Installed brake caliper bracket with rotor cocked, did this ruin the bearing?

[XC92]

I was finishing up some work on my '92 Talon that ended up taking way more time than I expected and it was late in the day and I was tired, and I rushed things and installed the front left caliper bracket without first making sure that the rotor was flush against the hub (let alone finger tightening several lug nuts to make sure). The rotor turned out to have been installed crooked, which prevented the hub from turning.

So I removed the bracket to install it properly, but immediately noticed some play in the just installed brand new bearing (replaced because of play in the previous one!), with the hub appearing to have been pressed out of the knuckle/outer race a few mm. I'm guessing that the pressure from the crooked rotor acted as a press and did this. I can probably press it back in, but I'm wondering if this might have ruined the bearing, by applying sideways force on it? Even if there's no play after I press it back in, is the bearing likely toast?

 

[pauleyman]

I was finishing up some work on my '92 Talon that ended up taking way more time than I expected and it was late in the day and I was tired, and installed the front left caliper bracket without making sure that the rotor was flush against the hub (let alone finger tightening lug nuts to make sure). The rotor turned out to have been installed crooked, which prevented the hub from turning.

So I removed the bracket to install it properly, but immediately noticed some play in the just installed brand new bearing (replaced because of play in the previous one), with the hub appearing to have been pressed out of the knuckle/outer race a few mm. I'm guessing that the pressure from the crooked rotor acted as a press and did this. I can probably press it back in without removing the inner seal, but I'm wondering if this might have ruined the bearing, by applying sideways force on it?

Was the axle installed at the time? This doesn't sound possible.

 

[XC92]

Was the axle installed at the time? This doesn't sound possible.

Yes, but the axle has nothing to do with the rotor angle on the hub. And the axle was in the hub, but the nut was yet tightened.

 

[dwb]

The axle actually holds the hub and bearing assembly together inside the knuckle. Most likely you just need to tighten down the axle nut and the bearing will pull back in.

 

[pauleyman]

This was the point I was trying to get to above. Unlikely you did any damage. Tighten axle down and proceed.

 

[XC92]

Was the axle installed at the time? This doesn't sound possible.

This was the point I was trying to get to above. Unlikely you did any damage. Tighten axle down and proceed.

Ah, I think I see what you meant. With the axle in and the axle nut tightened down to proper spec, there's basically no way that the rotor & bracket could cock the bearing, working against the tightened axle end. But I had just replaced the bearing and hadn't yet tightened down the axle nut, so this wasn't going to help.

In any case I might have ruined the bearing. When I pressed the hub back in today with the knuckle off the car it went further into the knuckle than it had before this incident, almost flush with the inboard inner race where before it was recessed several mm.

There was no more play, but the bearing movement was definitely tighter than before, and it took more than the max 16in-lb that the FSM specifies to rotate it. I tried to press it back out a mm or two, but that just reintroduced the play. So I pressed it back in.

I'll run with this for now and see how it goes. But I should probably just get a new bearing and install it ASAP. They're not that expensive and I can reuse the seals and snap ring. One of these days I'll learn to slow down and be more methodical.