Front Wheel Bearings Questions
 

I will be replacing the front wheel bearings on my '04, so I ordered a pair of Timken branded bearings from an online parts house. They also listed FAG, but with the caveat that a specific replacement hub was also required. I chose the Timkens, as they had no such requirement listed. They were the more expensive choice as well.

On receipt, the boxes are Timken, but the enclosed bearings are Slovakian origin FAG bearings. I'm not too concerned about the possible bait-and-switch; More concerned with proper fitment.

Most importantly, I thought I had read the ABS reluctors were "built-in" to the bearings. Is this so? There is no apparent directionallity for installation, other than the standard bearing credo to push on the stamped end of the bearing.

Can anyone comment? Thanks!

The abs side of bearing is obvious. You should not have a problem with the fit other than they are A BEAST to remove and replace. I stripped three bolts from the bearing press (I upgraded after from 3/4 inch bolt to 1" bolt) which bumps the force up from 23,000 to 62,000#. What is your plan for bearing press? It takes about 30-35,000 to remove and about 20-25,000 to install. My upgraded bearing press does wonders. Stock it wasn't close to dealing with fronts. Might have the power to do backs.

I think my wife's left front is shot so I will be doing this process again soon. Any chance you are near SE Wisconsin?


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I took a closer look at the bearings. The stamped (engraved) end also appears to have a thin black ring at the radius- I'm guessing this is the reluctor end. We'll need to compare it to the bearings we remove before installation.

I have been doing business with a local indie shop for some years, they have never let me down. With a quoted price of $300 for labor, there is no way I'm fooling around with them myself! More to the point, I don't have current access to a sufficiently heavy arbor or hydraulic press. And I'm in CT. Good luck with your installation. These things are loud as hell when failed!

The ABS side is visible from the raised sections on the black seal, like in this image.

https://c1552172.ssl.cf0.rackcdn.com/223849_x800.jpg

Perfect, thanks!

With the correct adapters, it is not a tough job:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2s8-8kH1AIU

Mine are making a racket too at 160k. My local (highly respected) indy shop just quoted me the following:

$467.50 labor (5.5hrs @ $85/hr)
$414 bearings (Timken @ $207 ea... really?)
$358 hubs ($179 ea)

I'm ok with the labor, but the parts quote is way high. They're ok with using parts that I supply so long as they're SKF, FAG or Timken. They will warrant the labor, but not parts that I supply; which is fair. They didn't want to bother trying to get the old race off the hubs when they pop them off. I told them for $358 they need to try for half an hour labor or so. They got the hint.

I'd normally tackle this myself, but I really can't spare the time with kids headed to college. I figure the hydraulic puller and plates and hardened threaded rod is about $200, so I'm looking at a net of about $270, which I'm ok with.

Take about 3 minutes to nick the old race with cutting wheel and smack it with a cold chisel. Job done. :thumbup:

Yikes.

I bought the bearings online, $130 for the pair of Timken branded bearings, which turned out to be FAG. My shop frequently asks me to get the parts- They know I strive for better quality than what they typically have available.

My indie is quite good. While he quoted me $300 labor (one side) he will charge less if it takes less time. The job won't be a problem for him at his shop. For me, it would be a PITA.

That guy is a hack. If you are going to be posting a video on how to do a front bearing post this guy video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3dgrgmMZw0&t=14s

It's for an X3, but the two SAV are similar, but the best thing is his procedure on removing the bearing from the hub. I use the same hydraulic press but use an OTC front wheel bearing repair kit instead of making special plates.

Looks like the FAG bearings are $85ish for the pair and brand new BMW hubs are $90ish each. Plus a few bucks for new half shaft and tie-rod lock/control arm locknuts and whatnot.

The $450 labor charge is for both sides, so I can't really complain about that. I actually kind of wanted to buy the HF hydraulic punch tool and try it, my issue is time, I just can't spare half of a weekend day to mess with it.

I'm not sure if my front wheel bearings are okay.
I have some front end noise but I'm not sure if it's tires
or wheel bearings.
Is there a test to see if they are still good
.

Kind of hard to determine exactly without a set of electronic "ears", unless the bearing is REALLY bad. Easier if the X5 wasn't AWD.

Typical failure mode for a wheel bearing is spalling of the rolling element(s) and/or the raceways. As the spalling progresses, the bearing gets rougher and noisier, easier to detect. They will still function for quite some time, just getting noisier. If left too long, it can be catastrophic.

When I needed to replace my front bearings (at different times) I removed the hub assembly and took it and the new Timken bearing to an auto shop; they charged $50 to press out the old bearing and press in the new one. I also replaced my ball joints while I was at it.

You'll know long before they get to "catastrophic" as the droning will drive you outta your skull... but it IS hard to figure out which wheel it is, as it's a very non-directional sound.

I had this quandary - I knew I had a bad bearing but couldn't find it. Left it to get worse and worse until it was very obvious which it was (right rear). Outer race was badly spalled but bearing was still in decent condition otherwise (no play as only one race of the two races was damaged).

