How to Replace the Front Wheel Bearings on a 1994 Ford F-350 Two-Wheel Drive

Dating all the way back to the 1948 release of the F-3 pickup; the F-350 stands as the longest running model in Fords lineup. The 1994 F-350 had a wide array of available driveline options, but the base driveline was a rear-wheel-drive configuration. This system used a set of wheel bearings mounted inside the front rotors. Over time, the bearings can fail and you must replace them, or risk damaging the F-350s spindle.

Instructions

1

Loosen the lug nuts on the F-350s front wheels with a ratchet and socket. Raise the front of the F-350 with a floor jack and slide jack stands under the trucks frame rails. Lower the truck onto the jack stands. Remove the front lug nuts and pull the wheels off the hubs.

2

Strike the outer part of the upper caliper pin with a hammer until a gap shows between the tabs on the inner part of the pin and the caliper. Insert the blade of a flat-head screwdriver in this gap and pry the pin from the rear of the caliper while you squeeze the outer part of the pin with needle-nose pliers until the outermost tabs on the pin are inside the hole the pin goes through.

3

Insert a 7/16-inch drift punch on the outermost end of the caliper pin and lightly tap the drift punch with a hammer until the caliper pin falls out of the hole.

4

Look on the center of the rotor and find the metal, dome-like component -- this is the grease cap. Pry the grease cap off the rotor with a flat-head screwdriver. Pull the cotter pin from the spindle shaft with needle-nose pliers and pull the spindle nut retainer the castled metal cap off the spindle nut. Remove the spindle nut from the spindle with a ratchet and socket, and pull the washer from the spindle. Retain all of the components removed, except the cotter pin.

5

Disengage the outer wheel bearing by pulling outward on the rotor. Pull the outer wheel bearing off the spindle.

6

Pull the rotor off the F-350s hub and set it lug-side down on the ground. Pry the grease seal from the hole in the center of the rear of the rotor with a grease seal puller. Pull the inner wheel bearing from the brake rotor.

7

Remove the outer race -- the metal ring inside the rotor that the outer bearing rides on -- by tapping around its circumference from the rear of the rotor with a hammer and a 7/16-inch drift punch.

8

Flip the rotor over and remove the inner race by tapping around its circumference, from the front of the rotor, with a hammer and 7/16-inch drift punch. As the race nears the end of the hole in the center of the rotor, place one side of the rotor on a 2-inch-tall block of wood to allow the race to fall out.

9

Clean the hole in the center of the rotor with a clean, lint-free cloth to remove all of the old bearing grease. Select two bearing race drivers from the bearing race driver kit, one that fits snugly into the hole on the front of the rotor and one that fits snugly into the hole on the rear of the rotor.

10

Set the inner race on the hole in center of the rear of the rotor, with the tapered end facing toward you, and push it in as far as it will go by hand. Position the bearing race driver that fits into the rear rotor hole on the race, and lightly tap the driver with a hammer until the race seats in the rotor. Repeat this step on the outer race with the race driver that fits snugly into the front rotor hole.

11

Place a generous amount of wheel bearing grease in the palm of your hand and spin a new bearing in the grease until it is full of new grease. The wheel bearing will have resistance when spun as it would when mounted on the spindle shaft when correctly packed with grease. Repeat this step for the second bearing.

12

Fill the hole in the center of the rotor with new wheel bearing grease until the level of grease reaches the top of each bearing race.

13

Set a new inner wheel bearing into the hole in the rear of the caliper, tapered end first. Position a new grease seal and drive the seal flush, with a grease seal driver and hammer.

14

Guide the rotor onto the spindle shaft. Slide the new outer bearing onto the spindle shaft, tapered end first, and press the outer wheel bearing into the hole in the rotor.

15

Install the washer onto the spindle and hand-tighten the spindle nut onto the spindle. Spin the rotor counterclockwise as you tighten the spindle nut from 17 to 25 foot-pounds with a torque wrench and socket.

16

Turn the spindle nut 180 degrees counterclockwise with a ratchet and socket, then tighten it to 1 foot-pound with a torque wrench and socket.

17

Reinstall the spindle nut retainer and position it so one of the valleys in its castled top lines up with the hole through the spindle shaft. Insert a new cotter pin through the castled top of the spindle nut retainer and through the hole in the spindle shaft. Bend the cotter pins legs in opposite directions with needle-nose pliers to lock it into place. If you have to, tighten the nut to the next hole, rather than loosen it.

18

Set the grease cap in place on the rotor and lightly tap it with a rubber mallet to seat it in the hole in the center of the rotor.

19

Apply a thin coat of disc brake grease to the new caliper pins and the grooves in the caliper that the pins slide through. Position the caliper and brake pads back onto the caliper bracket.

20

Line up a new upper caliper pin with the groove in the caliper and lightly tap it until the outermost tabs contact the caliper bracket. Repeat this step to install the lower caliper pin.

21

Repeat Steps 2 through 17 to replace the wheel bearings on the other side of the F-350, if needed.

22

Set the front wheels back onto the trucks front hubs and hand-tighten the front lug nuts. Raise the pickup off the jack stands with a floor jack and remove the jack stands. Lower the truck to the ground. Tighten the lug nuts, in a crisscross pattern, to 150 foot-pounds with a torque wrench and socket.