98 with Duratec, wheel bearing question

I'm at about 230,000 miles now. Starting to get a howl from the left front that sounds about the same as my Escape did when it had a wheel bearing go bad. I did that one myself and was wondering if anyone had done one with this car that could give me a heads up on any potential problems that could make it go longer than just a Saturday of "fun" in my garage.
Also, does anyone know the life expectancy for these types of sealed wheel bearings? I kind of miss the old days of cleaning, inspecting, repacking or replacing the wheel bearing with every brake job. You always knew what you were rolling on.

never did one on this model butthe life expectency is guessed between 100000 to 200000 so you did good. heat from the brakes moisture dirt dusty conditions all are reasons that excel the shortening life of the bearings. if your competent you should be able to get it done in about 4 hours. maybe 2 with air tools

I'd get a repair manual with instructions to help,, my manuals say no power tools must be used as it's possible to damage, there's also a couple of pieces that cannot be reused, especially the torque-prevailing pieces, they will be listed in the repair section,,, below are a couple of tidbits from my book:: using hand tools it may take an extra bit of yank to loosen up due to the design of the fasteners

CAUTION: Use extreme care not to damage boot seal. Do not use power tools to remove the nut, or bearing and seal damage will result. Loosen the nut first, then remove nut from stud using the hex hold feature.

CAUTION: Use extreme care not to damage boot seal. Do not use power tools to tighten nut or bearing and seal damage will result. Install nut using hex hold feature to prevent the stud from rotating.

Of course you're free to do as you please

you want to make sure to use a tourque wrench on the center nut that holds the axle in the hub. if an impact is used on it it will damage it. ive used an impact to take out the bolts that hold it to the steering knuckle but do it the way you are comfortable.

I had the left front one go on my 01 at 33000 miles.

Your timing is impecable. I just did this over the past 3 evenings on a 98 Taurus Duratec. My car was also beginning to make a horrible howl. The driveability was unaffected, but my wife wouldn't ride in it anymore because it was so loud! Before you start measure how much thread sticks out from hub nut and that will give you some reference as to how close you're getting when you put it back. The local auto store let me use a hub socket kit for free. Just pay a deposit and return for a full credit.

If I could suggest one thing make sure you have a 15 mm six point socket with extension for the top knuckle/hub retaining bolt and a box end for the other two so you don't round them off. I used a gear puller to break the half shaft loose from the hub, but unlike the directions I could not get the shaft to push all the way out and I didn't want to force it so it just hung in the hub while I was working. The knuckle/hub retaining bolts start fairly easy but get very tight just before they come out so have a breaker bar handy in just in case and watch your knuckles!

Once the three bolts were out I had to whack the hub assembly with a hammer and prybar to free it from the knuckle. Just go all the way around a few times and it should pop out. The old hub/bearing was badly rusted and there was some baked on grease in the knuckle opening, just use a razor blade or steel brush to get it as clean as possible.

My new hubs/bearings didn't slide the way by hand, but close enough that the new knuckle bolts could grab. I probably had a quater inch to go and slowly drew it in by tightening the bolts in turn. It really doesn't take much torque.

The directions say to use new knuckle bolts and shaft nuts, which I did, but it was a nightmare finding them. They had to be ordered by the dealer, and when I went to pick them up they said they usually use them over again. It's one of those decisions that's up to you.

It took me three evenings of a couple hours work to finish, but may have gone quicker if my 12 point socket didn't keep sliding off the bolts! You might be able to do it in 1 or 2 days.

I got everything back together tonight and as I backed out of the garage I heard a horrendous grinding noise. "OH NO!" I thought, "I broke the CV joints." As it turns out, I forgot to take the block out from under the car when I let the jack back down!

Good luck!


I'm at about 230,000 miles now. Starting to get a howl from the left front that sounds about the same as my Escape did when it had a wheel bearing go bad. I did that one myself and was wondering if anyone had done one with this car that could give me a heads up on any potential problems that could make it go longer than just a Saturday of "fun" in my garage.
Also, does anyone know the life expectancy for these types of sealed wheel bearings? I kind of miss the old days of cleaning, inspecting, repacking or replacing the wheel bearing with every brake job. You always knew what you were rolling on.

Hey Kr, I just wanted to say "Thank you!" This post saved me HOURS of time, and thank you for sharing your work with us. My poor passenger side bearing went bad, and without this post, I would have beat myself to death with the manual, THANK YOU again.

One thing I would add is that for the top bearing bolt, I used a deep offset box wrench 15 mm, and it worked WONDERS! I had originally bought those when I had an old Olds (metric of course) and did a top end rebuild, those things were worth their weight in gold... Again, thank you! http://www.autotech.com/images/products/Deep-Offset-Box.jpg

Thanks for all the info everyone. I'll get a 15mm deep offset wrench before I start. Don't know when I'll get to it. My sons 91 tempo had the outer drivers cv joint blow apart. So I'm doing that first.

Grrrr! My knuckles curse you! At least they've healed up by now!