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ball joint, wheel bearing ?'s

99XJLove

NAXJA Forum User
Okay so now my jeep is making a moaning rumbling type noise from the front end. I thought that maybe my alignment was off so I had it re-aligned. I know for sure that I need new ball joints and wheel bearings. Could either one of those be causing my rumbling noise? Then they guy at the alignment shop told me to just replace my passenger upper and bring it back in to see if I would need an offset ball joint on the other upper. I feel that if I were to replace all 4 with stock replacements then it should be fine right?
I was looking at wheel bearings from NAPA. What is the difference between these 2 different types? I know there is a $40 difference but other than that what is there?
http://www.napaonline.com/masterpag...r=BR930219&Description=Hub+Assy+-+Front+Wheel
http://www.napaonline.com/masterpag...r=BR930014&Description=Hub+Assy+-+Front+Wheel
As far a ball joints go would these ones be okay.
http://www.quadratec.com/products/56100_00.htm
I don't do much rock crawling, just a little trail riding with the ocasional boulders in the way. I am also planning on going to 33" BFG M/T but this is going to put a delay in it. Please help me if you have any imput at all thanks.
 
Why the recommendation for the offset joints? I'd think that replacing the four of them with stock items would get everything where it needs to be.​



Mark​


That was exactly what I thought also. I don't see any need for an offset ball joint. I'm not too sure about why but he said that after replacing the one on the passenger side it would effect the one on the drivers side.
 
When I bought my 99 the right tire was wearing on the outside. Just looking at it you could tell the camber was off. Checked and found an adjustable BJ. Replaced it with a standard SPICER, wheel alignment is perfect, no more tire wear on the side. I use SPICER parts when possible, driveline shops carry them. As for the wheel bearing, if the sound changes when you turn the wheel, its the bearing. Two styles of hubs, non interchangeable, make sure you match the old to the new. Same thing with brake rotors. A mismatch will freeze the rotor.
The ball joints don't produce a rumbling noise.
 
My front bearings have been rumbling for a while no change in noise when turning the wheel changed the bearings anyway used the napa more expensive ones noise is all gone now steering seems tighter too.
 
When I bought my 99 the right tire was wearing on the outside. Just looking at it you could tell the camber was off. Checked and found an adjustable BJ. Replaced it with a standard SPICER, wheel alignment is perfect, no more tire wear on the side. I use SPICER parts when possible, driveline shops carry them. As for the wheel bearing, if the sound changes when you turn the wheel, its the bearing. Two styles of hubs, non interchangeable, make sure you match the old to the new. Same thing with brake rotors. A mismatch will freeze the rotor.
The ball joints don't produce a rumbling noise.


I was planning on buying the parts before I pull everything apart. This is my daily driver and I can only afford down time on the weekends. How are they different styles? What do I need to look for?
 
Hubs at rock auto for $91 to $118-- difference in the two is what they are calling the
'flange offset' - I have no idea what you would measure. However it also says composite or full cast rotor. So I would GUESS if your rotor height was 3 3/16ths you would get the 'composite' one and if your rotor height was 3 1/16th, you would get the 'cast' one.

This post may help
http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=918023
 
Check out NAPA's ball joints they're pretty good quality. $100 for upper and lower (one side).

Wheel bearings - Auto Zone sells Timken bearings, pretty decent. Only thing I'll buy there.

If it's the first set of wheel bearings you're buying don't waste time online - buy locally and you will save downtime (and postage) later if it's the wrong one.
 
Hubs at rock auto for $91 to $118-- difference in the two is what they are calling the
'flange offset' - I have no idea what you would measure. However it also says composite or full cast rotor. So I would GUESS if your rotor height was 3 3/16ths you would get the 'composite' one and if your rotor height was 3 1/16th, you would get the 'cast' one.

This post may help
http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=918023


Okay after reading that thread I think I know what is wrong with my jeep. It always bugged me that the lug studs on the passenger front of the jeep were longer than the lug studs on the rest of the wheels. Acording to that post then I have the older 90-99.5 style, which uses composite rotors right? Am I going to have to replace my brake rotors, and will I have any problems going back to the right style rotor, such as different calipers, or maybe they used the same rotors? I have 157k on my jeep and 7 of those are by me so I know it had to have new brakes atleast once.
 
