HOW TO: change wheel bearing/hub assembly

[armith]

Ok some of you peeps have mentioned wheel bearing problems.. Well for those of your brave enough to do this at home heres some help. (TIP: get a Haynes repair book..its VERY worth the $12)

Tools
=====
-36mm axel nut socket (loaner from Autozone)
-WD40 or other penetrator (everything will be rusty)
-13mm short socket (I always preferred the 12 point but whatever)
-13mm wrench (convenient for the tight spaces around CV axel)
-Flange Axel FWD puller (loaner from autozone OEM27037)
-coat hanger or wire (to hang caliper aside)
-jack stands (highly don't recommend just using your regular jack only to hold car up)
-3/4 drive torque wrench capable of 250ft/lbs or more..or impact gun capable of 250ft/lbs or more..
-1/2 inch drive breaker bar

[armith]

1. remove wheel and put on the spare.. The 36mm axel nut socket won't fit in the center hole. lower the car and with a 3/4 inch breaker bar loosen the nut. (now this is factory torqued at over 250ft/lbs. so this will take some serious work) I used a impact gun and just slowing and carefully loosened the nut careful not to break it or strip the threads. WD40 works good here.

2. once nut is off lift car, remove spare tire, and secure on a jackstand.

3.remove the brake caliper mounting bracket.. I found that its not necessary to remove the caliper and what not.. unbolt the bracket using the 13mm socket and a breaker bar. Slide the caliper off the rotor and hang caliper aside with a piece of coat hanger or wire. Remove the rotor.

4. Attach the hub puller to the hub using 3 lug nuts. make sure to tighten the lug nuts evenly (I did 1/4 turn each nut a time until tight) otherwise you may attach puller crooked and it could damage he lug nuts. tighten the slide hammer to the axel. do not push the axel in too much yet just get it started. (note: AZone puller used a 19mm socket or wrench for turning of center bolt )

5. there are 3 bolts on the back of the steering knuckle right close to where the CV joint goes into the hub. Use your 13mm socket and breaker bar to remove those bolts. (becareful not to damage the CV boot while doing this.. I found if you turned the steering wheel one side to another it was easier to get in there and access the bolts..

6. disconnect the Wheel Speed Sensor connector and unclip it from the bracket.

7. keep a good hold on the hub and begin to use the puller to seperate the hub from the axel.. CAUTION:BE VERY CAREFUL NOT TO PULL ON THE AXEL TOO MUCH.. ONE OR BOTH OF THE JOINTS COULD BE PULLED APART INSIDE IF YOU PULL ON THE AXEL TOO MUCH. Once the axel has been removed from the hub carefully thread the wheel speed sensor wire thru the knuckle. the sensor bracket will also come off.

8. Push the Wheel speed sensor thru the knuckle hole and guide the axel into the new hub. (make sure you put the sensor bracket back on too)

9. installation is reverse removal.. tighten hub bolts, then install rotor, slide caliper back into place and tightn bolts, put spare tire back on lower car, tighten axel hub nut to factory specs.. which I know is over 250ft/lbs.

Now once everything together I put my wheel back on however with the car still raised up I put the car in neutral and spun the wheel freely just to listen for any clicking or scraping of the brakes.. This was to make sure the brake caliper didn't need adjusted and to make sure there wasn't any damage to the CV axel.

Disclaimer
It is always recommended that you tighten all bolts to torque specs. I didn't have a smaller torque wrench and the impact gun wouldn't fit.. so I tightened the bolts down as close to as tight as it was for me to remove them.. I can post all torque specs if requested. Also note that I am not a certified mechanic nor to I consider myself a guru of any sort.. This is to be for reference purpose only.. I accept no responsibility for any damages or injuries should you try this on your own.

I recommend that if you have any reservations about performing this work that you find a mechanic buddy who could do this and pay them cash, beer, IOU, whatever.. This thread was basically for the purpose of informing you of the bolt and nut sizes and basic tools needed to do the job.

Once I got all the tools it took me about an 90 minutes to change one hub.. this would probably be considered slow.. but oh well. Most dealers or mechanics would charge you 2+ hours labor anyways.

