Newbie hereworking onan '87 323 wagon. Suspect bad right front wheel bearings.Found info in car that this same bearing was replaced 5K ago and mechanic noted that he did not have proper spacer available and customer should expect wheel to wobble.Chilton indicates spacers needed to properly set preload but local Mazda dealer doesn't stock and says they have never sold one.They show several available from Mazda. Wheel now has probably .020" to .030" playbut no apparent roughness when spinning it by hand with the axel removed. Temporarily fitted a new (re-man) half-shaft with no improvement. Have not pressed the old bearings out yet as I'm trying toget a handle onthe "spacer" issue first. Seems odd that dealer never uses them. Chilton says to use Mazda special tool #blah blah blahto figure out what size spacer to use. Should I be looking elsewhere for something that makes a noise that might easily be mistaken for a bad wheel bearing? Any help will be greatly appreciated.

 

I have replaced alot of those bearings and never had to install a different spacer. As long as you clean the surfaces properly you should'nt have to use a different spacer. I have seen damaged stub axles that can cause excess deflection however. A bad wheel bearing will get louder on turns. If you go say 30 mph and turn right it will load the left bearing up and if bad it will get louder. Turn left and it will load the right bearing up and get louder. If it does not get louder on turns check your tires. Rotate them etc.

 

Thanks for the reply. I'm suspicious there may be no spacer because of the info I found from the mechanic that replaced this same bearing last year. Have not yet had time to press out the old bearings toverify if there is a spacer there or not.Normally, Iuse the same method you describe to pin down a wheel bearing noise but this one has me baffled. It does not come and go with the left/right loading but instead becomes noticable at around 25 mph and just gets louder with more speed. Sounds the same on the road and on jackstands. Almost sounds like running on a rumble strip along theedge of the road. Tires are new Michelins installed just before the car left Floridaa few weeks ago and do not show any odd signs of wear. There did seem to be a bit of a rough spot in the outer CV joint (although no clicking noises on figure eights) and I had a new half-shaft available to try but it made no difference. When I drained the transaxle to replace the half-shaft, the lube was new with absolutely no signs of metal particles ormetal "dust". I had been thinking of possible ouput bearing problems in the transaxle but kind of dismissed that idea when thelube came out clean. If you think of any other ideas, I'm all ears.Probably will get around to pressing out the wheel bearings in the next few days. I'll post what I find. Thanks, again.