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The only sure way to know which rotors you have is to measure their height. Composite or cast makes no difference once the brakes have been changed from O.E. because both sizes are made in both composite and cast.

I'm thinking you might find you have two different sized rotors right now because someone may have changed one hub (since you are saying the studs are longer on one side) and then found out the original rotor didn't fit. The calipers are the same no matter which rotors you have.

Someone who has a 99 and did this will probably have to chime in.....Best bet is going to take some careful measurements and see what you have and/or compare to pictures on the other post
 
Okay so tonight myself and a friend pulled the wheel bearings off of the jeep. I found exactly the opposite of what I thought I would. The Drivers side has been replaced, and it is the one with lugs that are the same as the rear. The passenger side has the longer studs but it looks O.E. So I'm going to take both of them to NAPA and see what I can come up with.

Here are a few pics for comparrison.

Driver side.

IMG_0547.jpg

IMG_0548.jpg


Passenger side

IMG_0545.jpg

IMG_0546.jpg


Both of them next to each other with rotors for comparison.

IMG_0549.jpg

IMG_0550.jpg

IMG_0551.jpg

IMG_0552.jpg
 
Depends on how much they pulled out. If they made it out past the differential seal then you 'should' pull them out all the way and clean up any dirt that might have gotten on the splines. Put some gear lube on the splines and 'carefully' slide them back in, attempting to keep the axle centered in the differential tube, as it has to go into the pumpkin past the seal. Work slowly, if you meet any resistance try centering it in the tube again. When you get it lined up, it will go in the diff pretty easily. Be careful, you don't want to chew up the seal.

If they didn't make it past the seal and just moved a little bit, don't worry about it.

If they made it out past the seal and you just put them back in, you 'may' want to consider changing the diff fluid, but it 'probably' will be OK.
 
Depends on how much they pulled out. If they made it out past the differential seal then you 'should' pull them out all the way and clean up any dirt that might have gotten on the splines. Put some gear lube on the splines and 'carefully' slide them back in, attempting to keep the axle centered in the differential tube, as it has to go into the pumpkin past the seal. Work slowly, if you meet any resistance try centering it in the tube again. When you get it lined up, it will go in the diff pretty easily. Be careful, you don't want to chew up the seal.

If they didn't make it past the seal and just moved a little bit, don't worry about it.

If they made it out past the seal and you just put them back in, you 'may' want to consider changing the diff fluid, but it 'probably' will be OK.



They didn't move but a couple of iches at most. I think they are fine! Thanks for the help. I got it all done in a total of 2hrs from removal to instalation. Quite easy if you ask me!
 
Glad it all worked out. The hardest things about that job is 1) getting those 3 bolts out and 2) actually removing the hub from the knuckle.

Are both hubs and rotors the same now?
 
Glad it all worked out. The hardest things about that job is 1) getting those 3 bolts out and 2) actually removing the hub from the knuckle.

Are both hubs and rotors the same now?

Yes, I ended up buying brand new hubs and rotors for both sides. My brake pads were almost brand new so I think the job had to of been done just before I got the vehicle. Oh well now I have a backup bearing and 1 of each rotor, cast/composite!
 
It's hard to tell from your pictures just how much difference there is, but it looks as if the right hand pair is from an older model. If the hubs and rotors are the same dimensions (in the sense that either rotor will fit on either hub properly), I would not worry about the difference in studs or appearance, which may just be brand variation in the replaced one.

As others have pointed out, once you change from OEM, even if you have the composite rotors, you can replace them with cast of the same dimensions, so it's easy to be confused or misled if you're looking at aftermarket parts.

But my uneducated guess from the pictures is that someone at some point put a hub and rotor from a pre-91 in on the passenger side.
 
Glad you did have to replace those ball joints. I had to change them on a 2001 and I almost broke the clamp getting them out and back in.
 
For what its worth. My xj (99) has cast rotors, the first time I replaced a unit bearing i used a Oriely's cheap brand (#513158) for caast rotor and its still working fine. Recently, I have a ujoint on my passenger side axle shaft go out. I robbed the entire shaft and bearing unit out of a 97 TJ axle I noticed it had composite rotors. I installed it and used my cast rotor no problem ever since the switch.
 
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