What are the parts that make up a Ferris wheel?

Can a wheel bearing be bad and not loose?

• About a month ago, I bought a 1999 5 Speed Chevy Prizm. The guy took really good care of it... kept it garaged and all. But, it has a really loud, sort of a winding noise coming from the front end. I'm not sure what it is. It makes the same noise regardless of the gear that its in, and regardless of whether the engine is off or not. Only, the volume goes up as you accelerate. But I can be going 60 miles an hour, throw it in neutral, and shut the engine off and it still makes the noise. It sounds like its coming from both the left and right side. And the tone of the noise goes down and the volume goes up whenever you turn to the right or the left. Driving at higher speeds always makes it get louder. At first my boss at work checked it out. We found out that the right break was froze and that the wheel was hot. I replaced the calliper and pads. That fixed that problem, but the noise is still there, so there's another problem. I had one guy look at it... he said it was the left wheel bearing. Although he checked it and it was not loose, he said that it might be dry and that he'd start with the wheel bearing. We were going to replace the wheel bearing but my dad was sceptical of it actually being the problem (as he's drove this car a few times and he has a good mechanical ear). He said he thought it was the inner bearings instead of the outer bearings. We jacked up the front end, started it and put it in 2nd gear and listened for where the sound might be coming from. Then we checked for loose parts, and we found that the drive axles move back and forth by about an 1/8th of an inch. At which point, my dad said that the inner drive axle bearings are shot and the transmission seals are likely also shot. The problem is that you have to pull the transmission to fix it. I took it to a transmission repair guy in town who apparently has a good reputation. He drove it and he said that I definitely have one, maybe two wheel bearings bad. He said there might be something else wrong but its hard to tell with all the noise that the wheel bearings make. He said that it can't be a transmission problem because the transmission shifts fine. He also said that if the transmission seals were going out, 2nd and 3rd would be sort of loud with 5th being very loud and 4th being quiet. Its not true to that pattern. And then he said that if the drive axles move an 1/8th of an inch, thats not unusual. The thing is though, these wheel bearings are tight... both of them. There isn't any play in them. I'd hate to replace them and then find out that something else is actually wrong with it. And I'd hate to keep driving it like it is as its probably not safe. Any ideas?? Whatever it is, its not the breaks. I'm sure of that. And I don't think its the transmission seals either. Can wheel bearings be bad and not loose?

• Answer:

  when a wheel bearing is just starting to go bad you hear roaring noise at different speeds. When the bearing is severally damaged it can be loose and wheel can fall off car. If you determined bearing is bad by using a stethoscope I would suggest you replace right away for safety reasons. good luck