It sounds like the wheel bearings are going on the passenger front of my wife's car. It's been 20 years since I've done wheel bearings. Anything to look out for or pretty straightforward and simple? It seems like I remember it's important to torque to specs, and that you need to torque 2 times. Should I replace both inner and outer? Thanks.
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'86 244 160k, 88 245 185k, 90 245 153k, 90 745 waiting for me to fix

i changed the front wheel bearings in an 84 wagon with 169,000 miles on it last weekend - wouldn't be surprised if they were the original bearings - anyway id's add three points:

the seals on the wagon had not failed yet, but the rubber material itself felt loose and weak compared to new seals.

on the first set of bearings, i scarred the wheel housing while drifting out the inner bearing race, then had to file and smooth the scarred place so the new race would go in easily.
for the second set i rounded the outer edge of the drift slightly, paid more attention to the angle of the drift while removing the inner race, and had no problems.

for both the inner and outer races, while installing new ones you can flip your old race, place its outer edge against the outer edge of your new one, then tap on the back side of the old race with your hammer - in other words you're using your old race as a drift.
this is especially helpful on the larger diameter inner race. about two thirds of the way in though, you have to stop, else you'll trap your old race in the wheel housing. finish installation carefully with the drift.

Before you even get into it, Jack the car up and see if the tire droops as the weight of the car comes of the tire.

Bad noisey bearings are usually loose enough that you can see the tire droop inward as you lift the car .

Or after the car is up, grab the tire at 6 and 12 oclock and rock it, do the same at 3 and 9 o'clock and see if there's movement.
If you have movement in both those directions then, go for the bearings.

If it's just the 6 and 12 O'clock, you might have a Ball joint issue.
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'75 Jeep CJ5 345Hp ChevyPwrd, two motorcycles, '85 Pickup: The '89 Volvo is the newest vehicle I own. it wasn't Volvos safety , it was Longevity that sold me http://home.no.net/ebrox/Tony's%20cars.htm

Good points and advice, but in this case, it sounds like peppercorns being ground up with the rotation of the tire.
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'86 244 160k, 88 245 185k, 90 245 153k, 90 745 waiting for me to fix

Let me throw one more thing at you.

Not sure if you have the orignal Rotors or not but if you do, with 150K on the odometer, There is a chance that the Brake pads are climbing up onto the Outside radius of the rotor.the pads may be running on te rusty end causing the same sound. Just something to look at.

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'75 Jeep CJ5 345Hp ChevyPwrd, two motorcycles, '85 Pickup: The '89 Volvo is the newest vehicle I own. it wasn't Volvos safety , it was Longevity that sold me http://home.no.net/ebrox/Tony's%20cars.htm

Could be tires rather than bearings but you probably won't be able to tell until you remove and inspect the bearings.

Remove the wheel. Remove the caliper and hang it from the front spring with a piece of wire. Don't let anyone step on the brake with hanging calipers as it will spoil your day for sure. When my boys were young I locked the car to be sure no imaginary car trips ended with the caliper pistons laying on the concrete. Remove the rotor.

Remove the dust cover, cotter pin and nut; catch the bearing as you pull the hub towards you. Wipe excess grease off of bearing and then drop it in some kerosene.

Remove hub and lay it on a clean piece of newspaper backside down. Use a drift or smaller hammer handle to push the inside bearing out along with the grease seal that was holding it in place. Wipe off excess grease and drop it in the kerosene.

Remove the grease from the spindle and from inside the hub. Inspect the surface of the cups where the bearings ride. If it is discolored blue or pitted the cup and the bearing will need to be replaced.

Wash the bearings in the kerosene until all the grease has been removed. Inspect, looking for blue coloration (evidence of heat) or pitting in the surface of the rollers. If they are bad enough to be heard you should not have any trouble seeing evidence of damage.

If one bearing/cup assembly needs replacing it does not mean the other one does. Resist the temptation to replace the bearing without replacing the cup. The surfaces work together and just like a rotten apple....

To remove a cup for replacement be sure you have the right tools. Don't attempt to remove it using a screwdriver rather than a punch or drift of the correct size. On the back side of the cup you will find an edge that will allow you to get the flat surface of a punch or drift to rest on. You will be working on the backside of each cup. Strike the punch or drift sharply with a heavy hammer. Move 180 degrees and strike it again. Keep moving around the edge and keep striking making every effort to have it remain parallel to its original position (don't drive too much in one area and get it crooked). It will eventually come out.

Cleanliness is absolutely necessary upon reassembly.

To install a new cup I find it helpful to place it in the freezer for awhile. A cold cup is smaller than a warm one. Grease the outer surface and tap it with a hammer face to get it started. Again move around so as not to get it crooked. Be sure you do not have it turned backwards. Once you have driven it as far as you can with the hammer face you will need to go to work on it with the drift. Be careful to keep the surface of the drift flat against the edge of the cup; do not let the drift slip off of the small edge surface and strike the polished surface where the bearing rides. Drive it in until it stops dead in the correct position in the hub.

