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Front Wheel Bearing -- DIY Walkthrough


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I cannot stress this enough. I went to town on my hub for about 5 hours with a heavy sledge hammer before I rented the slide hammer and FWD hub adapter. Let's just say the hammer didnt even BUDGE it; the slide hammer had it off in about 5 minutes. Dont waste your time thinking a hammer will do the trick...chances are, it won't.

 

i did this a while ago and i had a slide hammer. it pulled the freaking hub right out of the bearing assembly . it was fun :rolleyes:. its probably best just to take the whole knuckle/bearing out, then just press it out.

 

http://img87.imageshack.us/img87/2313/dsc04785s.jpg

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  • 1 month later...
another way to remove the hub unit is to mount a old rotor on it tighten a couple of lugs and then beat it with a sledge hammer. I have had a time getting the unit off after the bolts were off both times front and rear bearing.
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Just a heads up my buddy (ex mechanic) was watching me and he suggested that you should hammer in a small notch where the axle nut sits in the axle just in case $hit happens and it wants to try and slide out.

 

 

In the shop manual there is a part that tells you to do this. And also there is an existing notch that you have to 'undo' in order to get the axle off...well that's how it was on my rears anyways.

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i did this a while ago and i had a slide hammer. it pulled the freaking hub right out of the bearing assembly . it was fun :rolleyes:. its probably best just to take the whole knuckle/bearing out, then just press it out.

 

http://img87.imageshack.us/img87/2313/dsc04785s.jpg

 

Did my wheel bearings today and ^this^ happened on both sides. The only thing to do was beat the crap out of the remaining piece with a 3lb sledge. On the driver side I had to cut away the old dust shield to be able to get a wedge (putty knife) in... on the passenger side I was able to get enough of a crack by hammering to fit my chisel and pry bar in right away.

 

Taking the car out for a spin after was amazing... it was like riding in a new car. :)

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For the reading impaired, Here's are pictures of my install. I changed the whole hub and bearing assembly. Much easier install and besides, putting a new bearing on a old hub is lke getting hammy downs.

 

No slide hammer or puller FTW !

 

First break the axle nut and wheel lugs loose

http://i344.photobucket.com/albums/p330/ibr_adam09/1295160991.jpg

 

Put car on jack stands and raise it enough for wheel to be off ground

http://i344.photobucket.com/albums/p330/ibr_adam09/1295160987.jpg

 

Take wheel off and start remving the two caliper bolts

http://i344.photobucket.com/albums/p330/ibr_adam09/1295162477.jpg

 

and set it aside. Don't let it hang on brake line

http://i344.photobucket.com/albums/p330/ibr_adam09/1295162472.jpg

 

At this point I would turn the wheel to the left so you can have more room to remove the bolts on the steering Knuckle

 

Remove the "brake pad holders". There are two and these bolts are TIGHT

http://i344.photobucket.com/albums/p330/ibr_adam09/1295161216.jpg

 

Now remove the two of the four bolts behind the cv axle that holds wheel bearing. And then turn the wheel to the right so you can remove the last two bolts on the front of the cv axle. Also unbolt your wheel speed sensor with a 10mm

http://i344.photobucket.com/albums/p330/ibr_adam09/1295161214.jpg

 

http://i344.photobucket.com/albums/p330/ibr_adam09/1295161644.jpg

 

Now if you're lucky like me, the bearing was not rusted shut to the knuckle,but my rotor was, however I used my rotor as levereage to pull the bearing out of the knuckle. The dust shield will come off as well.

http://i344.photobucket.com/albums/p330/ibr_adam09/1295161647.jpg

http://i344.photobucket.com/albums/p330/ibr_adam09/1295162012.jpg

 

 

Since my rotor was stuck, just take a hammer and hit on the studs in star pattern to evenly get hub/bearing loose from the rotor.

http://i344.photobucket.com/albums/p330/ibr_adam09/1295161648.jpg

 

Install everything in reverse order. don't forget the dust shield and wheel speed sensor. I added some lubricant on the back side of the bearing where it sits inside the hub so it doesn't rust in the future.

 

 

 

Sorry for the thread jack :D

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  • 1 month later...
  • 1 month later...

Great post! I just replaced my right front this weekend. I did the left rear a few monts ago and didn't have any issues. The right front, on the other hand, was very stubborn. I rented the slide hammer as suggested but that still didn't seem to do the trick by itself. As I was getting ready to leave the parts store with the slide hammer, an old guy stopped me and told me that I didn't need that, and to use an air chisel instead. Turns out he was right. I just worked at it front then back over and over with a few hits with the slide hammer in between and within minutes it was out. I messed up the backing plate a little, but nothing a hammer couldn't fix.

 

Just thought I'd give future readers another option.

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Take your old rotor install it backwards on stuck hub tighten on anew lug nuts and hit it with sledge hammer.

 

It will come off in one hit most times and always willmcome off after a few no matter how stuck.

 

 

I used this method on the front and rear wheel bearings when I did them. I was kicking myself in the ass that I spent so much time trying other methods when I should have just started with this method andnhad it off with in a minute of getting caliper and everythignnelsenout of the way.

