'90 Plymouth Grand Voyager - front wheel bearings

It's time to replace at least one of the front wheel bearings on my
'90 Plymouth Grand Voyager. The parts distributors generally seem to
not stock the bearings themself but rather they stock a complete front
wheel hub. Is there a reason why just the bearings can't be replaced?


John Keith

 

If you have a suitable press and adaptors/arbor plates, etc. and
the dollar savings is worth it versus the extra time involved, no.

 

It much easier to replace the hub assembly, and I would assume that the
market has driven parts stores to stock the complete hub vs a bearing.
The last one I bought was surprisingly cheap (to me) and was happy to
pay it to save time pressing in a bearing.

Since I work on Toyotas all day I can tell you that they frequently
need the hub anyway as the looseness/chattering of a bad bearing
destroys the press-fit surface of the hub. The Toyota design of front
bearing needs to be replaced in pieces because it is not a bolt-on
cartridge design, so we have to take them apart to repair. Of course
Toyota and Chrysler designs are engineered differently, but this is
something to think about...

Toyota MDT in MO

 

Most of the time the hub goes bad with the bearing . I would not mess with
the after markets, replace the hub and bearing assembly

Glenn Beasley
Chrysler Tech

 

In 1996, as part of a general front end rebuild of my 89 Grand Caravan,
I replaced only the front wheel bearings. The bearings cost about
$44.00 for each wheel. However, the charge for the press work to
replace both of them cost another $75.00. Not many places seem to do
press work anymore.
Eldred