I am not saying that just because it was made in China that it is inferior. However, the concenus from talking with others, as well as the people at the store I bought this at, is that this is an inferior product. That being said...The bolts holding to the knuckle were torqued to spec (can't remember spec off hand. As far as I could tell, the ball joint did reseat properly, however, it is something I want to look at now that I have driven the car and allowed everything to settle a little. I am confused with the cotter pn question, as mine did not have one. Could this be a problem in itself? The sway bar end link...I had not thought of that and will certainly give it a look when I get home. Thanks for the idea.

As a side...I just spoke to Advance Auto. They told me about 50% of the lesser priced bearings are returned as defective (not sure if they are al for the clunk I am experiencing). The higher priced version has not had any problems (so they say).

you should really get up in there and see whats knocking around... if there is a knocking noise then 99% chance you will be able to feel and see some play somewhere in the suspension.

and dont rule out the balljoint, separating them from the knuckle can be quite traumatic

A wheel bearing being defective is a typical grind/quick death. Bearings don't usually "clunk".

The nut for the balljoint, it had grooves cut into it yes? That is called a castle nut, the reason for those grooves is on the balljoint stud that it threads onto..there is a hole, the cotter pin is put through once the castle is lined up with the hole after tightening the nut down. Tie rod ends are usually the same.

The reason is for safety, the nut can't back off and leave you in a ditch.

Mine did not have a castle nut on it, nor did the shaft have a hole in it for a cotter pin. I understand the common symptoms of a bad wheel bearing, I just find it extremely coincedental that the day after I replaced a wheel bearing, I get this clunking sound. It is very possible that there is another problem, I would just hate to spend money on parts that do not need replacement.

I agree, the coincidence is painful. I've seen many things cause a clunk and it could be anything down to loose lug nuts.

The only reason I pinpointed a defective "new" bearing (gawd its tough diagnosing like this) is because I've had two of them do this now. One on my '92 SSEi. That one drove me nuts for maybe 25k miles before I realized the clunk was coming from a new bearing. My second incident was several weeks back with a bearing replacement on my '01 SSEi. What are the chances of this happening twice on two different cars?

I'm curious about that clunk. Does she clunk only once when turning either left or right? I can't remember your post.

It clunked quite a bit more yesterday on the way home, so I jacked her up to do some investigating. Everything looked/felt tight, but my driver wheel had some play in it again. I decided to double check all the bolt torques, and everything looked good. Disgusted, I pulled the bearing/hub back out and took it back to the store to try another one. I "upgraded" to the $150 version, and the clunk is completey gone, so much that I can now feel the intermediate shaft problem coming back.

Is it possible to remove the hub without pinching the sensor wire in half? I have done this both times I removed the hub. There must be a better way.

Thanks for all the help.

Ok.. someone please tell me.. how the heck are these bearings clunking?

Do you believe the axle isn't fitting firmly in and possibly moving? Are the tolerances so poor internally that the bearing isn't really a bearing, but more of a slushbox?

I completely understand from the posting that it appears to be the bearing. Merely trying to flush out the "what" about these bearings is causing it.

This is only a guess, but I had somewhat of a similar experience with a '95 Chrysler Concorde. Those seemed to eat hubs for breakfast! One that I replaced started to clunk, and I did the same - torqued it down to Chrysler'* specs, which was lower than the specs listed in the instructions that came with the hub. I finally took it into an alignment shop to have it checked. They said the hub was fine, and just tightened the hub bolt more. I asked to what torque. His response was "Until I couldn't tighten it anymore. "

The explanation given was that some of the after-market hubs just don't seat properly against the hub with the recommended torque, just as you suspected. He said that he runs into that problem occasionally, and just tightens them down as far as he can, and hasn't had a problem come back after doing that. It'* a well respected frame and alignment shop, so I tended to believe him.

Honestly, in working in a few shops with many fellow mechanics.. there IS NO TORQUE for a hub not, you tighten the hell out of it with the impact wrench. thats it. none of this 120ftlb B.*.