So, long story short. I'm FI and I went to the track and broke my axle. Bought a new axle then noticed the wheel bearing was bad on that side. Bought a brand new wheel bearing from Nissan and had it pressed at a machine shop. Put it on everything's fine. Drove about 50 miles normal daily driving and now the wheel bearing is bad again on that same side. Has ALOT of slop.

Am I just very unlucky or is there another issue??

Buying wheel bearings at nearly $70 a pop isn't cheap.

 

for what its worth I had the exact same issue on my brand new '08 a month or so after I got the car. Jacked it up only to find ridiculous slop in a bearing that should have still been like new. Sounds like Nissan's bearing suppliers need to consider tightening up their quality control. Good luck!

 

Are you torquing the axle nut to the correct spec?

 

I would say either the torque (as someone mentioned) or there is maybe an imbalance in that side of the axle causing it to wobble and wear out the bearing fast. Maybe bent rim causing out of round?

just ideas to think about

 

I was reviewing older posts and realized that I never updated this one with a solution to the problem.

The machine shop did not install the bearing correctly. If you do not provide an even amount of pressure or if you apply pressure to the inside part of the bearing, the ***** in the bearing can create indentations on the surface/race of the bearing. This type of bearing cannot be hammered into place. A good press is needed to provide an even amount of pressure.

I had a machine shop remove the bad bearing and I watched them install the new one. All is good now.

 

Probably a bad hub, along with the bearing. My last bearing also took out the hub, both usually have to be replaced.

 

If the bearing had play before replacement, the hub should be replaced with it. The inner race of the bearing becomes loose and wears the rear part of the hub. Also not supporting the inner race while pressing in the hub will cause the ball bearings to fall out of place.