What stops a hub from wandering out

[Sebastian]

Hey yall!
I was having a shower tought.
So you put some new bearings on the front of a FWD car. The hub is pressed in. Everything is put together.
Out you go for a drive.

What stops the hub from wandering outwards and ruining stuff?
I mean, the bearings are held in place my clips and stuff, and sure, the hub is connected to the drive shaft with the axle nut so it wouldnt be able to get far.

But what is stopping it from wandering out, just a little for the drive shaft to make contact with the knuckle (or something)

Regards, Risingsbo

Topic

[zero]

The nut and washer. Or the washer and nut, depending on how you roll.

That’s why properly torquing the fastener to set pre-load on the bearings is an important step.

[Greg]

The washer and nut keep the bearing together and the snap rings keep the bearing in the knuckle.

[Erin]

When a bearing is replaced, the trick is to hope, REALLY hope, that it doesn’t fall out. You have to hope so hard it hurts.
Wait, no, that level of hope is when you felt something weird in a Ford Taurus transmission (don’t get me started) and HOPING it was a fluke or something else.

OK so onto the serious parts –

The bearings are not just pressed in 1/2 ass. They are not going anywhere. Add to that – if it is a FWD and dealing with front wheels – there is likely a snap ring on either side of the bearing. Snap rings do not look like they would do much but they are STRONG.

Usually when you need a front bearing, trying to press the old one out and the new one in is not practical for a home mechanic. You just replace the hub.
In this case, the part on the far right, number 2 pointed to it.

The point is – the bearings just working their way out is not something you really need to worry about. Even if they are going bad, the car would be undrivable before the bearing would ever fall out.
http://ww2.justanswer.com/uploads/supryze/2009-09-06_171201_1688191.gif

[Sebastian]

Ugh i feel kind of stupid, I think i realize now how it all works out. Thanks! 🙂
Have a good weekend !

[James O’Hara]

you asked a question you did not know the answer too and learned something that is not stupid.

It is better to ask the question and know so if you do fix it, it doesn’t come off then to not ask and have a set of tandems and axle come off and smack oncoming traffic on the highway.

[Author]

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