 

Don't forget to remove your speed sensor before you pound on it. You wouldn't want the shock too damage the sensor.

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Thanks for the walkthrough. It helped a lot and the slide hammer is needed. I ran into some problems though after doing both front hub assemblys. I did the driver side thinking that was the bad side but after a test drive the problem wasn't fixed so i ordered another hub assembly and installed it on the passenger side. That fixed the humming problem but now i have the "dead" spot in the center of the steering that some suffer from on here but it is accompained by a shudder and suspension/steering rattle. When initiating a turn it shudders but when you get into the turn it stops. I have gone over the entire front end with a buddy checking all of the bolts that were taken off, tie rod ends, ball joints etc. and nothing looks or seems bad. The hubs are seated flush on the steering knuckle. Any help is greatly appreciated. I started a thread on it.

 

:spin: <-ME

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  • 4 weeks later...

I just looked here as I'm planning on replacing a bad bearing tomorrow and almost had a heart attack as I realized that my socket set doesn't go as high as 32mm... The nearest Sears is an hour and a half away...

 

Then I realized that the socket I use to 'socket' mod Sennheiser HD414 pads to use on Grado headphones is 32mm and I was fine again!

 

 

I believe my torque wrench only goes to 120lbs... I'm thinking tighten as tight as I can with my breaker bar?

Current: 16 Crosstrek Premium w/ Eyesight & 05 Outback XT 5MT

Past Subies: 14 FXT Premium, 14 WRX hatch, 06 Legacy 2.5i SE 5MT, 98 Outback wagon

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Dis this yesterday. What a PITA! The hub pulled out away from the bearing and we had to beat everything free.

 

My torque wrench only goes to 150lbs so I put it to there and then a 1/4 turn.

Current: 16 Crosstrek Premium w/ Eyesight & 05 Outback XT 5MT

Past Subies: 14 FXT Premium, 14 WRX hatch, 06 Legacy 2.5i SE 5MT, 98 Outback wagon

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  • 3 months later...

Yes.... but just use a old or current disk brake if u r replacing it.. Tighten 3-4 lug nuts and beat it with a sledge hammer hub with bearing will fall off after acouple ofwacks by far the easiest way i have found to change them. I can do the whole job in 30 min or less now.

 

Hope that helps you out

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 3 weeks later...
I didn't see that anyone recommended any other aftermarket brands of replacement hubs, besides using genuine Subaru parts. I see Timken, and a few other brands online, are they as good/better? Or worse... Same goes for axles, any recommendations there?
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  • 2 months later...
don't forget to take off the wheel speed sensor... we forgot to take it off and broke one, car is in limp mode until you put a new one on... which took us 30 minutes to figure out why the abs and check engine light was on and car wouldn't rev more than 4k....other than that it was easy as cake... and I replaced all 4 wheel bearings (SKF) it only took 2 hrs total and apparently all the others were bad too as my car is QUIET.... no really quiet now... I had no idea how much noise the others were making...
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How come everyone seems to prefer the slide hammer over a puller?

 

http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/public/fVykH91RfiI8myTmThUeWbQt6Pb5gGEEOANng0PUeLnHDdFJKQjCThH_LWZxzK_FBwwoaB2nymMd5jRGLb-G-LBnDM7r3Iyq6KcyIChzJ4RmnVkmlTfPOSu7Tycj4HBQk91sUyrRk1dmO3MSYcIG2V1oLp7hnF-ONDycv6k_AoS7YEW73xkiknB3DyYoj_iJy2FM1ZIgMr_VM8uHzPOVQqzmAcCSkn0xk7OHfSD4MdbcTx58XUkmmY3wipdmH7H4GQ912fSj81MS2UGPnnh39P1cf7UDMpLm71RIL8DFLoMGvGtAdOmgVJFuPb0msD6wLuTSot0CUNSXpIUa6R0fS1M

 

Edit: Oh my mistake, seems that the slide hammer is for getting the hub off, not the axle out of the hub. Apparently my axle was uncommonly difficult to remove.

Edited by Alfred_Buchi
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Well I did my front wheel bearing yesterday and everything that could have went wrong did.

Broke these:

http://i622.photobucket.com/albums/tt307/fibtlcivic/securedownload.jpg

And I broke my 1/2" breaker bar :( This was really a sad moment

http://i622.photobucket.com/albums/tt307/fibtlcivic/securedownload1.jpg

 

These all broke trying to loosen my axel nut. I had the car in gear on the ground and the ebrake up and I was spinning the tire while it was on the ground. So I got my brother to step on the brake and I used my jack for leverage on my 4 foot cheater pipe and no bueno. Had to go to a shop and had them take the axel nut off with a beeter impact gun than my wussy craftsman.

Then those 4 bolts that held the wheel bearing on were all hell to take off. Best workout ive had in a long time

 

So I tried the brake rotor method and this happened:

http://i622.photobucket.com/albums/tt307/fibtlcivic/securedownload2.jpg

 

So I rented a FWD hub puller and a slide hammer and 10 minutes off the hardest pounding ever it broke in half. So I bolted the puller to the left over and yanked it out.

 

http://i622.photobucket.com/albums/tt307/fibtlcivic/securedownload44.jpg

Edited by OutbackXT05
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