[sicc]

just thought i would add to this, as i just finished replacing both front wheel hubs. in the tools section i think this part is wrong:

'Slide Hammer Hub puller (loaner from autozone)'

i borrowed one from autozone following the list, and though u say in the post:

'CAUTION:BE VERY CAREFUL NOT TO PULL ON THE AXEL TOO MUCH.. ONE OR BOTH OF THE JOINTS COULD BE PULLED APART INSIDE IF YOU PULL ON THE AXEL TOO MUCH.'

the only way to use a slide hammer is to attach it to the hub and SLAM the hammer bacc away from the axle... me and another guy did this SEVERAL times and didnt move the hub at all. after realizing the right way to pull it off and replacing the hub, i found we damaged the cv joint[s] on the half shaft. so to anyone trying this... DO NOT GET A SLIDE HAMMER!

the '36mm hub puller' comes with a bolt with a 19mm head on it [same as the lugnuts] that you screw into the axle until it pushes the hub off.

anyway... besides the fact i have to replace my half shaft on 1 side, this info helped a LOT... also... as he said, make sure you tighten the lugnuts evenly on the hub puller... when replacing the 2nd hub, i guess i wasnt as careful, and damaged 2 lugnuts making them useless.

also... checc to see if the 36mm soccet will fit in the center hole of your rims before bothering with the spare... mine fit fine. i have the 5 star SE rims

good lucc 2 anyone doing this... its not too bad once you do it once.

[PACE]

good post!

[armith]

My appologies with correct terminology.. It was referred to me as a slide hammer hub puller as did the box say such.. I since went back to the Azone and found that the OEM part of the actual puller I used and the OEM part of the box didn't match up. :rage:

I posted the OEM for the Flange Axel FWD Puller that I used. and corrected the HOW TO.

You are right about the importance of the lug nuts being even.. the puller is a tight fit and if you don't have all the lug nuts even and tight, kiss the lug nut or worse the wheel stud threads goodbye.

Again my appologies.. I tried to be as thorough as I could.. but when it comes to certain mechanic things and proper names of tools and parts, I tend to rely on "the experts:rolleyes:" and this is a case of BIBO.. (Bad Input Bad Output)

My local Azone has been made aware of the box/part mismatch and supposedly will either get a generic box or get the right box for it.

I do hope though that the rest of the change went much smoother for you.

[sicc]

ya it went fine... no need 2 apologize... i wouldnt even have attempted it if u didnt post this how-to ;]

[Black Z28]

we did this on pucci's car without the hub removal tool. we just pulled the axle out just enough to fit a large screw driver behind it, and tapped the axle until the hub detached from it. WD40 or PV Blaster is your friend here. just make sure you don't pull the half shaft out too far, then you into big trouble.

[Pucci]

A slide hammer????

Didn't we use a sledge hammer.

It worked. But now they are shot again. So I get to change then once again.

Damn Intrax and 18s

Pucci

[Black Z28]

i don't understand why they are wearing out so fast on your car pucci. you're aligned correctly and have a normal offset. so it shouldn't be putting any extra stress on them

[sculled99gt]

Please help....
I've been having a situation where my ABS/Trac off indicators come on, but I havent had any braking problems. I had my car in the shop for body work and explained the problem to the mech. and he came back to me and said the hub/wheel ass'y had to be replaced, and said it was a wiring problem, not the bearings themselves. He est. $700. Do I have to replace it or can the wiring be fixed?

[sicc]

$700!! if you want to save $ buy the hub at autozone for $130

and follow the info in this thread... the hub comes with the wiring that they are talking about.

now that i think of it,when i got my passenger side caliper off i noticed the wiring waz completely cut through. i had a couple abs lights i couldnt explain before, so this sounds correct.

bottom line tho, u should definitely do this yourself... or walk around w/ a sore ass 4 a while ;x

[schizm99]

I pulled the front wheel hub out finally. The d@mned thing didn't wanna move. There was an amazing amount of noise coming from the front end. I was sure that this is what it was, however there appears to be nothing wrong with the bearing. when I turn it it doesn't grind or anything..
Also I had to use a slide hammer and was a little unclear on the damage that this will cause. Could someone explain??

[Black Z28]

what dammage are you talking about?

[sicc]

well if u used a real 'slide hammer' you will need to replace your halfshaft on that side.

you arent supposed to pull on the axel, and with the slide hammer u have no choice. the slide hammer, if im correct, is made for the rear hubs. anyway, if you hear cliccing coming from your axel when you turn or go over bumps, you will need to replace that half shaft... that job definitely isnt as fun. and you need to redo your tranny fluid levels afterwards, or you will notice slippage in your tranny when turning to 1 side. its only about 3 steps more than replacing a hub, but those 3 steps are a pain in the ass.

[PontiacGT2K]

Originally posted by PACE
good post! You're right, this is a good post!

[eurostar]

What are the specs for the bolts
The main big bolt is 284 FP
how about the 3 small one's on the back?

