2007 Ford Freestar Replace a worn wheel bearing

Diagnose and replace a worn wheel bearing

Diagnosing a worn wheel bearing can be tricky. Many worn wheel bearings make noise

Change the geometry of your suspension and you change the load factors on your wheel bearings

but others don’t. When noise is present, the bearing can make any of these sounds: snapping, grinding, knocking, or growling. However, worn suspension components and tires can also make these same sounds. So your job is to isolate the noise. Once way to do that is to drive your 2007 Ford Freestar on a straight flat road and establish a baseline noise. Then turn your 2007 Ford Freestar to see if the noise changes. Also increase and decrease speed to see if the noise changes with speed.

Check wheel bearing end play

Some wheel bearings have worn to the point where they have excessive endplay that causes vibration in the steering wheel and inability to keep the car going in a straight line. Sometimes, excessive wheel bearing wear can cause problems with the ABS wheel speed sensor, where you’ll get an intermittent ABS trouble light due to dropped out wheel speed sensor signals.

Check a wheel bearing with an automotive stethoscope

With your 2007 Ford Freestar on jack stands, rotate the wheel by Lisle 52750 Stethoscope Kit hand and listen for bearing noise. If you hear noise, use and automotive stethoscope to find the location of the noise. Touch the stethoscope probe to the steering knuckle.

Check the wheel bearing for play

Grab the tire at the 2:00 and 6:00 o’clock position and pull and push to detect hub movement. Don’t confuse rubber movement with hub movement.

Check wheel bearing by placing hands at 12:00 and 6:00 and rocking wheel in and out

Then move your hands to the 3:00 and 6:00 o’clock positions and repeat.

Then try rocking at 3:00 and 9:00

Check for wheel bearing seal leakage

Many wheel bearings are permanently sealed. But if the seal deteriorates, the grease will leak out. So check for signs of grease leaking from the bearing. A wheel bearing with seals should never show signs of leakage. If it does, it’s bad. Any seal that’s leaking grease is a seal that’s also allowing water to enter the bearing.

How to replace a worn wheel bearing

If the hub bearing is a unit bearing assembly, you must replace the entire unit. Remove the axle nut (on a front wheel drive 2007 Ford Freestar ), and then prevailing torque axle nut remove the hub retaining bolts. You

Wheel bearing hub assembly

may have to pry the old unit out from the knuckle.

If the wheel bearing is pressed into the knuckle, you must rent the proper tools (like a hub tamer)to remove it or remove the entire knuckle and take it to a machine shop and pay them to swap out the bearings.

Tightening the axle nut

Always replace the axle nut with a new part. The single biggest mistake you can make when reassembling the new bearing is to use an impact wrench to tighten the axle nut. The rapid impacts can chip the chrome plating off the roller or ball bearings and can damage the internal races. You won’t notice the damage right away, but the bearing will fail early due to damage you caused with your impact wrench.

So tighten the axle nut by hand using a ratchet and socket to seat the nut. Then use a torque wrench to set the pre-load according to spec. Failure to use a torque wrench can cause premature bearing failure!! Proper preload is critical! If the preload is less than spec, the bearing can separate.