Wheel Bearing Install Fail, What did I do wrong? Options

[Langing]

Excuse me for repeating a post, but this was buried where I was not sure someone would read it in time to be of any help.

I need to ask an urgent question:

When I finished pressing the wheel bearing back in place and installed the snap ring, both oil seals, the lower ball joint, the dust cover, everything, I tried turning the hub by hand.

TROUBLE. . . I could hear and feel that something was wrong with the new bearing. It made a slight but rough sound as it rotated, and I could actually feel a vibration in the steering knuckle where I held on to it while turning the hub. Now, considering that I had trashed the bearing, I have it taken back apart, except for pressing out the outer race. I have another bearing set which I was going to use on the other front that I will use on this side, but don't want to do it again and get the same results, so. . .

WHAT MESSED UP THE BEARING; WHAT DID I DO WRONG; HOW WAS THE BEARING AFFECTED SUCH THAT IT WAS VIBRATING?


BTW: I used a Harbor Freight front wheel bearing tool set to press in the bearing and hub. I used an adapter that caught the just outer race of the bearing when pressing it into place. But, for pressing the bearing onto the hub I used a flat adapter against the pulled side of the bearing, such that it might catch both the inner race and outer race at the same time. I'm thinking this is the problem but need verification by someone telling me EXACTLY what I've done to the bearings to make a perfectly good new bearing immediately bad.

Here is a photo of the inside of the steering knuckle showing the newly pressed bearing and its snap ring locking it in place.



Notice that the two inner races have begun to come apart. The bearing came with a plastic insert which I took out as soon as possible. Perhaps that was used to keep the two races together until they were pressed onto the hub spindle?

Also, from looking at this photo, now I am guessing that the flat adapter must have been forcing against the snap ring as well as the inside race of the bearing when pushing it onto the hub spindle.

I also messed up the inner oil seal by banging on it too hard, and by using a punch where I thought it wasn't set deep enough.

THAT'S A SECOND QUESTION: How far into the bore does the outer seal go, and is there an open space left between the bearing and seal.

\When putting in the inner oil seal, I began using an adapter that caught the ring of the seal and tapped it into the bore. I couldn't seem to get the seal seated far enough down into the bore such that it provided a 'seal' over the bearing. That is to say, there was space left open between the seal and bearing, space into which I imagined I should be pushing a wheel bearing grease to fill it up. That's why I began using a punch on the metal of the seal (that's a no-no, from reading about seal installations). It got so bad that when I was almost down to where the seal would make closure with the bearing, I could see that I had damaged the seal in such a way that the little weird spring-ring (See photo) part that is inside the seal had come off and was pushed down into the bearing area. Here is the photo:

[Langing]

Since the wheel bearing I installed was a Timken, I tried to find a way to ask them my question. Luckily, on a YouTube video they talked about place where you can go to ask them for information about their bearings and I want to share it:

http://timkeninfo.com


They have useful information, like you can enter your car and they will tell you the Timken bearings and seals that fit for front and back.

After filing out lots of details, they let you ask a question. I don't know how speedy they respond or even it they will, but this is my question to them:

DIY and first time. With steering knuckle in vise, used a Harbor Freight tool set to press in the wheel bearing, then installed the snap ring and both oil seals. I messed up oil seals by trying to seat them close to the bearing; their springs came off. When holding the assembly in my hand and turning the hub, felt and heard roughness. Took everything apart, including bearing. Cleaned the bearing parts and examined them. Can't find anything wrong. Toyota considers these bearings "sealed" but I don't know what that means and want to know if I can replace the wheel bearing grease and reassemble as before and put back onto the vehicle.