Front Wheel Bearing R&R

[davintosh]

While reading your last post I thought to check another DIY thread regarding front CV boot replacement; amacman was able to get full access to the boot by just removing the two M16 nuts & bolts from the strut (#2 & 3), which allows the wheel carrier (#4) to swing free. That might be the way to do it; saves a lot of trouble messing with the ball joints.



In case you haven't seen this thread, it's got some useful info in it.

[Ricky Bobby]

Looks like unbolting the strut gives a large amount of room and once you get the axle pushed inwards a bit to free it from the hub, you can swing the whole wheel carrier down and get the axle out of the way. Or alternatively, unbolting the control arms at the frame and leaving the strut attached.

From there I would replace one strut bolt just to keep the assembly rigid while pressing, and go at it to get the hub out and the bearing pressed out.

I may end up just renting a slide hammer instead of buying one, as well as the jaw pullers, but definitely buying the bearing press discs, and I also need to get myself a dremel with a wire wheel, I'm sure my hubs need some de-rusting action and it will do double duty to help cut off the inner races!

[Ricky Bobby]

Just wanted to bump this post as I thought my information might help others along the way:

I started this job Sunday afternoon, and will be working on it over the next few nights and over this coming weekend hopefully to finish up.

I rented a Slide hammer from Advance Auto, bought bearing press disc kit from Harbor Freight and Circlip pliers, and am ready to go.

The axle nut was surprisingly easy to get off, I was spraying the nut with PB blaster each night for a week however. All I did was take my 2 foot breaker bar with my jack handle slipped over it, and she loosened with some force.

NOTE: you don't have to put the wheel back on the ground or put the wheel back on to loosen the axle nut! I put a chock on the rear wheel, put the car in gear, and slipped a socket extension rod in between the vanes of the rotor so it was "chocked" against the caliper, and when I went to loosen the axle nut with the wheel off and the corner in the air, nothing moved whatsoever. Hope that saves some people a step. I also chiseled out the detents of the axle nut with the wheel on the car before lifting and supporting frame with jack stand.

Caliper, rotor, and wheel sensor come out easily, clean wheel sensor with QD Electronic cleaner and regrease with dielectric.

I have not pushed the axle out of hub yet, since the original slide hammer I rented from Pep Boys came with the wrong flange, this flange:


DOES NOT fit over the hub, hub is too large in diameter. So I got slide hammer kit from Advance Auto, looks like this:



Tested the fit over the hub last night, the shallower flange on the right just clears with room to thread 3 wheel lugs into their respective holes, so it can be used with the slide hammer to get the axle out, or the threaded pushing rod attachment to use for "pushing" the axle out of the hub.

However, since I rented 2 slide hammers, I may experiment with using BOTH 5 lb. slide hammer weights together as one, I'm thinking of using some redneck ingenuity tonight and if I can't get the hub hammered out easily with one hammer, I may double them up with zip ties and make it a 10 LB BRUTAL HAMMER!

Will update this posting as I go, oh and by the way if your outer CV boots haven't been tended to you may want to replace them when the axle is out of the hub, you can do that repair with the inner end still attached to the car. I bought $25 from Pelican Parts of 2 GKN Loebro OEM boot kits (which come with new axle nuts in them!), and 9 dollars from Advance Auto for Autocraft CV boot pliers for ear clamps. I heard they are cheap and break but Advance sells with lifetime warranty so if they break I'll get another set.

I am only disconnecting the strut for this repair to allow clearance to swing axle out of the way and get my bearing press kit behind the wheel carrier. All control arms are in place.

Bought this tool to press out the old bearing and press in the new:



Make sure you get a deadblow hammer to hammer the rotor off, wire brushes to clean rust off of everything, a nice big bottle of antiseize, plenty of PB Blaster, all your right sockets, extensions, wrenches, and breaker bars, and the other must have, a Dremel! Need wire wheels for the bad rust on the hubs, and cutoff wheels for the inner race that will inevitably get stuck to the hub on removal, which you need to cut most of the way through then whack with a hammer/chisel to get the race off the hub.


And yes, I know there are other methods out there for my entire process but I don't currently have air tools and was trying to do this cost efficiently. If all goes well, I will reuse my hubs. I bought new bearings, retaining rings, axle nuts and dust caps for about 120 bucks. Like I said, the axle boot kits came with new axle nuts, so I actually have 4 new axle nuts now lol. If for some reason I destroy my hubs on removal or run into another problem I will get new ones from the dealer, wanted to try to reuse the hubs first, however.


Oh, and the only other casualty so far is one of my hub centric rings. I had the cheap plastic ones, it wouldn't come off the hub, so I had to cut it off. Got a set of metal ones coming in the mail from Ebay now, I'll replace on all 4 wheels when they come in.


Will update with progress...

[davintosh]

You're my new hero! Go RICKY!

[ArmyX5]

Originally Posted by Ricky Bobby

Just wanted to bump this post as I thought my information might help others along the way:



Oh, and the only other casualty so far is one of my hub centric rings. I had the cheap plastic ones, it wouldn't come off the hub, so I had to cut it off. Got a set of metal ones coming in the mail from Ebay now, I'll replace on all 4 wheels when they come in.


Will update with progress...

I did this job about 6 months ago and had a couple of casualties,(wheel bearings) . Make sure you press the new wheel bearing on the correct ring. I destroyed the new bearing when I pressed it in and didn't noticed it until everything was put together and my X5 front wheels started shaking. Good Luck

[Ricky Bobby]

Originally Posted by ArmyX5

I did this job about 6 months ago and had a couple of casualties,(wheel bearings) . Make sure you press the new wheel bearing on the correct ring. I destroyed the new bearing when I pressed it in and didn't noticed it until everything was put together and my X5 front wheels started shaking. Good Luck

what do you mean press it on the correct ring? Not sure if I follow you..


Update from last night although I didn't do much, I know everyone hammers the axle out of the hub but I'm not a fan of that in case the punch slips and damages the axle threads or something else. But I used the axle flange for the slide hammer and the threaded rod in the kit which is used with a hub puller and "pushed" the axle inwards out of the hub, very easy to do.

Tonight I will have more time to play, need to disconnect the strut but waited to do that until I got the axle pushed inwards, and swing the hub carrier forward so I can get the axle out of the way, then I will hammer the hub out of the carrier tonight hopefully and press a new bearing in.

[ArmyX5]

I made the mistake of pressing on the outer ring, see picture. I know common sense, but it happen.

[Ricky Bobby]

Originally Posted by ArmyX5

I made the mistake of pressing on the outer ring, see picture. I know common sense, but it happen.

ok I got you, are you talking about when you press the new bearing in, or press the hub back into the new bearing?

I was under the impression that when you press the new bearing in the wheel carrier you should use a disc that covers most of the bearing, so that it doesn't separate, then when it is seated and time to drive the hub in, to use a smaller disc on the back of the bearing to drive the hub in, and only put pressure on the inner race (inner ring) then?

[ArmyX5]

Originally Posted by Ricky Bobby

ok I got you, are you talking about when you press the new bearing in, or press the hub back into the new bearing?

I was under the impression that when you press the new bearing in the wheel carrier you should use a disc that covers most of the bearing, so that it doesn't separate, then when it is seated and time to drive the hub in, to use a smaller disc on the back of the bearing to drive the hub in, and only put pressure on the inner race (inner ring) then?

That is correct.

[Ricky Bobby]

Originally Posted by ArmyX5

That is correct.

Got your PM thanks for the help! Hoping I can get it out tonight and my hubs aren't damaged/rusted too bad so I can reuse them.