ZUKIWORLD Online | Suzuki 4x4 Editorial and Forum
ZUKIWORLD Model Specific Suzuki Forum => Suzuki Sidekick, Vitara, Geo Tracker (Gen. 1 Platform) 1989-1998 => Topic started by: boomer35 on May 24, 2012, 12:30:50 PM
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Sorry guys, at some point I hope to be smart enough to not be stumped by what always turn out to be simple problems, but here's another: I had some noise coming from my front wheel bearings, so I checked them out. There was noticeable wiggle when holding the top and bottom of the tire, so I figured that they were bad (the noise confirmed this). The wiggle was worse on the driver's side than on the passenger side. SO, I replaced both front wheel bearings (and the spindles in the process). Tested for wiggle again, still there. I replaced both ball joints. Still wiggles. Does anyone have any idea what else could be causing this?
1990 Tracker, 2" coil spacer lift, aftermarket rims (not sure if they could be causing an issue)
Thanks guys!
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The procedure for Installing Wheel Bearings involves torquing them at 130-180 ft lbs.
You can not make that force with a hammer and screwdriver.
You will need to get the socket or maybe make one.
I'd really think this may be your problem yet.
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I have the special socket and I torqued them down to 150 ft/lbs, but it might not be a bad idea to take it to a shop for a good ol' air wrenchin to max torque. I used a breaker bar and a normal torque wrench to tighten them down.
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Check the torque on the strut bolts. With a spacer lift, you are probably running Camber adjustment bolts. I had one break on me and made driving very erratic, until the broke bolt was discovered (both ends of bolt were still in place, hiding the break).
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Tightened all four camber bolts and hit the bearing nuts with the impact wrench. This really helped the driver's side, but the passenger side still has a slight wiggle (much less than before). After a certain point, tightening the bearing nut stopped helping the wiggle. Still not sure what the deal is with this, just hope it passes inspection. Thanks for the help guys!
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I am having similar kind of problem with my vehicle also, I am getting wheel wobble at higher speeds and under braking. It's fine up to to about 60 and then after that it gets pretty bad by 80.
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My thoughts are if you still have wheel wobble when sitting on stands, your bearings are not fitting right.
I think that with the single double race used by Suzuki the inner bearing races can/should be squeezed together, creating correct bearing pressure. If the manufacturing process is not right on (or bearing/races are slightly worn), then wheel wobble will develop. Perhaps getting factory bearings would prevent this from happening with new bearings, or one could shave a little off one of the bearing inner races to allow them to compress a little more (which would then require very good cleaning to get all metal particles out). When tightening beyond FSM specs does not lessen the play, there is a reason it can not. Look at the outer double race with the bearings (slipped inside) and you will see how I came to this.
With two single races the wheel bearings are Never tightened to these requirements.