WHEEL BEARINCS
The purpose of all bearings is to allow a shaft to rotate
smoothly in a housing or to allow the housing to rotate
smoothly around a shaft. Wheel and axle bearings do
this for a vehicle's wheels. Typically, the bearings on
the axle that drives the wheels are called axle bearings.
The wheel is mounted to the hub of an axle shaft and the
shaft rotates within a housing. Wheel bearings are used
on nondriving axles. The wheel's hub typically rotates on
a shaft called the spindle. Axle bearings are typically
serviced with the drive axle. Wheel bearings, however,
require periodic maintenance service and are often serviced
with suspension and brake work. Although there is
a distinction between axle and wheel bearings, the bearings
for the front wheels on a FWD and 4WD vehicle are
commonly called wheel bearings. Regardless of what
they are called, bad bearings will cause handling and tire
wear problems.