How old are the tires? I had the same issues, humming, rumbling, etc. Turned out to be bad tires. Wore out fast. New tires, drives like a dream. No more hum, rumble or sway. Just saying.

Thank you, the rears are almost due for sure. Once I get all the bushings and ball joints replaced in the rear, I will be buying a new set of Contis. :thumbup:

I have done many bearings before, I will post some tricks later but it boils down to:

1. Understanding of the bearing setup anatomy for that particular vehicle.

2. Pressing what against what, i.e., let's say press the hub against the INNER race during installation, things like that.

3. Factory tool (expensive) vs Redneck/Harbor Freight/ Advance Auto rental tool etc.

4. The hub always come out with half of the INNER Race. So either score the sides with angle grinder for the bearing separator to grab. Or redneck way of cutting through the inner race SLOWLY so you don't damage the hub. Then chisel it out. All on youtube etc.

5. In the E53 X5 (or let's say Honda Odyssey Front Bearing etc.), the Outer race is the problem. Over the years, it got stuck in there. When pressing it out (after the circlip is out), you are basically pressing on the half of the INNER race ---> ball bearings ---> OUTER race, pushing it out. This takes a lot of force bc the OUTER race basically bonds to the knuckle.

A redneck way (if you don't have expensive bearing tool) is to tap the remaining INNER Race inward and knock it out, remove the remaining ball bearings. Now you have the OUTER Race. You can use a dremel to SLOWLY cut through the OUTER race, taking care not to damage the knuckle. You don't have to cut through, just 80% through which will weaken the race significantly. Then go from inside and chisel it out.

Another redneck way is to Tig Weld it (search youtube), it will come out easily.

Once it is out, clean the knuckle. Heat the knuckle with propane torch for a good 1-2 minutes. The bearing should be in the freezer overnight.
Figure out ahead of time which bearing adapters to use. Then once the knuckle is still hot and the bearing still frozen, press it in via the OUTER race ONLY! If you are lucky (hot knuckle expands and bearing shrinks with freezer), you can simply tap it in using old bearing outer race.
Youtube has videos on this (heat the knuckle and freeze the bearing trick).

Question: has anyone used the Rental Tool (23-piece Bushing Tool) from Advance Auto for the X5 bearing job? Please see photo...

That doesn't seem remotely close to big enough for the front bearings.

The HF kit is what I use and works perfectly once you drill the bigger plates out to 1" (7/8 would also work).

Simple math and physics: it takes about 35,000# to push out the bearing about 22-25,000 to push in the new one.

A 3/4" grade 5 bolt like the kit comes with is good for about 22,000# and will turn into a lumpy cylinder as you round off all the threads removing the front bearing (I know this from experience killing three separate push rods before I uogarded to a 1" grade 8 bolt).

With the bigger bolt and my high torque impact I have no problem at all pushing the bearings in and out and no longer require the freezer method on the bearing (which does probably reduce the force required by about 5000).

As described above it's very important to push on the correct race. Don't damage your new bearing during install.

Some research I did recently showed that the bearings go south not from use and age but impacts like potholes or curb strike. That helped make sense of the facts that at 180,000 both my rear bearings are going strong, but my right front was replaced twice in two years and my left front is due to be replaced this week.

I replaced all four on wife's car about 140-175,000 miles range from first to last. Her car was driven many more city miles so much more likely to hit potholes. (also went through more control arms and CV axles ). City miles don't only wear on the engine.

So what are signs of wear and need for replacement? I have 245,000 miles on my X and the bearings have never been changed. I haven't noticed anything that would seem like a bearing problem.

You only need to replace if they fail. The primary symptom is a loud Humm sounds a bit like the sound of a prop plane in the movies. Will get louder and louder as three initial defect propagates. Often not always the defect is deeper in one piece so you will get a wuh wuh wuh sound I refer to as UFO sounds. It's usually easy to tell a bearing has gone south but you may need to enlist the help of an indigenous tracker to figure out which corner because the sound travels into the frame of the car and goes literally everywhere.

Thanks. Nothing like that. Fortunately, with the exception of a 4 year stint in Boulder and Denver, this is a strictly California truck. Virtually no rust.

That's a bush tool, not a bearing tool. You need something much bigger for front wheel bearings on the E53 - the front requires a >100mm receiver cup for starters... ;)

Does anyone know if local auto parts stores (such as O'Reilly, Advance Auto, Autozone) has a rental tool for the E53 bearing?

Can't help with the rental question but you're looking for something like this... (although from your previous posts, I'm guessing you already know this. ;) )

https://shop.harborfreight.com/media...3/63728_W3.jpg

https://www.harborfreight.com/Front-...-Pc-63728.html