Replacing all Wheel Bearings

B-Rad · #1 03-06-2008, 09:03 AM

Hey everyone, quick question/info for ya:

After taking a short 600 mile road trip, my Right Rear wheel bearing began making some loud noise. I took it to get it looked at by a local Subaru Technician. He was 100% sure it was the right rear bearing after driving it for 3 minutes. I decided I might as well replace them all if I have him work on it, so I asked him to price parts and labor for all four bearings.

He did some research on parts and labor, and came to the conclusion that replacing ALL FOUR wheel bearings and seals would be $400 in parts (2 rear bearings, 4 rear bearing seals, 2 front bearings, 2 front bearing seals), and that labor would be another $400, to a total of $800.

I've never had my bearings looked at, nor have they given me any problems before the noise, so I'm not sure how much a job like this would cost (mind you, it is for all four wheel bearings). I'm concerned about the health of my SVX's drivability, since I notice the droning sound at as low a speed as 20 MPH, and any speed above 60 MPH I can hardly hear my radio (irrelevant, but it also starts to rattle the right rear speaker). I had to cancel my 1,000 mile round-trip home because I was worried my wheel would fall off half-way through the trip.

In conclusion, my question is whether $800 to replace all four wheel bearings is a reasonable price. I feel more comfortable having a Subaru Tech work on it instead of a local shady tree grease monkey, but $800 is a big chunk of change for a bottom-rung military man.

Manarius · #2 03-06-2008, 09:12 AM

I put the cost of replacing the bearings at about 500. 50 for each bearing, 60 for each hour of labor to put it on. That amounts to 440. Then, add up seals, grease, tax, etc and you get 500.

dcarrb · #3 03-06-2008, 09:45 AM

I'd reconsider getting the fronts replaced absent some clear indication they're failing. I've had the rears replaced twice in some 50,000 miles in my teal SVX, but never the fronts (yet). On the silver, on which I've put 5000+ miles, I've had the fronts done but haven't heard a peep out of the rears. No sense changing them 'til they begin to complain, I figure.

Sorry, I don't remember what I paid but I'm thinking $200 per wheel isn't a bad price from a dealership. You might hit on some numbers with a search.

dcb

svx_commuter · #4 03-06-2008, 10:03 AM

The rear bearing hub may also have to be replaced. The early failure of the rear bearings I think is do to too much "pressing force" of the hub into the assembly, most common when a press is used.

How many miles you got on these bearings? I think the price is reasonable if the hub assembly is staying on the SVX and something like a HUB TAMER is used. This saves time and no need to remove the ABS sensor and better for the bearing preload.

Take care of the SVX,

John

Suby Fan · #5 03-06-2008, 10:19 AM

don't bother getting the fronts replaced they don't fail like the rear

B-Rad · #6 03-06-2008, 10:30 AM

From what little I know about my SVX (year 1996) history is that none of the bearings have been replaced or had problems, and the car has 54,700 miles on it. I purchased it from an elderly couple (driven by the wife, mostly) back in December 2001 and it only had 36,000 miles on it.

So in the last 6 years, I've only put close to 19,000 miles on it, 3 years of whice I wasn't around to drive it but maybe 4 weeks a year.

Also, svx_commuter, you mentioned using a press actually CAUSES problems? The Tech said that he'd be using one, so I'd like to see if I could glean some more information from the rest of the crowd about the best way to do this. If I could bring some heads-up to the Tech, I might be able to prolong the life of my new bearings. You also mentioned a Hub Tamer? I just Googled it and found out what it is, looks pretty simple. Do you think a Subaru dealership might have access to one of these? Or any privately-owned auto shop for that matter?
One thing I guess I should've mentioned is that this Subaru Tech works full-time at a Dodge/Subaru dealership in town, and has a part-time job at a local shop called "ESC Motors" which I think stands for Euro Sport Custom or Euro Sport Compact, something silly/ricey like that. He said that he'd probably do the work there and not the Subaru Dealership. Not sure why this is, or whether it should make a warning light go off in my mind. I've been by the ESC shop, and it doesn't look too spectacular; just a basic two-car garage with a bunch of jacks, jackstands, tool boxes and the like. It'd probably be a better idea to try to get it done at the actual dealership, huh? Also, I'll probably hold off on the front bearings, just to save money and time.

Suby Fan · #7 03-06-2008, 10:45 AM

its a tech if you have a receipt and the work is done at a shop there is a warranty so don't worry about it.

NiftySVX · #8 03-06-2008, 03:32 PM

Do a search on the topic and you will see me rant about using a press. You will also note that subaru sent out a bulletin stating that a press should not be used because of the likelyhood of deforming the hub which will cause a repeat failure.

svx_commuter · #9 03-07-2008, 11:18 AM

Yeah even Subaru does NOT press the rear bearing onthe Forester any more. This has the same bearing I think as the SVX and the same problem. The SVX bearings do not have a solid inner ring. There is an axial space between the two inner races. So when the press is used there nothing to stop the inner races other then the rollers pressing into the outer race. This puts a lot of load into the rollers when a press is used. It make sense to me. There are people that have had replaced rear bearings three or more times in baout two years.

If you can get this done on the SVX without removal of the hubs you will be ahead of what else you might need in parts as compared to if you take it all off. You will need realignment when done beside other parts that might break. The ABS sensor is high on that list and expensive.

The too much preload from a press was obvious to me when I got some used ones andtried to spin the hub. Oh my goodness was it hard to turn.

The grease inthe bearing is old and just used for shipment. Well that is the story. I agree it may have been in there for 10 years and that is no good. I say clean it out and get some new stuff.

Take care of the SVX,

John

svx_commuter · #10 03-07-2008, 11:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NiftySVX

Do a search on the topic and you will see me rant about using a press. You will also note that subaru sent out a bulletin stating that a press should not be used because of the likelyhood of deforming the hub which will cause a repeat failure.

Yeah they figured this problem out.

Also lug nut torque is critical as well as bolt torque fro hub to the suspension.