Hub bearings & front end vibration

[EricB]

I, like many of you, have a front end which so far has resisted any attempt that I have made to stop it from vibrating at speed. I've had the wheels balanced twice, I've put in the MSA T/C kit, I've changed my steering rack bushings to urethane, I've made sure the hub bearing castle nut was tightened to the proper torque specs.....

I've got a feeling my hub bearings themselves are to blame.

My spare parts Z had 4 brand new hub bearings in the glove box which if they do fit the Z I'd like to use. Problem is they are not in Nissan packaging, they are as follows:

One in a Beck/Arnley Worldparts box labeled 051-3160 - inside is a NTN brand made in Japan bearing

One in a Koyo Seiko Co. Ltd box labeled 60-702 and then RLS10 BS. it also has a part number which looks very Nissan-ish: 43210-E4100

Two in a SKF Made in Germany box labeled 60-900 followed by a Nissan-ish 40210-8500

Does any one happen to have dimensions of the correct bearings for the front of the Z that I could use to check out if the 4 I have are of any value to me?

A longshot I know, but I thought I'd ask since money is tight right now....

-e

[ozlime240z]

I bought some wheel bearings for my Z a couple of months back and kept the boxes. I do not have the measurements on me, they are at home and I am at work. I will check them tonight and reply tomorrow if nobody else has.

I chased a vibration in my Z a few months back. Tried every thing wheels bearings, balance etc. It turned out to be a slightly warped brake rotor. Something most people don't check, but is really easy to check, and should be checked first. All you have to do is jack up the car, rotate the wheel and look for a tight spot.

New brake rotors set me back $US140 from www.discpads.com They are high quality dba (www.dba.com.au) replacements.

OzLime240Z

[biker]

EricB

Also have a look at the hub itself. I know of a guy who had some bad vibrations and tried everything such as machining discs, chngeing wheel bearings, etc. It turned out that he needed to get new hubs so replacing the bearings did not solve the problem.

Regards

Biker

[EricB]

Biker,

What was wrong with your friend's hubs? what was it about them that made changing them necessary? how did he come to the realization that the hub themselves were giving him the problems?

-e

[2ManyZs]

One thing to be careful of with older hubs is that they might have been run with bearings that were too loose and the bearing race will have worked loose in the hub. If you can set the race in by hand they will spin and cause all sorts of problems. They need to be tight enough to have to be set in with a bearing punch.

Cracks are also another thing to look for, either in the hub itself or inside the bearing cavity. Overheating of the bearings can cause stress cracks to develop inside the cavity and the cause not only premature bearing failure, but also heat which can also affect the spindle.

Be sure to check everything carefully after a good cleaning.

I've got a new set of bearings out in the shop, will try to get you the numbers and such soon. Been a bit too busy lately.....

You could check your inner tie rods ends also, the ones at the very end of the steering rack. That might be one of the areas that is causing some of your problem. That and the brake rotor/caliper would be the next step before a complete hub teardown....