Sethmo99

I'm getting a serious vibration in the front drivers side, thinking I've got a dead spot in the wheel bearing, or simply dried out? Car just turned 130k, how tuff of a install is it?

flir_man

There are numerous wear out items that would cause a vibration in the front of the car. The bearing is not one of them. With today’s hardening and precision, bearings last almost forever. Check your tires and balance, tie rods, and bushings first.

Sethmo99

Its not actually a vibration its more of a continous grinding but with no sound, its as if something is out of sync. It can't be felt on the passengers side, just the drivers?

Bandit 00C5

It may or maynot be the bearing. The C5's use a hub assembly which means the bearing and the hub are 1 unit. Easiest way to check is to remove front wheel, caliper, rotor, and grab the wheel studs. Move them back and forth and spin the hub to see if it wobbles at all or is hard to spin. If it is then time for a new hub assembly which is very easy from that point.

SteveDoten

they wear out somewhat often at that mileage

Autozone/Timken $160 for fronts

T55 Torx for the bearing bolts

6mm internal wrenching 3/8" bit and 21mm wrench to remove the nut on lower ball joint

Easy job, about an hour, here's a pic of the lower/upper/knuckle rem'd from vehicle

if you have any questions, post or pm

Umrswimr

Check the brakes first. Make sure you're not dragging the inner pad, for example.

Assuming it's the bearing (I've replaced all four of mine), it's an easy job, it just requires some brute force to separate the ball joint and pull the entire hub assy.

I would not pull the whole upper/lower control arm assy because it'll probably ruin your alignment.

SteveDoten

neither would I, just had the pic as a helpful aid

Sethmo99

Thanks guys, once agian no labor charges thanks to the corvette forum!

Wicked Weasel

Lift the car and see if you can pull the wheel towards you. If you can move it in and out then chances are it is the hub.

I just replaced mine. We wanted to see how long it took to do it in the common garage versus the shop so 2 friends came over and we followed the repair manual. The manual was a great aide and it took us 2.5 hours which included hunting for the right tools.

Things you might not have, but need; a ball joint seperator, a good torque wrench and torx 50 or 55 I forget

Here are some pics

Sethmo99

Great pics! Thanks

BATM4N

Tex_Vette

And just to add to the posts above, Jake Latham has a couple of write-ups with pics on the full replacement of front or rear hubs. Check it out:

http://www.jakelatham.com/C5/misc/

HTH!!

Tex_Vette