Neat gizmo but did he say 10T press. That wouldn't have gotten my bearing out. Freezing will reduce the size by closer to 0.003 which helped a lot in putting the new bearing in. The HF kit with 1" bolt to replace the 3/4 bolt triples the force of either the 3/4 bolt or the 10T hydraulic press which will work great until it doesn't.

Math and the total destruction of three hardened 3/4 push rods indicated a force close to 30/35,000 pounds was needed to remove my bearing even when heating the knuckle to 240°F and putting dry ice inside the old bearing.

I applied close to 350 ft-lb of torque to the 3/4-19 oiled threads (over 25/30,000# of force and nothing happened until I also used MAP torch to heat the knuckle to about 240° F when it released with a BANG.

Removing the old race from the hub exactly like described above: cut at an angle with angle grinder and use a chisel to snap when it's close to cut through. The next time I'll try to just cut along the hub to make a groove where a chisel can fit to push it off and use MAP torch to heat the part

I have a noisy bearing on wife's x5 but haven't determined which yet so I can replace but it's in my near future.

I developed a way to replace the rear without suspension disassembly but the front is still easier so I'm hoping for front left. (Already replaced front right)

If your spare tire is narrower than regular, swapping on the spare can instantly determine which bearing is shot. I only knew one of my bearings was shot when I installed some narrower wheels and the weight shifted from the outer to the inner race. I may try this exact method with my wife's car to pin down which corner is causing the drone.

NOT removing the knuckle saves $150-200 for one side $200-300 for both sides (no paying $50/100 per side for a shop to use 20T press and no need to get an alignment. )

This is a great job for DIY but engineering the press that can push hard enough is the trick. Maybe because I have a pair of '01s BMW may have used tighter press fit than newer model years and the 20,000# will work with newer models. My truck will laugh at you all day with a 10T press. A 3/4 bolt is good for 23,000# and I turned three of them into smooth metal rods trying to remove two front bearings.

If you have access to a lathe, making a couple plates with a 1" hole and a $5 grade 8 1-14 bolt and a $10 bronze thrust bearing will get you into the 20T by hand range and 30+T with big impact wrench range. It was laughable how easy pressing on the new bearing for the rear it was I didn't even bother to use heat or cold as I was aware that I had twice the force required on tap with my upgraded tool.

For somebody near Chicago/Milwaukee I would definitely meet with you to with out a help out situation. I couldn't remove my axle nut from my copy of x5 with a 2' breaker bar and a 4# hammer (estimate 500+ ft-lb) so I bought the high torque Milwaukee M18 impact with 700 ft-lb CW and 1100 ft-lb CCW. I've used it to break free some rusted under water pier footings that laughed my 220 ft-lb impact and not only did it zip the bolt right out of the threaded hole, it was literally smoking. Have to be careful when installing I've stretched 1/2" bolts, it will easily snap them.

I bought a retuned HF bearing tool for about half price because some a hole stripped the rod and returned it. I already planned to upgrade the tool to 1" bolt so that worked great for me. 63,000 vs 23,000 pounds of force. Yesplease. I won't have to but probably still will put the bearing in my freezer overnight because the extra 3/1000 dropped the install force by about 5 tons compared to removal force.



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Put the cleaned and prep'ed hub into the freezer for a bit too, while you are driving in the bearing. That way when you get to driving in the hub, it's a little easier also.

I put dry ice inside the hub. -80°F it would probably actually work better to use the freezer


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With the rapid cooling of the part by dry ice are you concern with stress fracture of the metal?

I'd like to leave the hub alone and use bearing adapters to remove the OUTER race.

Can someone recommend a bearing removal kit?

On ebay I see some FWD Bearing Adapter Kit for about $60-$80.

Harbor Freight similar kit is $120.

I just need a link that shows the tool that works for E53 X5 and E83 X3.

Thanks!

Front Wheel Bearings Questions
 

I have the harbor freight model. The problem is the push rod that comes with the kit is tragically under powered.

3/4" rod is good for about 11T of force but it takes closer to 16-17Ton force to remove. I stripped three rods changing two bearings until I drilled the center holes on the 4-5 biggest plates to 1" and now I can press about 30T and makes it a breeze.

I bought the 1" grade 8 bolt for about $5 on Amazon and found local source for the nuts and washers.

I bought oil sintered bronze thrust bushings and that's the best upgrade though you need the 3/16 or 1/4" thick model: I tried with 1/8" thick and it squirted out like Play-Doh! That's some serious force.

If you get a kit on the cheap and can drill It out to 1" you'll have a killer kit to push the bearing.

The other tip I have: using some longer 14mm bolts (grind the end to a blunt cone) to push the hub off the bearing using some flat stock between hub and knuckle: this will destroy the dust cap I just replace with a new one it helps me keep track of which bearings I've done.

I don't like to use slide hammer on the front hubs too much risk damaging one of the ball joints. Slide hammer to remove the back berating though.