Ford Ranger Rotors/Bearings/Brake Job

[doitmyself]

I'm starting a new thread to follow up my recent one regarding front wheel bearing failure on my adult son's '02 Ford Ranger with 112,000 miles on it. The rotors/pads were replaced at 70,000, re-using the old bearings.

Any experience with new rotors/bearings for this truck? OEM dealer parts are an option, of course. I wonder how expensive they are compared to aftermarket?

I have read about bearing quality dropping recently, and that even name brand (ie. Timken) are outsourcing some of theirs to China.

Is it possible to buy rotors with "matched" bearings/races? Is this even a concern, or do you buy the rotors/bearings separate? Getting quality parts seems to be an ever increasing challenge.

Any comments/ideas/experiences are welcomed. While relatively low mileage, the truck is 10 years old, so price vs. value is a concern, maybe?

Finally, and this should be a separate thread, could someone refresh me on how to adjust the bearings. "Hand tight" is rather vague to someone like me that tends to overtighten things.

Wrapping up, I'm looking for rotor/bearing choices advice and bearing adjustment advice.

Edit....2wd.

 

[Trav]

Is this a 4X4 or 2WD?

 

[40Deluxe]

On two wheel drive you need to seat the bearings when you tighten or install them , when they are packed and installed you tighten down the wheel bearing nut and rotate assembly,tighten to around 25 ft lbs,then back off the nut and take back down to point where the nut is basically as tight as you can getr by hand,nut can not be mechanically tightened at this point you will burn your bearings up.You are taking nut to point where it is contacting the already tightened bearings,this is a preload condition and when the assembly is rotated at this point it has the needed tension to operate.

 

[chad8]

bearings/races are bought separate from hub/rotor . Maybe have a machine shop with a press put the new races in if you are not comfortable doing it.
I have found that after the job is done , the best way to get the tightness right is similar to a trailer axle. Tighten the axle nut by hand until the wheel does not spin free. spin it forwards and backwards a couple times. check it again. If the wheel spins only a couple times and stops, back the nut off 1/8 turn. check one more time. Done. The wheel should spin pretty free and rocking it side to side , you should feel very slight play.

 

[EricF]

Ok.. you have a 2wd truck, the 4wd has a sealed bearing.

Timken #'s are:
Inner: set 5
Outer: set 2
Seal: 9150s

You have to remember, Ford, and other manufacturers dont' make the rotors or bearings. They're made by Aimco, raybestos, etc.. bearings are timken, national, chicago rawhide, etc..

You're actually getting "aftermarket" parts, just they say motorcraft on them

I've always used timken bearings and seals and for rotors, I've used raybestos only. I've never had a problem.

Honestly.. I am using on my 93 Ranger 4x4 Raybestos rotors and timken bearings and seals. I do a brake job on it, every 5-6 years. I use Monroe brake pads, always metallic as well. my rotors aren't warped, chewed up or have hot spots.
I never have my rotors machined NOR clean & repack bearings.
I do a complete brake job with new parts. the brake hoses were replaced last brake job 4 years ago, they'll get replaced next brake job. the caliper's were replaced last time as well, I'll probably clean & leave those. But it's not like I do brakes often on my truck. I have no reason to not splurge a little and replace everything.
I also use Synthetic grease.. I was using Valvoline Synpower, but since I can't find it anymore, and I won't use the Durablend, I'm now using Redline's bearing grease.

But the way I tighten things is when the rotors on the spindle, I tighten the nut tight, then back it off loose, grab the rotor and jiggle it to make sure things are squared off. tighten it again, back the nut off 1 full circle then hand tighten. After that I turn the nut at least 45degrees then line up the holes for the cotter pin.
I take the dust cap and fill it halfway up with grease as well.


One issue you could have run into is, the bearings weren't packed/greased correctly, or the grease leaked out, or it just disapated over the 42k miles, the bearings themselves could've been worn out beyond spec and it wasn't noticed.

To my knowledge, there is no matched set for bearings and rotors.
timken doesn outsource to china, india, indonesia, mexico, canada, etc.. their quality to me is still as good as the US Made bearings & seals. I use and sell them daily, none come back.

 

[mechanicx]

The wheel bearing adjustment procedure is pretty simple. Make sure there is clearance between the rotor and pads. While rotating the rotor tighten the nut to about 20 ft lbs to seat the bearing. Back off the nut about 1/2 a turn and then tighten the nut about 1.5 ft lbs or 18 in-lbs. I would characterize that as little more than finger tight.

 

[doitmyself]

Thanks for all the info.

Looking at some places like Rock Auto, AZ, and Advanced to get some rough ideas, it looks like most of the rotors come as assemblies with the races installed? Or am I wrong on this.

Some here are saying to get bearing/race sets and have them pressed in, correct? Are these rotors available without races installed?

Sorry for my confusion.