I am in the final throws of re-assembling my front suspension. Everything is on save for the front passenger hub. When I initially seat the hub on the spindle, it will rotate freely without a sound. However, when I fully seat the hub in the correct location, I get a severe grinding noise coming from the back. If I HAND tighten the nut so that the hub has no lateral free play, the hub is very hard to turn and there is an awful grinding noise. At times the hub will completely bind up.

Does the back lip of the hub have a tight clearance with the spindle face? Previous POs have hammered on this lip a bit and it is uneven. Could the deformations on the lip be rubbing/binding against the spindle face? If so, can I just grinding down these deformations?

Thank you.

Take a Sharpie or a permanent marker and put some ink on the bent part where you think the hub is rubbing. Then put it on and turn it a couple times. If it is scraping there it will rub the ink off.

If that is the problem, yes, you can grind it away. The only issue is that you don't want to get any metal in your bearings, so be careful about that...

I am prepared to ditch the bearings and rear seal for the reason you just mentioned. They are relatively cheap, it's just the labor involved to remove the seal and clean all the grease.

Thanks for the tip about the Sharpie.

I might be thinking of the wrong thing here but, don't you tighten the nut to a certain torque then back it off like 1/2-3/4 of a turn? Sorry, I'm going from memory here. The service manual explains it a heck of a lot better. Are we talking about the same nut?

Almost. You are correct about the nut tightening procedure (I have an FSM as well), but my hub is rubbing/grinding before I put the nut on the spindle. If I just HAND tighten the nut, the rotor is VERY hard to turn and there is an awful grinding noise.

Check the races and the bearings-sounds like you need new ones.

Will

They are brand spanking new as are the following:

Remanufactured calipers

ST Sway Bars

Urethene Bushings

MSA T/C kit

Powerslot Rotors

Tokico HP Shocks and Springs

Ball Joints

Outter Tie Rods

Steering Rack Boot

Pictures:

If they are installed correctly and nothing is bent, they are the only contact points, and thereby the source of the grinding.... Take them out and roll them in matched pairs in your hands. One is at least contaminated with grit.

WIll

As my original post indicated, when the nut is HAND tightened, the hub binds up and there is an awful grinding. I am not talking about grit in a bearing grinding, I am talking about two oceanic liners colliding grinding. Sometimes I can not even turn the hub with the nut hand tightened.

I am replacing the bearings tomorrow as well as trying jmortensen's tip about checking the back of the hub.

He said the backside of the hub is bent. I've seen that before from poor attempts to separate the rotor from the hub. If that is the problem, then grinding the bent part away.

Check the bolts holding the dust shield on. Maybe one is not tight, or has two locknuts on it. One thing about it, not much can cause it, so it shouldn't be to tough to find.

Will

I just went outside and did jmortensen's trick - nada, though I may have marked the wrong area. Since the back of the hub slips over the back of the spindle (right behind the rear seal), I may have a 'lip' that is grinding instead of the back face.

When I attempted to pull the hub off, the bearing stayed behind along with the rear seal. I was able to give it a slight tap and it popped off. I checked the bearing play and there was no grinding, same goes for the outside smaller bearing.

Back when I first bought the car, it pulled to the left. I thought I had a sticky caliper as I heard grinding (and it was hard to spin) when I manually turned the wheel. Looks like I found the true culprit, but on the other side (most likely due to switching the hubs).