I am a c3 person this 86 is my first c4,
it was making a metallic rubbing noise fron the passenger front wheel, it wasn't the brake pads so I assumed it was a wheel bearing,
I stopped in my handy dandy discount parts house and they wanted to sell me a 150.00 hub assembly, I ws told I can't change just the bearing that I have to change the hub assembly,
So is this true?
Thanks,
Cheers,
P.

 

yes.

there may be cheaper places to get them, however. there was a recent thread on wheel bearings someone posted that were listed at half that price. http://www.wheelbearingsinc.com/

 

Yeppp,all 4 wheels have a sealed hub unit so you cant just replace/repack the wheel bearings and go like the older cars.

Theyre pretty easy to change up front.The rear ones are little more difficult but not out of the reach for anyone who can do that kind of work at home with jackstands and etc.

 

PEP Boys has the Chicago Rawhide Bearing assembly which I understand is the Ac Delco assy for around $ 150 with livetime warranty

seeya

 

Ok,
Anything special I need to know to do the front,
Is it ( hub ) basically held on with the spindle nut like older cars where we just changed the bearing,
Thanks,
P.

 

It is attached to the knuckle with 3 torx bolts, I believe they are T55. Someone will correct me if I'm wrong.

 

What application do the way cheaper Fbody bearings fit on by just putting the bolts in from the backside?

Are 84-96 front bearings the same with the exception of no abs-sprocket on the early vettes?

 

Hey there Kevin,
Yes and yes. (That's my understanding anyway). But not just any F-body front bearings will work. I'm sure more will chim-in with additional info........

 

Yup, you're wrong. That's for the rear bearings.

 

the front hub assembly is attached with 4 bolts
you need to take off the caliper and then get the rotor off
looks a lot easier than the rear

 

nevermind, too slow to hit the button

 

Actually.... It depends on the model year. The 84 thru 90 used front bearings with a 4 bolt hub. Later years had a 3 bolt hub, and it's Those years which can use a camaro bearing. On the camaro the bolts thread Into the bearing flange, and to use them on a 'vette you have to drill the threads out so that the bolts can pass through the flange and thread into the steering knuckle.

Either way - actually changing the front bearings can be done very easily - probably no more than about 15 min per side (with practice and no arguments from rusty hardware..). I don't remember the bolt head size (14 mm?) but they are regular hex head, not Torx (Torx on the Rear bearings - three female torx bolts, T55, from the Inside of the upright.. changing the Rear bearings is a lot more work - the half shaft has to come out, for starters.)

By the way - I have seen replacement (cheap) front bearings that Look like cartridge type, but actually are just a backward mounted set of regular tapered roller bearings. The one I had was loose "out of the box", and I was able to take it apart, tighten up the bearing preload, and use it (the lug nut flange tapered to a spindle, with a bearing preload nut on the Inboard end - inside the dust cover on the back side of the cartridge assy - sort of a neat way to do it, but with the smaller bearing on the Inside it apparently doesn't work real well...). It only lasted a few thousand miles before loosening up again, and I took it off and threw it out at that point. I have also had cheap replacement Rear bearings become noisy and rough after only 15K miles or so.

My humble opinion - if in you are not Certain that the replacement bearing you are buying is an Exact replacement for the Delco - spend the extra and get a real Delco unit - it's expensive, but it'll last!

 

I haven't tried it, but the 4th gen f-body front wheel bearing assemblies are supposed to work for the later vettes if you drill out the mounting holes. These have four mounting holes, as do the actual vette assemblies. None of the C4 front hubs mount with only three bolts as far as I know.

BTW, here's a tech tip someone posted about this a long time ago:

https://www.corvetteforum.com/techti...=172&TopicID=2

 

Someone else asked, "why don't you just thread the bolts in from the backside, and not bother drilling anything?" It's not like the corvette knuckles are threaded or anything.

I haven't seen the fbody bearings first hand, but this sounds feasible.

 

Not true. Later C4's also use four bolts in the front. I have a '96 and have taken the front suspension apart twice for various mods. You might be thinking about C5's -- I believe they use three-bolt front hubs.

 

I can't say for sure exactly how much of rons85's post is wrong (much of it, I suspect), but I will GUARANTEE you that the half shaft doesn't have to be removed, or even unbolted, to change the rear hub and bearing assembly.

RACE ON!!!

 

Bought all four of mine on Ebay. Hub-Unit-Man & rlalone1544 were my suppliers - $375 for all four including shipping. One of them sold F & R and gave discounts for multiple orders. I did not realized this until after I placed an order with one of them. Both were good sellers and stood behind their products. Took me 20 minutes to do both fronts. I replaced both back bearings and one Ujoint in 2 1/2 hours and the rear. I had to replace one of the rears (I damaged the other putting it in) and was able to do it in about 25 minutes. Please keep in mind we are using the lift and the pits at one of my oil change shops and I had one helper and air tools.

 

Read the post above!! Swear to God on the times.

 

The front wheel bearing assembly for the 86 is exactly like the one for my 88. As mentioned, it requires that you remove the wheel and 4 bolts to replace the bearing. After jacking the C4 up properly and removing the front wheels it should take about 5~10 minutes each to replace the bearings. A 15mm socket and wrench will work just fine on the bolts and the nuts on the back side.

While you have the wheel off you should see a wire/cable going into the wheel knuckle that is held in by a single screw with a 10mm head. That is the ABS wheel sensor. It registers magnetic fluctuations caused by the toothed wheel on the back of the bearing to create an AC voltage in the sensor wire which goes to the ABS controller. The sensor is a powerful magnet and over time it can pick up road debris causing the voltage to change, potentially throwing off the ABS readings. Unscrew the sensor hold down screw and pull the sensor out. Clean it with WD-40 and smear a small amount of anti-seize on the sensor sides before replacing.

The OEM supplier for GM C4 wheel bearings was a subsidiary called New Departure Hyatt (NDH). GM sold NDH off years ago, so while NDH still makes the bearings in the AC-Delco boxes, they also sell them to other after-market suppliers in boxes that are as much as $100 cheaper.

On the back side of the front wheel bearing assembly you should see a small marking that says NDH USA. It doesn't matter if you buy it from Pep Boys for $150 or AC-Delco for $250, if it says NDH USA, it is an OEM factory stock replacement. You can pay $100 for an AC-Delco box if you like, but I'm not that partial to AC-Delco boxes myself. If it doesn't say NDH, it might be a Timken bearing (also good if not better) or it might be junk from China. I have found NDH bearings in the Chicago Rawhide and SKF boxes sold at Pep Boys. I've also found junk from China. LOOK in the box before you leave the store.

Since you will have saved as much as $200 just on the parts for the front wheel bearing replacement, you should invest in a Factory Shop Manual for your 86. Get one from Helm Inc. or eBay. About $100 new.

Remember to torque ALL lugnuts and wheel bearing bolts to factory spec before test driving.

 

Excellent post, just the kind of inside info a newbie like me needs. I have an 88 coupe, do I have ABS or was this an option? How can I tell. I promise to get a shop manual.