MrJohnTan

At first it was a slight grinding noise from the rear at low speeds. It was very intermittent so I didnt really pay too much attention to it at first. After a week or so, I began to notice a slight vibration at highway speeds. it gradually got worse in a matter of days to where the whole car would vibrate very noticeably under acceleration on the freeway. I lifted the rear end of the car today couldnt find any loose suspension parts. With the help of Todd from TMengineering, he diagnosed a problem with my wheel bearing. There was much more noticeable play with the drivers side rear wheel compared to the passenger rear wheel. Now, has anyone here replaced a wheel bearing on the SC before?

I dont drive all crazy drifter D1 style everyday, but I do like to drift my car on those late nights when no one is around. My friend has a 97 SC and he drifts his car. His wheel bearing also went out not too long ago. Is this a common issue with the SC's? Is there anything other weakspots in the suspension of the SC I should watch out for?

My friend's SC

Buttercup

My uncle replaced my rear wheel bearings. I watched. When we first bought the car the sounds was noticeable, and after a few months it seemed to pick up the noise. It started at 45 mph but by the time it was too annoying you could hear it rolling at 15 mph. When I turned right the noise would slow down (the period of the noise is longer) and when I turn left the noise quickens.

BTW the noise sounded like... WOoWOoWOoWOoWOoWOoWOoWOoWOo

The turning thing is a good way to tell if the wheel bearings are bad. You can also do the pull and tug wheel to check for looseness.

The costs for parts is about $300 for both rear wheel bearings along with the oil seals. You may need a new hub which costs extra. If you can get the hub off of the car, then it costs about $50 to press the old bearings out and the new ones in.

My uncle didn't follow the Lexus manual's instructions, so this is the general pattern he went:
1. Remove Caliper
2. Take off cotter pin and then take off center hub nut (~213 lb-ft!!!)
3. Remove Rotor
4. Loosen but not remove ball joint nuts.
5. Hammer off upper arm ball joint and then the lower ones.
6. Take off parking brake cables....
7. Lightly hammer off driveshaft from hub.

With his tools (air gun, wrenches, hammer) I'd have to say it took him less than an hour and a half to take both sides off.

Unfortunately, the dumb Lexus Parts dealers say that have the wheel bearings but it ends up they gave us the wrong one when the machine shop said it wouldn't fit. By that time the dealership closed. The next day was a Sunday so all the shops were closed. I had to wait till Monday and my car was left outside on jackstands with the driveshafts dangling around on the street!

Other than that the problem was gone. I start hearing a creaking sound again in the back though. I remember that you said you had busted control arms. Does it sound like gravel being poured into a bucket, except the sound isn't so tinny? I get the sound when I go over speed bumps.

Here's the Toyota way of replacing the wheel bearings
http://www.mkiv.com/techarticles/rea...ing/index.html

MrJohnTan

buttercup you are the man!

Thanks for all the info! The car is now sitting at my parents house =( Im just waiting for my friends garage to free up.

EDIT: about the rear upper control arm bushings. i heard it when i went over speedbumps and little dips or whenever i tried pushing down on the rear end of my car. it pretty much sounded like a creaky door. but yeah, replacing the upper bushings fixed that problem.

ummagawd

iTrader: (1)

besides getting another wheel bearing pressed in... is there anything that can be done to prevent this from happening? I intend to do some "spirited driving" that might involve drifting soon... and I don't want to have to change wheel bearings every so often.

after market wheel bearing? wheel bearing from another car?

Buttercup

I remember reading about towing that heats up the rear wheel bearing. So I guess you shouldn't load up the back while you're drifting.

Technics

I have that WooWoo sound coming from the front end at all speeds. When I get on the highway the front end vibrates for about 1-2minutes and then smooths out. I thought it might be a wheel balance or alignment issue but it's not. Do you think it's the wheel bearing?

Buttercup

I'm not positive, but when you make a turn, the inside front wheel will be turning slower than the outside. So when you turn, if the noise goes slower then the inside wheel has a problem. It could even just be the tire treads that are making the noise. I took my car to the Lexus dealership for a free road test around the block, and the technician said it was the tires, although it wasn't, but you could give that a try.

theman

The wheel bearings are a random issues in both SCs and Supras... Really luck of the draw. I've had to replace them on low mileage SCs at 60+k that were babied, and seen them be fine on 192+k SCs like mine, that have clealy not been babied throughout there life.
My Supra turbo has 120+k on it with track launches and all, no problems... But know plenty that have delt with the syptoms.
Also the parts are interchangeable between the two cars.

damon

Not absolutely positive they are the same , but you may want to check Bower BCA part # 510017 , for the fronts on an SC. I had to replace on on my 94 LS.

Inner bearing is 511007

This is a Federal-Mogul subsidirary

Nomis

So the wheel bearings make a WooWooWoo sound??? I always thought that a bad bearing would shriek or squeel? I think I have this same issue on my rear drivers side wheel. The odd thing is that I have no vibration - just the WooWoo sound. When I take a sharp left hand turn - the sound goes away - does this indicate that it is the inner or outer bearing? I'm going to take it to the stealer tommorrow in hopes I can save the hub from damage. I really hope it's not the differential as that would be major $$$.

SCV8

Supra, Supra TT, and all SC ('92-'98) all use the same wheelbearings.
Don't know what the LS uses.

itssr20

For you guys that changed your rear wheel bearing- how did you get the suspension arm joints off????

I'm hammering them to death and they won't come off!!!
Help!

Akrobatik

I used a joint seperator but it ripped up all the boots cause we got impatient with it, we tried every other way to get them off they were a hassle to get off.