Axle nut got loose, how bad is my hub now?

[Regardie]

So last week I started noticing that I was getting the whomp, whomp, whomp sound when turning right at highway speeds. First I thought it might be the steering rack as I found both boots torn and pretty much useless.

Then I decided it was probably a bad wheel bearing as the car has 190K on it. So I started reading up on bearings to see if this was something I could fix. The car got very little driving during this time.

Today I jacked it up to see if there was play in the bearing in front where I was hearing the noise. The driver's side wheel had a bunch of play. I then took off the tire so I could hit all the various bits with PB Blaster and got ready to order some parts. At the last, I checked the axle nut and found it hand tight. That surprised me a little. It had worked out the keyway lock and was slowly backing itself off.

So I torqued it back to 139 ft-lbs and restaked the axle nut. It looks like I should get a new one. I then took it out for a drive and it felt far less scary. The loud sounds and rubbing are gone but there is still a squeal now at low speeds turning left.

My question is how badly damaged do you think my bearing and hub are now? There is no racing or particularly hard driving upcoming for the car, do you think I can run it this way for a while?

I am guessing that I will need a new hub as well as the bearing and seals. Should I go OEM on the hub?

[dodik]

if the bearing doesn't make any noise and spins freely you should be good for a while, it may have caused some undue wear on it but its a wear and tear item anyway. I had it happen to me once drove for another 120k without issues, but get a new nut if you don't trust the old one.

[Wiscon_Mark]

As Dodik said - the bearing might be a bit more worn now. I doubt you did any damage to the hub. Those are generally not items that ever need replacing, short of collisions.

[meepers]

Just figure on replacing both front wheel bearings at once. And yes, you SHOULD replace the stake nut, as they are (one time use) but I am horrible and unless I replace an axle, never have replaced one alone or on removal.

If it was MY car, I would replace both front wheel bearings when it comes time to do the next alignment, and just be done with it. Having a wheel bearing fail fully is some scary stuff and can be very bad. Use OEM bearings or Timken. Looks like partsgeek.com has the timken bearings for $24.00 Each right now. THey do need to be pressed in. If you pull your knuckles any decent mechanical shop should be able to press the hub/bearings for cheap.

When I do the rebuild on Ruby, she is getting all new wheel bearings as they are all in excess of a quarter of a million miles, and everything else suspension/steering wise is new or rebuilt.

[redlegacygt]

I just had to replace my rear wheel bearing and had the same thing. i dont know if when the bearing gets really bad, that there's enough play to start wiggling the axle nut off, but mine was loose as well... It's hard to believe it could happen, but i guess you never know. Either way, i'd replace the bearing just to be on the safe side. The hub as they said earlier should be ok.

[Dead91silvia]

if the bearing doesn't make any noise and spins freely you should be good for a while, it may have caused some undue wear on it but its a wear and tear item anyway. I had it happen to me once drove for another 120k without issues, but get a new nut if you don't trust the old one.

I agree... I had this same thing happen to me a few years ago. My bearing lasted about another 2 months. I lucked out and found a new hub with a bran new bearing in a wrecking yard for $40. They are common to find in yards if you know where to look and also dont have the tools to press one in/out.