Front Wheel Bearing R&R

[davintosh]

One thing you might be overlooking is the axle; the splined end of it will be in the way of the bearing removal tool once the hub is out of the way. In the video of the rear axle being done, the guy just removed the half-shaft to get it out of the way. I'm not sure what all is involved in removing the front half-shafts on the e53, but I don't think it's quite as easy as the rear. I remember reading somewhere that you can just remove one of the mounting points of the lower control arm so the steering knuckle can swing a little more freely; can't find that reference right now though. But the steering knuckle has just five fasteners holding it to the car; two bolts on the strut, the ball joint on the tie rod, the ball joint on the tension strut, and the ball joint on the wishbone. Using the right tool*, you can get the ball joints off without damaging the boots, and provided you don't change the length of the tie rod, the alignment should still be really close when it's all put back together. FWIW, the instructions in the Bentley manual go the same route, pulling the entire steering knuckle off to replace the bearings.

As for getting the race off of the hub, I'm just planning to use a Dremel cutoff tool to get most of the way through it, then a cold chisel in the cut and a few hammer taps to get it to split the rest of the way. Far easier than mucking around with cutting a couple of slots in it and using a puller and bearing splitter to pull it off.

Your steps look like they're in the right order, but I might have to read through them again later with a fresher set of eyes (tired right now.) Do you have a Bentley manual? It's not always the end-all authority on the best way to do a job, but it helps a lot.

* I've had great results using the lever type ball joint tool that comes in the loaner kit from Advance Auto.



Later!
--
Dave

also, would be very interested in buying your tool kit when you're done with it. I don't want to pay the dealer or the indy whatever they'd want for doing this job either.