Cover the inside surface of the hub and cup with a layer of new grease. Be sure the grease you are using is designed for wheel bearings and for disc brakes.

Take the clean bearing for the back of the hub and force grease through the back side all the way around. A wad the size of a golf ball in the palm of one hand while manipulating the bearing with the other works well. Keep forcing grease in the back side of the bearing until it is squeezing out the front. Then give the surface of the rollers a coating of grease and lay the bearing in place on the greased cup. Some people like to put the bearing in a ziplock bag with the grease and force it in that way, but for me it is difficult to see the grease gets through the bearing; you do not want any internal dry areas.

You should have cleaned the grease seal carefully or purchased new ones. Seldom do I find it necessary to replace the seals. Opinions vary. Give the rubber edge a thin coating of grease and push it into place on the back side of the hub.

Take the clean bearing for the front side and repeat the packing process described for the one in the back. Set it aside where it will remain clean. Make sure the nut and washer are clean.

Resist the temptation to reuse the old cotter pins, purchase new ones of the correct size. Diameter is more important than length; you can always cut them if they are too long.

Lift the hub into place and push it onto the spindle. Insert the outside bearing into place against the greased cup. Place the washer overtop the bearing and finally start the nut onto the spindle. Tighten the nut by hand. Using a socket of the correct size or a pair of adjustable pliers continue tightening the nut while rotating the hub until you can no longer rotate the hub.

Loosen the nut without disturbing the position of the hub, and then tighten the nut finger tight, Install the cotter pin and spread the ends enough to prevent it from falling out. Install the clean dust cover and continue reassembly of the remove components.

Doing one side at a time prevents the possibility of mixing bearings from one wheel with the other, they are old friends working as a team; keep them that way.

Good luck.

Thank you for the detailed response, I'm going to try to get to this over the weekend. One thing that is weird is that as I recall in the past the wheel bearings would take a while to get really bad. This went from difficult to detect to atrocious (really bad grinding noise) in one day and got my wife all ticked off at me! I told her if she shook the wheel back and forth and there wasn't a ton of movement it was probably OK to drive but to drive slow. I met her on the road, tested the movement, and drove it the rest of the way home, but it sure was grinding and moaning!
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'86 244 160k, 88 245 185k, 90 245 153k, 90 745 waiting for me to fix

1) Take Trev's suggestion and "can" this fine write-up for future use. [Personally I no longer have the patience for such a detailed explanation when the Bentley has it covered.]

2) Where you say:

"Remove hub and lay it on a clean piece of newspaper backside down. Use a drift or smaller hammer handle to push the inside bearing out along with the grease seal that was holding it in place. Wipe off excess grease and drop it in the kerosene."

I'd change "grease seal" to bearing retainer, as that's what I believe that shallow metal cup-ring is for [Bentley calls it a "sealing washer", and the rubber seal does mate up to it]. The actual grease seal being the rubber part that fits on the spindle hub, as you later describe.

And you might want to add the reinstallation of the Bearing Retainer as part of the reassembly.

Please note that I don't mean to nit-pick here, but that inner retainer and seal have given many people trouble in the past here, such as installing the retainer upside down, omitting it, or even trying to use some generic NAPA seal.

P.S. I'd also add someting about torquing the bearing nut or refer to Bentley page 770-4 (it's a bit more involved than Sven describes).
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Bruce Young
'93 940-NA (current), 240s (one V8), 140s, 122s, since '63.

Please note that I don't mean to nit-pick here, but that inner retainer and seal have given many people trouble in the past here, such as installing the retainer upside down, omitting it, or even trying to use some generic NAPA seal.

Thanks for the suggestions and I have made changes in my archived response. To tell you the truth I had forgotten the bearing retainer and the seal were two seperate items and was obviously working with a failed memory when I posted that.

Randy

You should make this into a "canned response" as Lucid has done with some of his.
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1980 245 Canadian B21A with SU carb and M46 trans in Brampton, Ont.

Adjusting the front bearings is easy though messy. Just pop the dust cap and tighten the castle nut moderately. Bentleys has torque specs if you want them. Some number of foot-ounces, less than a ft-lb! Just kinda tight, that's all. It has cotter pin holes at right angles thru bolt so you can turn in 1/2-flat increments.

Since adjusting is free and replacement has price and needs more time, I'd try adjusting and see if that does it.

If they're noisy you may well need replacements. Inner and outer are both replaceable but I couldn't get to the inner ones. I know it can be done. If nobody else details that for you here, try the 700/900 FAQ or the Bentleys book.
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Sven: '89 245 NA, 951 ECU, open-front airbox, E-fan, 205/65-15's, IPD sways, E-Codes, amber front corner reflectors, quad horns, tach, small clock. Wifemobile '89 245 NA stock. 90 244 NA spare, runs.