Wheel Bearings - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

Gary6595 · 11-09-2011, 08:56 AM

Hello All,
I attempted to conduct a search for my question, but got the following: "all remote agents unreachable and no available local indexes found."
I am not sure what this means, but I still would like someone knowledgeable to provide an opinion.
My wife's car is an '05 Camry SE, V-6, 60K miles. Just recently, I start to hear a roaring sound starting about 35-40 mph. It sounds like a rear wheel bearing. I jacked up the front end and ran the car in drive, but did not hear anything unusual. I jacked up the rear and shook the wheels in and out and did not notice any play or wobble. I drove about 45-50 on a straight road and swerved gently from right to left and vice versa, but could not determine where the sound is coming from. How do I narrow my inspection to detemine if it is a wheel bearing, and which bearing is bad?
Thanks in advance for your replies.
Gary

Big Wheezy · 11-09-2011, 11:09 AM

I'd suggest you start by rotating the tires, if your sound doesn't change when changing direction it makes me think you may have a bad tire rather than a wheel bearing, when you turn toward the side the bad bearing is on the weight transfer away from the bearing should cause the noise to drop quite a bit. Also if it's bad enough to be a real concern you'd probably feel the free play in the wheel/hub assembly. If the noise moves when you rotate the tires you know what it is, if not keep looking, kinda hard to be real sure without being there.

Gary6595 · 11-09-2011, 11:45 AM

Thanks. I have not tried to rotate the tires, but that is an easy trial. Will do.

Regarding the swerve - do you mean that if I swerve to the RIGHT, and the noise stops, the bad bearing is the LEFT one? Or vice-versa?

Big Wheezy · 11-09-2011, 11:56 AM

It will be on the side you're turning towards, ie if you turn right and the noise goes away it's a right side bearing (the weight transfers to the "outside" of the turn, which is somewhat counter intuitive unless you watch a car turn). Another trick is jack up each wheel and support the car with a jackstand and make sure it's sturdy, then put your hand on the spring coil and spin the wheel a few times, even if the bearing isn't loose enough to be detected by the pulling at 12 oclock and 6 oclock on the tire/wheel combo it frequently will vibrate strongly enough into the spring to be felt. Also when you're pulling the wheels/tires off to rotate check each one carefully for odd wear like cupping, feathering etc.

Doctor J · 11-09-2011, 11:58 AM

I would like you to look on this thread
Driver side front wheel bearing failure

Gary6595 · 11-09-2011, 01:06 PM

Dr J - Thanks a lot! That is a great post. I'll try additional tests and let ya'll know . . .

thanks Wheez . . .

Gary6595 · 11-09-2011, 03:54 PM

I pulled the rear wheels and released the calipers a bit (to partially silence the pad/rotor noise) and it appears the right rear is bad.

Anyone have experience replacing these? It appears to be rather straightforward, as the hub assembly is a unit. I did the same on my Corvette years ago. Threads or pictures would be nice . . .

Before I go to the local Toyoya dealer's parts department, I am taking bids on my first-born son . . . . I just KNOW this is going to be expensive.

( . . . I wonder if this is covered under the drive train warranty . . .?)

Donald E. George · 11-09-2011, 04:53 PM

Replacing the bearing unit if fairly easy,four bolts. I don't think the new bearing will come with the ABS sensor so you will either have to buy a new one or try pulling the sensor out of the OEM bearing. The sensor is a press fit in the bearing. I haven't done this repair but my shop manual shows a puller being used to remove the sensor. Google ToyotaPartsEast, fill in the data for your Camry and look at the illustration for the brakes. This will give you an idea of what the sensor costs and the arrangement of the sensor to the bearing.Regards

xShoOtin StarSx · 11-09-2011, 05:00 PM

i recently had my front passenger side wheel bearing replaces. cost me 190$ at a local mechanic. now im driving smooth and quiet.

LE05 · 11-09-2011, 05:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gary6595

Anyone have experience replacing these? It appears to be rather straightforward, as the hub assembly is a unit. I did the same on my Corvette years ago. Threads or pictures would be nice . . .

Before I go to the local Toyoya dealer's parts department, I am taking bids on my first-born son . . . . I just KNOW this is going to be expensive.

( . . . I wonder if this is covered under the drive train warranty . . .?)

I have, fairly straight forward... just like Donald E. George said above, 4 bolts and in theory the hub assembly will just drop right out. However, if you live in an area where salt is used on the roads in winter... be prepared to use lots of muscle, penetrating lubricant, and lots of curse words

When I replaced the rears on mine when I did a drum to disc swap, they were rusted SOLID into the knuckle. I had to take both entire knuckles to a shop to have the hub assemblies pressed out.

Check out Timken hub assemblies as an alternative to OEM Toyota. They are a quality aftermarket replacement and won't cost you an arm and a leg. I've had Timken hub assemblies on the rears for 30K miles and have no issues.

LE05 · 11-09-2011, 05:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Donald E. George

Replacing the bearing unit if fairly easy,four bolts. I don't think the new bearing will come with the ABS sensor so you will either have to buy a new one or try pulling the sensor out of the OEM bearing. The sensor is a press fit in the bearing. I haven't done this repair but my shop manual shows a puller being used to remove the sensor. Google ToyotaPartsEast, fill in the data for your Camry and look at the illustration for the brakes. This will give you an idea of what the sensor costs and the arrangement of the sensor to the bearing.Regards

Much easier to replace the hub assembly as a whole than to try to replace just the bearing. The hub assembly will come with a new ABS sensor if you order the correct part (w/ ABS).

***arabianobsession*** · 11-10-2011, 03:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gary6595

Hello All,
I attempted to conduct a search for my question, but got the following: "all remote agents unreachable and no available local indexes found."
I am not sure what this means, but I still would like someone knowledgeable to provide an opinion.
My wife's car is an '05 Camry SE, V-6, 60K miles. Just recently, I start to hear a roaring sound starting about 35-40 mph. It sounds like a rear wheel bearing. I jacked up the front end and ran the car in drive, but did not hear anything unusual. I jacked up the rear and shook the wheels in and out and did not notice any play or wobble. I drove about 45-50 on a straight road and swerved gently from right to left and vice versa, but could not determine where the sound is coming from. How do I narrow my inspection to detemine if it is a wheel bearing, and which bearing is bad?
Thanks in advance for your replies.
Gary

I think when you get that message, it's just a system glitch of some sort. If you wait awhile and come back, it disappears.