[eurostar]

OK here's info for the Bolts
1"3/4 Stock Nut is torqued at 284lbs Ft.
some aftermarket Nuts will defer for example mine is only torqued at 173lbs ft. but you'll have the instructions with new hub kit
As for the 3 back bolts they are Torqued at 70lbs each

Cheers

[Joe Trinkley]

will I used these directions for an alero but it's the same. my 36mm socket fit into my regular wheel. the hardest part was getting the 3 bolts undone from the back, I used a 1/2" drive down to a 3/8" socket and turned the wheel all the way to the right for the front two and all the way to the left for the other one. worked great just be careful not to strip them, use the appropriate length extensions. I used the 3 prong universal puller from autozone but didn't need it anyways...all I did was push the center bolt with my thumb and pulled the hub and it popped right out, others may not be as lucky....the reason why I'm telling you guys this is because the above directions are very good and it works for us alero drivers as well. Thanks guys for your inputs and original detailed post....saved me a couple hundred bucks and only took an two hours to do. while I was in there I replaced the rotors and pads, that's why it took so long.

I'll be ready when the drivers side one goes too....oh yah the way you tell which one is bad is to either jack up the whole from end and put it in gear and let the wheel spin free, I heard a slight ticking on my passenger side which led me to believe that was the one, and second when driving down the road at about 55, turn left slightly, if you hear more noise then it's the passenger side, if you hear more noise when turning right slightly then it the drivers side because of the extra weight being put on the bearing. I've read it doesn't always work but it worked for me.....some say it's impossible to tell which one it is...

one mechanic wrote...

I handle this with the customer two ways. One, I say 'You tell me which one is bad, and I'll replace it.' Or, two, we change 'em both. You can always come down on an estimate, but you can't go up."

thanks again guys, I hope this post helped someone

Joe Trinkley

[brim]

yeah my bearing is shot to hell

had one replaced late december

from remembering it was the drivers side, and being told that twice, i found out it was the passenger side recently after digging up paperwork. The mechanic just pulled the cap off the rim and said "see the screws, how they're still silver and shiny, that's the one we did last time".

Weird ****ed up situation though, he said it was the driver's side when i had it done in december, paperwork had it as the "right" bearing.

Can't argue anything, changed a different bearing. Who knows, wonder how long I can ride on a bad bearing before the wheel turns in and tears off

Gonna try and do the job with some help, had to get a loan off someone for $350 to handle the last bill.

Got a guy in RI that'll charge me $290, mainly for the part $200-210 or so and then 50-60 labor w/ taxes and all

[Joe Trinkley]

mine was only 110 at autozone, but 80 bucks for labor sounds great....if you're unsure of yourself then that's a good deal....good luck

[Garagegoblin]

well I have a bad one, my thought is to put the OBD2 scanner on it and read which wheel speed sensor code is bad, and assume that is the one with the bad bearings, seeing that if you have bad bearings the tire isn't going to spin at the appropriate speed, any thoughts?

[Pucci]

Dude You're Alive

[Garagegoblin]

yes sir I am alive and kicking!!!

[armith]

Didn't know that the OBDII scanner could read individual sensors.. As for the bearings being shot and wheel not spinning at correct speed. That isn't always the case.. depends one what was done to break the bearing seals. In my case the magnetic part that the sensor reads went first before my bearing went I had a hella sensitive traction control problem.. couldn't even turn the wheel from a dead stop without ETS kickin in.. I then hit a hit what I thought was a pothole in the dark (later to find it was a piece of broken curb) which dropped the assembly down from the bearings. Didn't seem to effect the car much other than the hum and the ETS kicking on whenever it felt like it no matter what. after a couple months I had noticed that it had gotten worse so I opted to replace the one.. went to a garage and when the mechanic drove the car I was outside and had noticed that the passenger front was making the same hum slightly too. so I had to replaced both.. Got rid of the hum and ETS works the way its supposed to.

looks like I have another reason to look into an OBDII scanner. :thumbs:

[Garagegoblin]

well I am not 100% sure it can read which one, but the thought I had on it was that there would be a seperate code for each. my noise and lights are my problem, knowing my luck I will need to replace both. I definately could not have it any other way.

[Garagegoblin]

check this pucci, my baby now has 130,000 miles on it. Going really strong though.

[brim]

So, after a couple of weeks of driving on a humming bearing i finally gave in and bought a replacement

Now, the first one I had done at a shop for almost $350, less out of choice, more out of lack of funds and having to let my dad do what he wanted to help me out

Now this isn't much of an informative thread, but I'll throw in my experience


First off, pulled off the wheel, and went to work on the caliper

The top and bottom bolts were no problem, so the pads were removed and tossed aside. However, when it came to the inner bolts of the caliper mounting bracket, here's where a bit of innovative thinking came in.

http://www.allproducts.com.tw/metal/techcontrol/06-pipe.jpg

cheater pipe!

