How hard is it to repack front wheel bearings on a 94 -Z28?

 

They're not serviceable. The hub has to be replaced as a unit. Autozone sells Timken front hubs for approximately $100 each. Most of us that road race or autocross and go through tons of hubs find GM's to be the best. Timken supposedly makes the original-but not sure.

 

Do the wheel hub assemblys contain the ABS sensor as well?

 

Yes the sensor is included.

 

I have had a hub failure while at the road course a couple of years ago.

It is easy to change and as mentioned earlier... it is a sealed unit with the sensor included.

 

I've done that just the other weekend. It's not bad at all.
There are 4 bolts holding the hub in place. All you need to do is remove the wheel, take those bolts out and you will most likely need to hammer the old hub out since they tend to get stuck. The new one will go in easy.
Make sure the ABS connector goes in straight and smooth or you will soon have an ABS light!

30-40 minute job at the most.

 

I guess my next question would be, what would signal a hub going out? I have a squeak that gets faster as the car goes faster, and the brakes were just replaced so I know it's not the indicator.

 

The cylinder on the caliper could be sticking, causing the pads to rub against the rotor more than normal. The best way to tell is by rotating the wheel, then you can take the caliper off and rotate it again. It shouldn't be too hard to rotate the wheel with the caliper on but you will be able to tell if your caliper is sticking since it will be harder then. If not, then it's your bearing.

 

Anyone got some good pointers on how to identify which wheel bearing is making issues. I've got the usual symptoms, humming noise, gets louder in one direction quieter in the other, but I can't tell if it's front or back. If it's back I think I'll take advantage of the GM 4.10 gear sale going on right now.

The thing has been making noise forever and I'm just waiting for it to start causing real issues while I'm on a long trip. Which would be the third time for me, first the opti, then the tranny.

 

Typically you'd check your front bearings by getting the wheel off the ground, and putting one hand at 12 o'clock, the other at 6 o'clock. See if you can wiggle the wheel at all. Any movement is not good.

Dave

 

a bad rear bearing can be found by driving the car on stands. no noise means its in the front. For checking front bearings other then checking foe play in the wheel you can use an old mechanics trick. drive teh car untill you can hear it humm. Then pretty agressivly turn the wheel ahrd left and right several times ( make sure that there are not cops or they might think your drunk) pay attention to when the noise goes away. If it goes away when you jerk to the left the right front bearing is bad. If it goes away while jerking to the right then the left front bearing is bad..

 

Well then I guess it's the right front bearing the noise gets louder when I turn left on the freeway... anyone know how long wheel bearings last after they start making that kind of noise? Mine's been making it since I bought it 15 mos. ago.

I thought it was tire problems at first, but can't really be that now since I have all different tires. And a different tranny....