1991 celica gt front wheel bearings

[tkjskj02]

my daughter went to drive her car and when she went to turn the wheels it made a grinding noise and ball bearings fell out on the ground. if anyone can tell me i would like to know if it is the front wheel bearings. it is the driver side and i am wondering if it is the wheel bearing and if so what do i do. any help would be appreciated. thanks in advance. if anyone has info on this you can e-mail me at [email protected]

[beckgts]

it sounds like you are right. i had to just buy a wheel bearing about a week ago. they are only about $30. to replace it you have to rip apart the whole assembly in the front.

[thequara]

Actually, you say that ball bearings fell out on the ground? How big were these "balls"? The wheel bearings have more of a needle bearing in them, meaning that the individual rollers in the bearings are longer and rod shaped. The wheel would about have to fall off for these to fall out on the street. If you actually had round balls lying on the pavement, than it is probably your CV joint (constant velocity). This is part of the front axles. They have a kind of "universal joint" (kind of) on the front axle shaft and if the boot covering this joint gets torn, crap gets into the joint and wears it. When it wears enough, you start hearing a clicking or grinding when driving and turning the wheel one way or the other. Eventually, things become so worn in the joint, that when you turn the wheel enough, the joint spreads open and POP out come the ball bearings. These balls would be anywhere from about 1/4" to 1/2" (I don't remember how large they are in the Celica joint). If this is what has happened to you, you will probably be best replacing the half shaft (axle shaft) with a remaned unit. Replacing just the joint can be just as expensive as replacing the whole half shaft. If you are not very good at mechanics, I would not try this one by yourself.