So using a breaker bar around the bolts, slapped on the pipe around the end of it and got em loose a hell of a lot easier


Once the caliper bracket was removed, the rotor slid off and the bearing assembly was exposed. Now comes the fun part, 3 bolt behind the hub, 1 on top, 2 on the sides, in one of the tightest locations if you have a hefty ratchet set and breaker

however!




http://www.allproducts.com.tw/metal/techcontrol/06-pipe.jpg

CHEATER PIPE!



broke free the bolt with the breaker and pipe, disconnected the wiring to it, but then an idiot moment hit and I had the sudden urge to try and pull the hub off, only managed to pull the axle out with it *doh* a bit so a couple hours work was done. While on a drive for pizza i stopped by a local autozone and asked if they had a loaner hub puller, the moron behind the counter laughed and looked at me like I had 3 heads, told me good luck and suggested Sears. ******

The next day I called around to a few autozones, find one that still had one, layed down the $40 (refundable upon return) and got back to the car. The hub puller works wonders but cracking the hub off the axle can be a PAIN IN THE ASS

once off, slid the new one back in, reconnected and clipped the wires

reversed it all then, and everything's back to normal aside from one thing however


the ANTI LOCK and TRAC OFF lights

not sure how to reset em, but the winding is gone, and the car is driving far better than when it was.

anyhow, that's my experience on the bearing

i knew it was gonna happen again

all in all, costs to me, $109.99 for the bearing assembly, and only a slightly eaten up hand and blood blister from tryint to break bolts that didn't want to come off

____________________

[john_ertw]

I had my wheel bearing/ hub replaced today. I tried to do it myself, but the thing was siezed to the shaft. 3.5 years of Canadian weather was all it took for the rust to take over. I finally gave up and brought it to a shop to do it since I couldn't remove the hub.

Some tips:

* You don't have to remove the caliper and caliper bracket seperatly. The garage I brought it to just removed the two caliper bracket bolts and removed the whole thing. This would save you about 5 minutes max, but I suggest removing the caliper and lubricating the slide pins while there. Also you will have the opportunity to clean up your brake pads by taking it all apart.

* I had two mechanics have a try at the job. Both of them used the hub puller before removing the three bolts that hold the hub in the rear. This is a good idea if it's siezed (at least to break it free). It ensures you won't damage other parts if the thing is badly siezed like mine.

Other than that it's straight forward. Take a look at the post on replacing brake pads to see more detail on that part of the repair.

[westpak]

I am in need of replacing my drivers side it is making a horrendous sound, actually for a while but just been lazy, but I cam across a bulletin in which they said a new hub nut has been released with a different design and can be installed with less torque and supposed to apply the torque better to the bearing helping it last longer. Is this info old and have people replaced the nut as well?

[BLACK n BLUE]

my car has been making this noise for about a month or so now. funds are short, luckily my dad will be fixing it, however, how long is too long to leave it alone? obviously i dont want to ruin my car or get into an accident, but, yea, how long is too long?

thanks

[westpak]

Well I don't know if I messed anything else up but mine has been doing the noise for about a year, it is just getting louder.

[BLACK n BLUE]

Well I don't know if I messed anything else up but mine has been doing the noise for about a year, it is just getting louder.

well atleast it hasnt like, lost control or anything yet. thats good to know. the noise is just SO freaking annoying. the radio has to be turned up extra loud and its so hard to hear on the phone. :blushing:

[JohnWayne]

my car makes a squeak squeak squeak noise when i push the brakes and when i make right turns, it just started doing this and im not sure what it is. could it be the neglect of my warped brake rotors or is it the wheel bearing? it is the most humiliating noise in the world when your driving around then all a sudden SQUEEEEEEK-EEEK-EEEEK-EEEK.....help me

[armith]

I let mine go for about a year and I did a lot of highway driving and mine got worse and worse quickly.

When I changed mine out I did notice some heat damage.. Discoloration where the rotors meet the hub. massive pain in the but to get the one rotor off though it had been a new rotor put on a couple months prior.. also the wheel speed sensor was damaged because any turn of the wheel and any bump would set the low trac light so I'd have to drive with the ETS off all the time. Keep in mind typically if the wheel hub is droaning then its not spinning correctly on the bearings that means there is friction.. If your a daily round town driver a year or so may be ok.. but if you put alot of miles on.. sure the wheel may not fall off.. but you could be looking at other problems.

well atleast it hasnt like, lost control or anything yet. thats good to know. the noise is just SO freaking annoying. the radio has to be turned up extra loud and its so hard to hear on the phone. :blushing:

[BLACK n BLUE]

I let mine go for about a year and I did a lot of highway driving and mine got worse and worse quickly.

