Brake caliper bolts-advice or tips please

[Kristophe]

I just wanted to check in and report that I'm finished and after a good test drive last night and today my X drives great. Again I changed the following:

1). RH side CV Axle
2). Wheel bearing
3). new Trust Arm bushing pressed in
4). Ball Joint

I plan on changing the LH side TA bushing/Ball Joints next week then taking it in to get aligned.

All the parts added up to $216. Total labor for bearing and bushing replacment was $93 and I spent about $39 for assorted tools i.e. 36mm socket, e10 star socket to remove ball joint screws, ect. So about $350ish total. Many of the tools needed such as the ball joint removers was rented from Autozone.

Would I do it again? I don't know. This was a long, difficult, and strenuous job. And as most of us realize we don't typically have alot of spare time to delve into such projects. I did learn that changing the CV Axle in of itself isn't all that difficult.

[davintosh]

Well done! Glad to hear things went well, and costs were relatively low.

Before I started on mine, I asked for a ballpark price on replacing the bearings from a local guy who runs a small mom & pop (literally; he & his wife do all the work) brake shop, and he said he'd probably charge about $1200 for the fronts alone. I've probably got about $600 into parts & tools for the front and rear bearings, plus all the parts I put into rebuilding the rear control arms, so I figure I paid myself pretty decently for the job. Plus I learned a few things along the way. Like I said before, it's not an easy job, but not impossible to DIY either.

[Ricky Bobby]

Originally Posted by davintosh

Well done! Glad to hear things went well, and costs were relatively low.

Before I started on mine, I asked for a ballpark price on replacing the bearings from a local guy who runs a small mom & pop (literally; he & his wife do all the work) brake shop, and he said he'd probably charge about $1200 for the fronts alone. I've probably got about $600 into parts & tools for the front and rear bearings, plus all the parts I put into rebuilding the rear control arms, so I figure I paid myself pretty decently for the job. Plus I learned a few things along the way. Like I said before, it's not an easy job, but not impossible to DIY either.

x3, really, the job itself is tedious and strenuous, but more than anything its the time factor. this is not a 2 hour easy job on a Saturday, but I'll be damned if I was paying 1000 bucks labor for it (I got quoted $1350 to replace both front bearings, and outer CV axle boots from a local indy if done at the same time, without alignment)

The only tools I purchased and kept were a dead blow hammer, 4 lb mini sledge, and a few extra wrenches/sockets from Harbor freight, probably about 40 bucks in tools I actually kept at the end of this job. If I kept the Harbor Freight bearing press set that would add another 90 bucks, but he sent me money as we were gonna split the tool (I don't think I'll be doing the front bearings again). I spent $8 to fabricate a special tool to draw the axle back in the hub on reinstallation (ground down axle nut welded onto a 21mm impact socket). Don't forget 9 bucks for the ear clamp tool (Advance Auto parts) on the axle boots.

The slide hammer (double brutal 10 lbs), hub puller/axle pusher tool were free after rental. Even if I kept the bearing tools I'd still be into this job for 150 in tools, total.

Use of jack handle as a "cheater bar" since I don't have impact gun - FREE
Dremeling the race off the hub and reusing the stock hub - FREE (saved 180 bucks on both sides)

Then my parts breakdown as follows:
Bearings - 90 bucks for pair
Circlips - 10 bucks for both
Dust shields on hub - 12 bucks for both
OEM GKN Loebro axle boot kits - 30 for the pair
New bolts/nuts for the strut (I like to replace hardware when I can) - 20 bucks


I'm lucky enough that I didn't run into Dave's problem and have a seized wheel sensor, mine both came out smoothly and were fine, and I'm lucky nothing else broke. But seriously, for $150 in parts, and $150 on tools, even though it literally took me two weeks start to finish (I seriously take my time with a job like this, and don't work on it every day), I still saved $1000 bucks that I ended up needing for some work around the house, so it was a win win in my book. It does feel rewarding knowing I did it myself and did it right, most of all, but definitely a job I do NOT want to do again!

[Kristophe]

And to think I "only" took my knuckle to a shop to have the bearing changed. My hat's off to both of you.

And I truly appreciate ya'lls support. I did take my time to make sure everything was put back correctly and torqued properly. Quite the challange to be laying underneath with that long T-wrench on some of those arm bolts. I should invest in a smaller T-wrench. The one I have I got 30% off at AutoZone for buying my bearing there.

