I'm not sure hub is the right word. The 2000 Toyota Camry Solara as front wheel drive, and I'm chaning the right half-axle.
I have the axle out and the part** that immediately surrounds the end of the axle -- I think it has the lug studs in it -- turns when I push on a stud, and it turns smoothlly, no clicks, no variations in resistance, no inconsistent noises.
But I expected it to turn like the blades on a table fan. When the fan is off if you flick it with your finger, it will spin around 5 times or so before stopping.
This car part stops immediately. Is it damaged inside?
Thanks.
**It has splines on the inside, that mate with the splines on the outside of the axle shaft, near the end of the axle shaft.
It shouldn't spin as free as a fan. Any new bearing, even small ones, like an idler pulley for a fan belt, or a water pump bearing shouldn't spin so easy that it keeps going for several revolutions. They stop moving pretty quickly, not even one revolution. When they start to spin very easily, that's the first sign they are wearing out.
I did hubs on my 89 Blazer, and that's about what I remember. It's never designed to spin freely, it's on the ground with the weight of the vehicle, and pushed by a vehicle engine.
When I'm pushing it slowly, this one stops within a quarter or half of an inch, iirc, at the outer circumference. And I have to push it fairly hard to make it turn in the first place.
With one of these on each side of the car***, it seems like that would be a lot of drag on the engine, unless maybe they're like flywheels, hard to get started but keep everything turning once they are turning. Or maybe they warm up a little and turn more easily. (Doesn't seem likely. The grease was plenty greasy and thin enough at room temp.)
What I don't want is to put the car back together and realize I should have changed that part too.
I already put the car together again with another mistake, so I have to take it apart and do it again. Of course it will probably take 1/3 the time this time, but I still don't want to do it a third time.
After taking an anti-anxiety** pill to combat my claustrophobia before an MRI, I hit the start of a curb with my right front and right rear wheels.
In the rear, afaict I only ruined the tire. In the front, I ruined the tire, took a chunk out as big as a tea-cup saucer broke a big chunk out of the aluminum wheel, cracked the end of the lower control arm (where it attaches to the ball joint), broke the ball joint in two (shaft broke off), caused on of the brake pads to fall on the ground, and separated the half axle at the inner universal joint, so that big greasy gum-ball sized bearings were falling onto the ground. .
That seems like enough damage to me, but friends keep threatening me, "You probably bent the frame", "You probably bent etc.".
***I should jack up the other side and see how that one spins. I know if I try to spin he wheel by holding onto a lug nut, it will be take real effort to start it turning, and the momemtum of the wheel and tire will keep it turning so I should remove the rim. I had a really hard time removing the other two rims, but I suppose that's all the more reason to do this at home, instead of on a country road where I won't have a cheater bar.
**This is the first pill to ever give me a side effect. Before, they just do what they're supposed to do and nothing else. And the side effect wasn't on the list, either. And if I'd left 10 minutes earlier to drive 5 minutes, I don't think the side effect had started yet. (I have to admit, the seat belt worked.)
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