When I changed mine out I did notice some heat damage.. Discoloration where the rotors meet the hub. massive pain in the but to get the one rotor off though it had been a new rotor put on a couple months prior.. also the wheel speed sensor was damaged because any turn of the wheel and any bump would set the low trac light so I'd have to drive with the ETS off all the time. Keep in mind typically if the wheel hub is droaning then its not spinning correctly on the bearings that means there is friction.. If your a daily round town driver a year or so may be ok.. but if you put alot of miles on.. sure the wheel may not fall off.. but you could be looking at other problems.


yea i do put a lot of miles on my car. i haven't even had it a year yet and it started with 69k and now i have 83k on it. i havent had any problems with the ETS, the only problem is the groaning.

my car makes a squeak squeak squeak noise when i push the brakes and when i make right turns, it just started doing this and im not sure what it is. could it be the neglect of my warped brake rotors or is it the wheel bearing? it is the most humiliating noise in the world when your driving around then all a sudden SQUEEEEEEK-EEEK-EEEEK-EEEK.....help me

yea, when i and stopped and i press extra hard on the brakes, like, at the light, i notice that it makes a weird squeaking, cracking noise. not sure how to describe it. but its nothing i worry about, its been doing it for the better part of a year.

[brianafischer]

Hey guys, thanks for the instructions, they worked great on my wife's 2001 Alero. However, I seem to have an issue after the replacement of the wheel bearing.

When my wife turns the wheel a lot, there is a "popping" or "clunking" noise. I am not sure if the wheel bearing is not tight enough on the axel, or if there may be an issue with the CV joints? When we put the wheel bearing on, we didn't have a breaker bar, but we tightened it as much as we could with a 16" wrench. Any feedback would be appreciated, and I could record the noise if it would help.

Thanks,
Brian

[westpak]

Hey guys, thanks for the instructions, they worked great on my wife's 2001 Alero. However, I seem to have an issue after the replacement of the wheel bearing.

When my wife turns the wheel a lot, there is a "popping" or "clunking" noise. I am not sure if the wheel bearing is not tight enough on the axel, or if there may be an issue with the CV joints? When we put the wheel bearing on, we didn't have a breaker bar, but we tightened it as much as we could with a 16" wrench. Any feedback would be appreciated, and I could record the noise if it would help.

Thanks,
Brian

I am finally getting my parts next week so hopefully I will get it fixed.

Which nut did yo uuse the old one or the new one, if you reused the old one then yo probably didn't tightened enough as it requires over 200 while the new one only requires around 187

[westpak]

I am finally getting my parts next week so hopefully I will get it fixed.

Which nut did yo uuse the old one or the new one, if you reused the old one then yo probably didn't tightened enough as it requires over 200 while the new one only requires around 187

Well I got it installed and it was not issue even after all this time of the humming back to square one, the bearinf was not making any noises when I took it off and spun it so I started to realize I might be wasting my time but oh well new bearing on the driver's side. But I did find that the caliper seems to be leaking past the piston so I am wandering if it is the piston getitng hung up and transferring the noise, I guess a caliper rebuild is in the near future. I have had problems with brakes since day one but now it is out of warranty so I guess I will do it and probably right this time.

[Thom]

ok i am getting ready to replace my hub, the hanes book says to disconnect the ball joint and strut, i really don't care to do that. but it looks like the bearing hub on my 2001 grand am will pull out from the rear of the steering knuckle. that is the part that is confusing me from everything that i am reading says that it slides out from the outside edge. i spoke with 1 mechanic and he said spray the splines with pb blaster first then loosen the 3 bolts (loosen a couple of turns not remove) then take an air chesel with a punch on it and hit the center of the bolts (be careful hit them in the center). so i quess my question is are we sure that the bearing hub does not come out from the back side of the steering knuckle?

[tenspeed]

so i quess my question is are we sure that the bearing hub does not come out from the back side of the steering knuckle?

My '02 hub came out of the front side. If it came out the back, you would have to remove the axle. I didn't remove the ball joint or strut either.

I removed the three bolts and it wasn't easy. They are in holes and it hard to get regular tools on them. I removed all three (turn the wheels to get better access)and used an old knife and a hammer to get it started. Pried it out once there was a space to get something in there. The banging on the bolts seems like a better way to loosen it.