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Front right wheel bearing bad, DIY?

B

brian1104

New member
My front right wheel bearing is bad. The dealer will fix it under warranty with a $200 deductible. Local shops quote between 240-320. The part is only about 130 and was wondering if I could do it myself. I've done my brakes plenty of time before and getting the caliper and rotor off probably sounds like the most involved part which would be no sweat. Is there much more than just talking the bolts off the bearing, taking it off, cleaning any rust and such on the axle, area where it's placed and then put the new one on?
 


yup that easy to do, just like you and five finger said.

tip: put the spare tire on, ( 2 lugs are fine) then lower the car to the ground, then take the axle nut off. i use a breaker bar and a jack handle pipe for leverage.

unplug the hub before taking the bolts off the hub, then beat it off.
 
Yup. If you can do brakes, you're more than halfway there. Total of 4 more bolts/nuts to remove - one of which is the axle nut. Do what Scotty said with the spare. I use a 6' pipe from my wife's hammock frame with my breaker bar to break it loose. If you have problems getting the axle out of the bearing, put the nut back on even with the end of the axle (or put a chunk of 2X4 over the end of the axle), and hit it a few times with a hammer. After you have the bolts out of the hub, use a hammer to pound it out. Hit the wheel holding the lug studs from behind, and it will push it out quite efficiently. Check the knuckle after the hub is out - sometimes there's a metal cover that comes off of the hub and sticks in the knuckle. Good luck!

Oh - 1AAuto has a GREAT video that shows how to do this job, BTW...Check it out.
 
Make sure to get a SKF bearing, and if you can't find that then MOOG or maybe timkin, nothing chinese unless you want to do it over again in a year.

also make sure to put the axle nut back on at 118 ft/lbs the correct torque on it goes a long way to keeping your bearings alive.
 


addzradd said:
Make sure to get a SKF bearing, and if you can't find that then MOOG or maybe timkin, nothing chinese unless you want to do it over again in a year.

also make sure to put the axle nut back on at 118 ft/lbs the correct torque on it goes a long way to keeping your bearings alive.
Click to expand...

What's your source for SKF? I went to OReilly but their catalog is down for the moment.
 


So I got the new one on today, was quite a task, also pretty terrifying how bad of shape of the old one was in.

The old one came off in two pieces. I took the rotor off and one piece of the hub just fell off as soon as the rotor wasn't on. The second piece required a bit of muscle... ended up having to resort to a mallet to get it knocked off. Not sure how my wheel didn't fall off with the shape the other one was in.

Cleaned it all up, put the bearing on, hooked up the sensors, torqued it to spec and it seems to be good as new. Nice to have a quiet and smooth ride... we'll see if it stops the jolt I mentioned in this thread: http://www.grandprixforums.net/maf-problem-80953.html Fingers crossed!
 
Seems like an afully high failure rate for a Timkin. You are torquing the axle nut to the proper torque, right? If not then the bearing preload is not being set and could wear them prematurely. Seen this happen before so just an FYI.
 
FordMan77 said:
Seems like an afully high failure rate for a Timkin. You are torquing the axle nut to the proper torque, right? If not then the bearing preload is not being set and could wear them prematurely. Seen this happen before so just an FYI.
Click to expand...

torqued them to the specs that the sheet that came with the bearing. 118. since timkin started having their bearings made in china m I haven't heard much good
 


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