sealed bearing hub change, new seals?

[terry274]

Yesterday I changed the passenger side front wheel bearing hub on my daughters car. The car is a 1997 Chevy Cavalier with 190,000 miles. The bearing was noisy and loose.
The sealed unit I replaced it with was a Raybestos 713017K Professional Grade Wheel Hub and Bearing Assembly.

Raybestos 713017K Professional Grade Wheel Hub and Bearing Assembly

If you click the link, you will see this unit included a seal and O-ring. There was no place to use these on this car. But now I'm concerned that I did something wrong and the parts were needed somewhere. Maybe they would be needed on another vehicle that also used that bearing? I've changed several front wheel drive bearing hubs and never encountered one that had a seal and O-ring in the box.
So, what is the seal and O-ring for?

 

[NHGUY]

The seal is a dust seal pounded into the knuckle,the o ring goes around the part of the bearing that slides into the knuckle,all in an attempt to seal out water and rust keeping the next bearing from coming out.The dust seal should have stayed in,the o-ring maybe not.Did it come out with the old one?

 

[terry274]

There was not an O-ring or seal to come out. That's what has me confused and thinking those parts were for some other application. But I can't think of a way they could have been used with the hub which was already sealed.
I may not be understanding the situation properly and that has me worried.

 

[DuckRyder]

The seal is for the inside of the steering knuckle where the CV is, the O-Ring goes in the grove in the hub assembly.

It has been a while since I did one and never on a late Cavalier but on late 80s stuff I do not recall any that did not use them.

 

[Ken42]

That seal is most likely your transmission output drive shaft seal.

If it doesn't leak keep it.

 

[Trav]

I never did one on a Cavalier so i can only generalize. If you look at the picture and use the box that zooms in it looks like there is an o ring already installed on that one.

I usually just bang out the rear seal, use a rotary wire brush to get the corrosion out of the knuckle, use the provided seal or metal gasket.
Green grease (the thick stringy nasty stuff) is great for coating the inside of the bore, its waterproof.

If it needs an o ring and you didn't use it the bearing will probably have a shorter lifespan and water will get in the bore and eventually enter the bearing.

BTW As others have posted the seal goes in the rear of the knuckle. It prevents water ingress from the rear.

 

[The_Eric]

There are usually instructions with that bearing, showing how they want the seal installed. Just a small piece of paper.

Did you torque the axle nut correctly?

 

[terry274]

Yes, I still have the instruction sheet. I've read it three times now. No mention of a seal or O-ring at all.
The torque spec was 185 ft/lbs. Both my torque wrenches went to 150. I torqued the axle nut to 150, then used a breaker bar to increase the torque. Not optimal, I know. But that's the best I could do with what I had.

 

[The_Eric]

Interesting. I must have been confusing it with a different number for the newer Cavs. At any rate, I wouldn't lose too much sleep over it. In some cases, there's no room for the seal. My wife's 95 Grand Am didn't, and yet the bearings still come with the seal in the box.

The car made it a fair ways without them installed and will likely do so again. I will warn though, if that is a second line bearing, it may not make it very far/long before failing. I went through that enough on the wife's car when I didn't have the money for the first line bearings.