Bearing question
 

I am goin to change my wheel bearings within the next month. I am changing the front ones cuase they are terrible, i was wandering if ne one could give me ne advise,tips and a list of parts and tools i need to do the job right.



Thanks .....Don :)

Are you positive it is the front ones? Usually the rear ones go first.

You will need to remove the entire hub assembly and remove the old/install the new with a press.

The "storage" lubricant which comes with the bearings must be absolutely, positively cleaned out and replaced with the highest quality bearing grease. The hub must then be torqued to the recommended setting.

Also, refer to this site
http://www.subarusvx.com/faq.html

Matt

can be done on car with a tool known as a hubtamer. orignally described by Beav, do a search. I've used it on the rear, works great.

Yeah it is def the front ones the rear ones have def been replaced there is 162,000 miles on it the front ones are feelin a lil wornout. SO what is the appropriate setting to put the hub back on at. and what kind of grease would u recomend?




Don:)

Couple of answers/suggestions.

First do a couple of searches on this site. Most of the cautions about the rear hub apply to front too.

The axle nut gets torqued to 123-152 ft lbs (use higher side figure for old nuts). Do not take off, or torque on, with the wheel mounted. must be done in the air.

Don't think you have to undo the lower ball joint if you're not going the hubtamer route. I seem to remember Beav suggesting taking the three bolts holding the arm to the lower part of the knuckle loose (again search).

Also, if not using hubtamer will need a new alignment when finished.

Double check the seals. When I did my rear bearing I found carparts.com and others listed the wrong parts. Only local source that had the correct listing was NAPA. I don't work there - YMMV.

Haven't done the job myself, just things I seem to remember

Close, but not quite...
 

Used fasteners tighten at the lower setting as they have already been 'stretched'. The higher value will compensate for a new fastener not yet being 'stretched'. (Technically referred to as "torque-to-yield")

As far as bearing grease is concerned, any high quality hi-temp wheel bearing grease will work.

If you don't have access to the proper tools, save yourself some grief and just remove the knuckle with the hub and bearing intact. Trot it down to your local automotive machine shop and toss a few bucks their way to have it done properly. They'll probably do the press work for $20 or so. Money well spent...

Re: Close, but not quite...
 

I'm so embarassed....also the presence of residual oil/grease on the old nut would lower the required torque spec as I believe most specs are for dry surfaces.:eek:

How does one prevent the wheel from spinning while doing this? Brakes applied or something else?

Thanks,

Matt

In the back, yes, at least that's what I did. for the front maybe just the park pawl in the tranny (not sure if this is safe tranny-wise) is enough.