I can't get the right drum off my 1989 ford festiva.

Front wheel drive?if so which i think it is you need to remove the whole hub assy then use a universal hub seperator to remove the bearing then press a new bearing in. some vehicles such as ford festiva need a special tool to adjust a shim thickness which is imperative. I would sugest you get a 2nd hand hub assy with a good bearing in it & just replace the whole assy :-)

THEN REMOVE BRAKE DISC OR DRUM AND WHEEL BEARINGS AND GREASE SEALS (USUALLY INNER AND OUTER) ARE RIGHT THERE,REMOVE SEALS , BEARINGS...GREASE PROPERLY, AND REINSTALL

Sounds like the CV joint is shot - this is a front-wheel drive car, right. The side that it jumps to has a bad CV bearing that needs to be replaced would be my bet.

Sounds like a bad wheel bearing.

It does if it has power steering. They came both ways. Power steering is pretty easy to tell if you have it or not. If you don't have it, you will need two hands for sure to park the car in a tight spot, the steering wheel is quite hard to turn compared to other cars with power steering.

Check the brakes, maybe the bearings in the hub, or your CV axle.

go to 1989 ford festiva owners manual and download it for free it's in there

No, the front wheel bearings are relatively easy to replace on the Festiva. They just knock out and press back in. I recently replaced the front bearings and all (4) struts on mine and it went well.

I do have the manual and there are several on eBay all the time for Festivas, because I check there often for Festiva parts. They are often sold for about $20-$25 for the complete manual. You might want to try that. I have the manuals for Festiva, but I don't have a scanner, but I do have a digital camera that I could use to photograph it. I don't know if I can get your email address so that I can send the photos of the pages to you. Let me know.

I'm not a mechanic. But since you've had no answer, here goes.

Each wheel bearing replaced contains a race and bearings of its own. If your mechanic replaced the cup that the bearing sat in (steel ring with a tapered inside that matches the angle of the rollers) then there is nothing more to do with the wheel bearings to make the bearings last.

Now the steering on the other hand... The axle goes through the wheel hub horizontally - allows forward rolling for the wheels. The steering needs a similar thing, but it can't use an axle as there is already one going through the hub. For the steering, picture a big hand that grips your wheel hub, holding only at the top and bottom. Where the fingers and thumb (ie the spindles top and bottom) met the hub, there needs to be some sort of bearing or sealed pivot point as well. This allows the hub to turn when the vehicle is steered.

This may be what he was talking about, and it is quite feasible that some of its components may need replacing as they are a load bearing point. But... I wouldn't have thought it would extend the life of your wheel bearings drastically as they do different jobs. Have a chat to the mechanic to clarify what he/she said. I don't think they are being dishonest - maybe exaggerating the requirement a little.

Benefit of the doubt. Hope this helps. Phil