Poll: Wheel Bearing Replacement

[ptcruiser99]

Hi xt_laser,

I for one would appreciate instruction as to how to change the bearing ourselves, especially if it can be done without wrecking the alignement.

Thanks

[xt_laser]

99,

I will outline the process, and you can decide if you want to do it. You will need a few tools first: A pry bar, 13, 15, 18, 19, 32 mm +3/4" sockets, 15, 18 mm combination wrenches, a good hammer or dead blow mallet, coat hangar to support your caliper, torque wrench, pliers, replacement cotter pin if you wreck the original, ¾” block of wood and jack stands.

Bearings will cost you 33-40.00 each for US/Canada/Japan/Germany made bearings. Look for Timken or SKF. Don’t buy the China bearings – you will be disappointed in about 30K miles. You can get them for 22-29.00 each… not worth it.

If you live in street salt regeons, you will need some PB blaster or other good penetrating oil to help the process. The whole process should take you 2 hours for the first time, and 30-40 minutes the second time and you have access to an impact wrench. When you get good at it, it takes less than 20 minutes per bearing.

I will outline the disassembly and give you two options for replacing the bearing.

1) Remove the hub cap or wheel center. Remove the cotter pin and center nut using your 32 mm or 1 1/4" socket. Do this before you raise your car if you do not have an impact wrench. Othewise you can do it after step 2.

2) Jack up the car with both front wheels off the ground. Use jack stands to support the car. You need to have both sides raised - otherwise you are fighting your sway bar in a bad way!. Now is a good time to check the wheel bearing play by grabbing the wheel at top and bottom to see what kind of play you have. Remove the tires.

3) Remove the caliper. There are two bolts - 15 mm. Hang the caliper from the strut coil with the coat hangar doubled up, as high as you can without kinking the brake line. Don't let the caliper hang by its hose or you will likely kink the line or break the reinforcing webbing in the hose. (I did it once in my life - lucky for me that no one was at the intersection when my brakes failed) Pull the disc off. You are now 50% through a front disc brake replacement…..

4) Disassembling the king pin starts with the lower ball joint pinch bolt. Apply penetrating oil to this bolt right and the tie rod end. One end is 18, the other 15 mm. Some cars, it is 18 mm on both sides. Loosen the nut and remove the pinch bolt. You may need a drift to pop it out.

5) Loosen the tie rod end nut at the king pin - not the rack side. Remove it completely and apply a touch of grease on the threads, replace the nut, but leave 1/8" space between the nut flange and king pin arm. Take a hammer and whack the stud until it breaks loose from the king pin. Remove the nut and the tie rod. Now you should be able to spin the king pin/strut assembly with ease.

6) Take the pry bar and wedge it between the king pin and the control arm. You may need a small block of wood ¾” thick to brace against the control arm and give you a good angle to leverage the king pin from the control arm. Now the only thing holding the king pin, is its attachment to the strut. You should be able to pull it away from the control arm and rotate it freely.

7) The axle shaft should pop out of the wheel bearing. It may need a slight tap from your mallet to break it loose. It should not take a lot of effort.

8) You have a choice here – remove the strut assembly by removing the nuts on top and take it to a shop or continue the process using an in-car bearing extractor. You are also half way to changing your control arm bushings…. Do it now if you need to replace them. You are 3 bolts away…. Check your sway bar bushings too.

9) The bearing removal is a three step process. Push out the spindle/wheel flange. Remove the bearing keeper, push the bearing out of the king pin. A shop can extract the bearing and spindles in less than 5 minutes and charge you 20.00 or possibly nothing if you bought the bearings from them.

10) I used my bearing puller to push out the spindle, removed the bearing keeper and then pushed out the bearing. My puller is a modified Craftsman unit with special cups and longer draw bolts. I use it for installing the bearing too.

11) When installing the bearing into the king pin, you want to make sure that you are pushing on the outer race so that you are not putting excessive force on the bearing or seal surfaces. If you do that – you did not save much time and money. You can use an old bearing race that has the same OD. Make sure the bearing is going in square.

12) Install the bearing keeper and its (3) 13 mm head screws.

13) Install the spindle/wheel flange. You can use a long bolt, heavy washers to draw it into the bearing. Make sure that you are exerting all of the forces between the spindle and the inner bearing race. Otherwise, you may be putting a load on the bearing or seal and contribute to early failure.

14) Now you are ready for re-assembly, and should go backwards steps 7-1. Don’t forget to install the pinch bolt, and align the impression of the ball joint stud before the king pin is dropped back on. Torque the drive shaft nut before you drop the cotter pin back in. The torque is important to bearing loading.

If there is interest, I can share more about extracting the bearing in car. If you do not have the tools, you will break even after the first wheel bearing. You will end up saving 200.00 by the time you have the job done.

Good luck!

xt_laser.

[Hooligan]

This should be a "STICKY". Thanks for the info.

[Bindy]

Posted back in March of this year after the second set of front wheel bearings were replaced on my '05 GT vert with only 16,000 miles - GUESS WHAT ! ! At 20,000 miles each side went out again within days of each other. Dealer claimed that both the hubs and bearings got replaced this time around. I'm almost certain that they will go again...

[ptcruiser99]

Thanks xt_laser,

Not sure if I can do it myself, but I can certainly use this information when getting pricing from my mechanic.

Steve

[vtmdsm27]

So, I just paid $154 to have my driver's side bearing replaced by the dealership. Not a bad deal, huh?

[nalati]

No that is a GREAT Deal!

Was the Bearing Bad or just Going Bad?

Nick

[vtmdsm27]

Well, I kinda left out a little info.

We had an ice day here in Indy. I got all the way, incident free, until I got about 50 feet from my house. Since neighborhoods had not been cleared, my PT let loose (original stock Eagle tires). I hit the curb with my driver's side front wheel. Bent the rim. At least that's what the body shop said, even though I had told them several times to check that bearing (based on what I've read here). But they didn't even test drive the PT after changing the rim and doing an alignment. Of course, when I drove it away, I noticed it immediately.

So, they paid for a loaner car, tested the car, and yes, it was the bearing. They put it in at their cost for parts, no labor charge. I think they used OEM parts because their cost was at least 75% more than what I can buy the bearings for online.

So, that's how it was such a great deal. Dealer installed, cost of parts only.

[gbcruiser]

I am about to replace my front bearings and sway bar rubbers I have a 2001 2.0ltr PT LTD with 129000miles!!

[car2star]

At 35k miles, went in for normal service at dealer. Told needed left and right bearings and hubs for $815! Not even a sound, just told that when rotating tires, that these parts had more play than they should. Will seek second opinion but not surprised now after reading all of the above!