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Burning through wheel bearings?



Oddly enough my bearing bolts on The Gxp Were that size 16mm and to be quick about I just pop the strut to knuckle bolts loose since my I have a lifetime alignment deal forgot my gtp had the 13 mm bolts
 
91parkave said:
A day off? All you need is a hour tops a jack a 36mm socket 21mm deep well 17mm 16mm breaker bar 1/2 inch ratchet and a hammer lol
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Last time I tried the tie rod's nut got stuck. I had cleaned/lubed it all properly so it would come off easy, but once it got to a certain point it wouldn't budge. It eventually did, or so I thought. It popped the tie rod out of place, meaning now I had nothing to torque against. I have only one car, so I had no way to get additional tools. I had a nut splitter, but no replacement nut.

Needless to say I could not afford to risk that again. My car loves to demonstrate Murphy's Law when I work on it.
 
Tie rod?

Bill's method:
Jack and support the side in question
Remove tire
Loosen axle nut, leaving it just proud of the axle
Hit end of nut with BFH to free axle from bearing
Remove nut remainder of the way
Remove the caliper and bracket, support the caliper and remove the disc
Disconnect the ABS sensor wire at the hub
Sneak in to get the 3 13mm bolts that hold the bearing to the knuckle (if they seem questionable use a 1/2")
Smack rear of hub with BFH to break it free.
Wiggle it off and new one in place, ensure you put the backing plate on in the correct orientation for the sensor wire.
Bolt it all back together.

See...that was quick and nice, right?
 
The only difficult one is the top one, but if you hold back the axle you can get a 1/4 inch drive in there with a 13mm pretty easily.
 


Or use a universal and a 13mm shallow plus an extension. It's honestly not that tough and if you can break it free with 1/4" stuff, then you are better than me or your bolt was loose.
 
Just gotta use some muscle and have decent stuff that won't break. I tried the universal but I couldn't find a shallow enough 13 to make it all fit.
 
i used a shallow socket on the end of a 6 inch extension 3/8 ratchet. pop the tie rod so you can move the knuckle around, easy as pie.
 
it does, but why crank the wheel and make the car move when its on a jack or stands, i never liked that feeling. plus its one nut and a hammer to pop it off.

then you also need to get up and turn it back and fourth, pop the tie rod, you can turn it at will sitting in front of it, safely.
 


Guess having the tie rod pop and spin is more of an issue. I've never really needed to mess with it that much. I'm there to do a bearing, straight on has less pressure on everything.
 
Wow, you did get lucky. I've changed hardly any and since I'm using air..it's usually all good. But I've seen a few ugly ones.
 
I've used Bill's method (before I knew it was Bill's method) on three different vehicles now ('97 Grand Am GT, 2001 Grand Prix GT, 2002 Montana) and never had any issues with it. Hardest part is usually getting the brake caliper bracket bolts broken free. Everything else is cake - just takes some patience to get that top bolt off the hub. PB Blaster helps...the ends of the bolts are exposed on the front of the hub, so soak that area with PB blaster and it helps alot. 1aauto has a great video of this method on You Tube, BTW...
 


theres only so many ways to skin a wheel hub.

first one i ever did was a 3500 97 gmc 4x4 front hub, the rotor was pressed to the studs of the hub, 8 lug too. made changing the rotors so much fun.

before that, all my cars had real bearings, that you had to grease every 10 years. best part is, they hardly ever failed.
 
BillBoost37 said:
Aren't you older.. like Scott. I'd be willing to say it was your method before it was mine..lol
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I don't think I'm old like Scott (he's said he's older than me, but not how much...lol)...I'm 38, but my first hub replacement was about 10 years ago, so you probably did that before me...and scottydogs is right - only so many ways to get that thing out...lol
 
I jack up the car so both front wheels are off the ground then place 2 jack stands under the subframe and turn the steering wheel to get at the 3 bolts.
 
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