Ricky, I ventured into our new-to-the-area Harbor Freight for this task for the first time and was impressed; lots of tools for c-h-e-a-p. I got my 4 lb sledge for $8 and the long hammer-end chisle for $4 (that I used to pop the CV axle from the differential). I think I'm going to enjoy that place

[Ricky Bobby]

Originally Posted by Kristophe

Ricky, I ventured into our new-to-the-area Harbor Freight for this task for the first time and was impressed; lots of tools for c-h-e-a-p. I got my 4 lb sledge for $8 and the long hammer-end chisle for $4 (that I used to pop the CV axle from the differential). I think I'm going to enjoy that place

Awesome to hear, yeah I love HF for tools on the cheap, some are shit quality but will get you through the job (for example a circlip plier set just made it through both sets of circlips but were basically toast after the big honkers on the X5, I tossed the set out but it was 8 bucks so no biggie)

I have breaker bars from harbor freight, they work awesome. Jack stands, awesome. My jack is from harbor freight, it holds up fine. I bought the 4 gallon backpack sprayer to spray my mulch beds with weed killer, works great. I have metric and SAE wrench sets, and socket sets, all are great, the 4 lb mini sledge you bought, and a few other tools from there.

Hell, I've had a few torque wrenches over the years too but its amazing that my $9.99 1/2" drive torque wrench is the most reliable and keeps working. I had a dud of a 3/8" torque wrench which stopped clicking after a year, but at 10 bucks, there is no loss there!


And don't forget your 20%/25% off coupons when you go in! They used to have a better coupon policy, for example you could bring in as many as you wanted and use per item (if I had 10 20% off coupons and bought 10 items I could get 20% off each item), now they started doing bullshit by me where I can only use "one coupon type per customer per day", and not on items "advertised on sale". So if I had a 20% off coupon and was buying a wrench set I could use it, and if I used one of those "8.99 shop towels pack of 50" coupons I could use both, but if I had additional items I couldn't use any more coupons.


So I have been bringing my wife in and making 2 separate transactions if I have to, or hell, sometimes i'll just go once in the morning and once at night, if the manager is being a hard ass that day.

[Kristophe]

I'm still somewhat on a roll; going to replace the tie rod ends when I'm changing the driver's side ball joint and TA bushing. I decided to go ahead and order new Sachs front struts so I can get those changed out as well before I have it aligned.

I ordered new strut mounts and sway bar links. And my BMW OCD caused me to also order new bumper stops today on Amazon. The bumper stops on my rear shocks were quite fatigued when I replaced those recently.


The new HF ad flyer has those click-type torque wrenches on sale for $9.99.

[bcredliner]

git er done!

[Ricky Bobby]

Originally Posted by Kristophe

I'm still somewhat on a roll; going to replace the tie rod ends when I'm changing the driver's side ball joint and TA bushing. I decided to go ahead and order new Sachs front struts so I can get those changed out as well before I have it aligned.

I ordered new strut mounts and sway bar links. And my BMW OCD caused me to also order new bumper stops today on Amazon. The bumper stops on my rear shocks were quite fatigued when I replaced those recently.

The new HF ad flyer has those click-type torque wrenches on sale for $9.99.

I ended up needing to replace my tie rods after my bearing/cv boot job because the adjusters were totally effin seized and I couldn't get my alignment done. However those are so easy, just be careful with the boots (don't rip them) and you can reuse the clamps if you are careful, 2 wrenches and the tie rod is off extremely easy. Make sure you don't drive more than a few miles after those though, your alignment will be totally off to all hell.


I have a 1/2" and 3/8" click type torque wrench from harbor freight, I use the 1/2" for doing my lug nuts and anything with higher torque value (I used on my strut nuts too), the 3/8" I use for oil pan drain plug, etc.

For 10 bucks they can't be beat and they still click every time, the trick is to store them unlocked, at minimum torque, and to not use them for torqueing outside their usable range. I have 2 years on both already and they have more than paid for themselves, I'd buy another in an instant if I needed to.

[bcredliner]

If you measure the existing tie rod from center of the bolt holes and adjust the new one to that length you can get reasonably close to the previous alignment--better than nothing.

[Ricky Bobby]

Originally Posted by bcredliner

If you measure the existing tie rod from center of the bolt holes and adjust the new one to that length you can get reasonably close to the previous alignment--better than nothing.

x2 that's what I did per the advice of members like yourself, worked out well but I still recommend it being done as soon as possible afterwards.