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I am going through my car changing out worn parts one at a time. I have 95,000 miles on it now. I have heard that it is about time to replace the bearings. I don't want to change them unless I have to, but I also do not want it to leave me stranded either. How many miles are they usually good for? Should I start buying them now so that the cost does not hit me all at one time? I would like to change them all out when I do it. Who has the best price on them?
The shop manual spells out how to check them; a dial indicator is the only way to do it right. They get execssive end play at about the miles you have depending on how you drive (does it jump around a lot on rutted roads? usually a sign they are loose).
Got mine from Pep Boys, they have a lifetime warranty. I'm sure you will hear a lot about are they quality parts. Mine have lasted as long as the orginal ones so that answers it for me.
The fronts are easy to do. The rears aren't impossible for a good backyard wrench.
When you do the rears do the halfshaft u-joints at the same time and fix the high speed vibration problem (if you have one). Get good u-joints without zerks. U-joints can be changed out at home with a coupe of old sockets and wood blocks to support the shaft since they are held in by clips not injected plastic like the steel driveshafts on most cars.
Thanks for the replies. I just changed out the four u-joints for the axle shafts. They were in bad shape. A couple of them had pin grooves imprinted into them. I don't know why they did not leave me stranded. I need to change the ones for the drive shaft now. The axles only took me a couple of hours on each side. I wiggled the tires while I had it up and did not feel any play in them. That is why I was asking. I did put the heavy-duty u-joints in. Every weekend I have been changing something out. Breather mod, air filter, tires, shocks, plugs, plug wires, axle u-joints, water pump, opti-spark sensor, coil, ignition module, fuel sending unit and rear tie rod ends. It has been eating up a lot of my time and $. I will not be comfortable with it until I have replaced all the worn parts. It is right at the time when all the parts start going out. Oh I have only had it a couple of months. I also want to change the rear gears out when I find out how.