasonable 116k miles.

I'm worried about trying to get a new bearing installed...
I did a practice removal on an old spindle I have from when the first bearing went bad on the pass. side.

I didn't go all that great.

1st the stupid tool I bought from ebay doesn't seem to have the right attachments for the Aveo.. Its the right Kent Moor j37105. the #3 piece on mine is too big to remove the hub as shown in the repair guides, but luckily I was able to utilize a 7/8 socket. That did the trick.

But part of the bearing seized itself to the hub. I chiseled away at it for an hour bit I couldn't get it to budge. I don't want to get the one thats on the car now, all apart to find the same thing...that would render the car in-op.

I haven't seen what it looks like to know for sure. But would a heater torch be an option? make sure to move / avoid any rubber or plastic that may be in the area, and warm it up. I have seen it done on other vehicles.

When I change bearings I just take the hubs to a local shop. They press out the old bearings and I give them the new ones to press in. The cost isn't too much (1/2hr labor or so).

Thanks for the replies.. I tried some heat... but only from a micro torch.. I don't think it gets hot enough. An acetylene torch would work nice for sure.

As far as bringing the spindle somewhere to have them press it out, great idea. Looking back I should have bought the ball joint separator tool, so I didn't ruin the tie rod on the way out. That probably wouldn't affect the front end alignment which I just got set a few weeks back.

Do you have a bearing separator? I used one about 3 sizes too big, but it worked out pretty well on my Aveo.

I had an inner race seize on a trailer axle bad enough once that I had to use a grinder to cut it off...getting the ticks off me after that roadside repair was almost as bad as changing the bearing.

I did the job all day yesterday.. Went ok... But again one race did in-fact stay stuck to the hub.
I took it to a cool engine shop, and they had it separated with a little heat from a torch.

Got it all done nice nice...... The other side is still making noise! Crap! One more to go.. gotta buy another bearing.

i might try over tightening the bearing to se if the noise stops first..

You mean crank down on the caulking nut some more? I did just get it real good and tight but maybe not tight enough?

I remember with VW one of the tricks for bearings was tightening them down more to make them last longer.
The difference in the torque specs was about 3/4 to 1 turn, on a 1.5mm thread so the 2 bearings where .5-.75mm tighter.

That's a good tip... While I got that thing on good and tight with the same length cheater bar, there's a chance I'm still not at the 221 ft/lbs of preload.. so I'll give it a couple of tweaks and see what I get.. a good torque wrench is in my future.. hopefully I haven't killed it already going to work and back a few times.

I know I used one of the cheaper bearings on that side. I'm going to use an OEM bearing for the pass side....I can't believe the price! The cheapest is $96+ shipping.. $180+ at advance auto and at the stealership! Napa seems to have some medium priced options.. might try one of those..

OMG I'm soo frustrated... I tried tightening up the nut.. It tightened a little more... then... threads stripped.

I'm hoping I stripped the nut, and not the axle shaft. I'm getting burned out. Ready to go get a payment on a spark.

Going in for a bearing fix again... Now that I know what I'm doing, and things are geased up, it shouldn't be that much of a pain. fingers crossed. I'll be trying an autozone cheapo bearing today because thats all I can afford right now. I'm wondering what the problem was, with this SKF bearing I just put in, but looking back it may have been damaged it myself when I pressed the hub in but didn't support the back of the bearing in the right spot. (against the inner race).

Went to remove the axle nut and as I feared... it turns but wont grab the threads, and just spins in place.

I guess my next plan, is to dremel the nut off if that's possible.

How much more did you tighten it?

if you are spinning it, try prying back on it a bit (using an impact?)

About a half turn, in small increments... I had a long extension. Must have been torqued good to begin with.

I used the bolt that came with the bearing and I shouldn't have...
It was allot smaller.. (thinner, less threads) than the factory nut.

I figure, if I dremel the bolt off and the threads on the axle are indeed bad, I could still use the stock nut and have enough threads to hold on properly.

Ok, Yesterday I spent the day installing the second bearing in the front drivers side. Took my time and made sure I did it right.

Here's the situation. I have a the typical low moan/growl that picks up speed as I drive from above 30mph. Classic symptoms of a bad wheel bearing. If I steer to the left, it quiets down. If I steer right it get louder so that points to the drivers side being bad.


