How much play

[upnorth]

I just replaced the wheel bearing assembly on my wife's 2007 Chev Trailblazer and noticed a bit of side to side play on the passenger side.  Not a terrible amount, just noticeable.  What is normal/acceptable?

[Jeremy airjer W]

A little bit of slop is fine. the good thing is you know it is getting a little sloppy so keep an eye on it and when you feel it is too sloppy change it.

The other thing you can try is retorquing the axle nut to see if it will snug up the slack.

[upnorth]

Thanks!  Just wanted to be sure I wasn't in for a disaster right now.

[Jeremy airjer W]

You would be surprised at how sloppy they come in. To the point where the rotor starts rubbing on the caliper bracket or the worst when I has the bearing actually seized and starting turning in the hub. The weight of the car caused it to wear up into the knuckle. When the customer finally brought it in it had worn a hole about half of its size. "just started making noise yesterday"

It is not uncommon for expeditions and explorers to come in with a complaint of, "it feels like I'm driving on ice". 90% of the time it is more than one wheel bearing about ready to fall off. I have had one that all four bearings where sloppy. the customer requested we not test drive it until we figured out what was going on.

[upnorth]

Nothing that bad.  A grinding sound going around the corner for the one I replaced.