FRONT WHEEL HUB BEARING

[HW80EAGLE]

 WHAT TO DO IF MY FRONT WHEEL BEARINGS ARE THE BALL BEARING ONES AND BEARINGS ARE NOT REPLACEABLE

[WoodenBirdOfPrey]

I thought I read on here somewhere that the spindle assembly from a newer model can be swapped in place of the early non-serviceable bearings/spindles.  I searched a bit and couldn't figure out where I read that or if I was dreaming.

[maddog]

i have an 80 eagle and i was able to get the bearings for mine simply because some of the 80 model ones had serviceable hubs so you never know you might be one of the lucky ones.

[carnuck]

The knuckle is swappable from the later ones to early ones, but not left to right.

[carguy87]

Yes, the hub itself, bearings, and inner seal are usable on either side.

[HW80EAGLE]

Great cause i have a drivers side hub  on an 87 my son wrecked that might be good..javascript:void(0);

[Prafeston]

...on an 87 my son WRECKED...

 

That sucks! But I guess it's a good if you can scavenge some parts!

[HW80EAGLE]

Does any one know if any of the front hubs from n 84-87 jeep will work on an eagle .some of them are available  new. might be cheaper than trying to find the right hub and having it rebuilt

[captspillane]

There is no other vehicle with the same hub as our Eagles, but all Eagle hubs are interchangeable. They bolt to a spindle that bridges between the upper and lower ball joints. That spindle changed around 82 and the newer Eagles have totally different calipers and caliper mounting hardware. The changes didn't effect the hub itself, just the part it bolts to.

If you find a newer Eagle in a junkyard, you could just take the entire spindle and hub and swap the whole thing in, replacing everything from ball joint to ball joint. If you do that, you will need the newer caliper as well. While the new spindles are in your hand, I do suggest bringing them to shop and letting them rebuild your wheel bearings. You need a press and its very messy work. My mechanic charges me about 20 bucks in labor per pair, and its well worth it to know you've got fresh bearings.

You will need to use a ball joint puller and remove the entire spindle to get to the bolts, but thats not that big of a deal. Make sure you take the crown nuts all the way off before putting the puller on. I once got royally stuck because I only loosened the crown nuts a few turns before using the puller. Once the spindle popped free, the center post in the ball joint spun freely with the nut. It forced me to destroy the ball joint with grinder.