I put a new bearing in yesterday, and it makes just as much noise!!

So here's my questions now...

1. Could the Axle shaft make the same noise as a wheel bearing? I had it bent out of the way during the clutch change.. I left it in the spindle and just positioned it out of the way... could this have ruined the CV joint near the spindle?

2. Also during the clutch change, I broke a bolt on the lower motor mount. So only one is holding it in. Well this caused the mount to pull away from the lower cradle it bolts too. Just a bit. So it's bolted to the cradle still but is off at an angle (like it's trying to rip away) on the side with the broken bolt. That side is about an half inch away, as opposed to the other side that is bolt down tight, (the cradle is deforming) Could this -very slight- misalignment of the motor cause this noise?

3. Wrong transmission oil? I didn't use the GM part number oil, I used some proper weight... proper API rating oil.. from Valvoline..
Could this be the source of the noise. There's alot of info out there on API 4 and how it might not have all the right additives for a modern transaxle.

What else could it be?

Granted I used a cheapo bearing this time, but should it be loud right out of the box? Like I'm driving with 44" knobby tires.

-just thinking, I havent checked the passenger side bearing yet. Tests indicate it should be the drivers side.

Here's an update...today on my lunch break, I got the spare tire jack out of the trunk and propped the car up to check the noise on the passenger side.. I think I found my problem... I think I've been changing the wrong side bearing!

You can feel alot more vibration in the coil spring as that wheel spins versus the drivers side. Go figure.

To anyone reading this, I'd skip the "steer left and right" technique. That can confirm you have a bad bearing but it wont confirm which side it is.

Both should get replaced at the same time anyhow.


I'm going to turn this into a test, I have a $19.99 bearing in the left side, now I'm going to use a 45 dollar bearing in the right side and see if there's any difference in how long they last..

I would also like to state that cv joints sound just like bad wheel bearings. But you cannot tell which side by turning the wheel because they extend when you turn in both directions, and there are 4 of them.

So i would check the cv joints before replacing another bearing.

Thanks for the tip. No boots are torn. What other ways can you 'check' cv's? They don't click or make any of the typical noises so I'm sticking with next most likely source of the noise, the pass. side bearing. The check I did on that side, (see post above) nearly confirmed this. So, off I go to replace them, besides with the bearing tool I have, now that I've been through it, It's not all that hard to replace them.
I'll be replacing the Axle shaft on the drivers side, soon enough, due to those stripped threads. I have a nut on there now, holding the proper torque, but I had to use a spacer, to stay on the remaining threads. And I wan't it all factory correct.

all you can really do is jack up the front, and shake and turn the cv's and listen for noise and feel for play. Kind of like checking the bearings..

good luck.

I had to put my car on jack stands to determine which side was bad on my 2010...I think I put that in my wheel bearing thread. I'll see if I can find it.

Edit:
I found my thread but I didn't see where I diagnosed which side it was.

My car was really noisy above 20mph IIRC. Spinning the wheels by hand and listening with a stethescope yielded nothing significant on either side. I eventually jacked up one front wheel at a time and idled the car in gear (4th I think) and found out that it was quiet inside the car with the driver's side spinning and loud inside the car with the passenger side spinning. Replacing the passenger wheel bearing eliminated my noise.

I've been waiting for my paycheck. Tomorrow AM before work I'm picking up a Timken Bearing for the passenger side. I'm going to install it after work. - right when the snow is supposed to hit.

I'm then going to drive the thing 1350 miles to Florida to see my folks. Hope all goes as planned.

Timken is what I used but I can't comment on the longevity of it...I traded the car less than 20k miles after I installed the bearing.

Thanks for the tips wylee, the passenger side now has a Timken in it, and the car is quiet and like new again.

So now it's a "Duralast" cheapo for $19.99, Vs. A Timken for $33.99..

I can say that by appearances, the Timken looks to be constructed out of better materials.

When I eventually have to replace axles, I'll put a Timken in the drivers side.

Sooo.. my bearing woes, are over. Had I not misdiagnosed the first time, this would have been much easier.

Should I cash in and go get a spark?? tempted...but I do like my Aveo. It's been a good little car.