front wheel bearings

fayfam

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Feb 3, 2012
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21
Location
Bacchus Marsh
Hi all,
just wondering how hard it is to replace the LHS front bearing in my 2003 Forester?
thanks in advance,
cheers.
 
Pretty easy if you have access to a hydraulic press. if you dont pretty bloody dificult.

I've taken the hub off and then taken the hub on its own the a mechanic to press in new bearings before to save money on labour
 
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It's not very hard to take off with a good set of tools.

1/ With the car on the ground handbrake on remove the hub cap, remove the crush nut holding the cv joint into the hub spline you'll need to bend the outer ring of the nut off the spline to take it off. Put the nut back on finger tight. You'll need a breaker bar ( i use an old style torque wrench i lost the handle for and 3 foot of pipe and a 3" 1/2 extention, its a 32mm crush nut)

2/ Crack the wheel nuts, chock the other wheels jack up the car. put it on a jack stand

3/remove the caliper and tie it to the strut up out of the way, remove the disk, and shield behind it. remove the outter tie rod from the hub with a joint splitter / 3 jack gear puller works as well (or the hammer method but i dont like that)

4/remove the grub screw in the bottom of the hub holding in the lower ball joint. then with half a wood broom handle or something (not metal) place one end, over the wish bown and the body and lever the ball joint out of the hub.

5/ Mark with some paint the position of the top strut bolt, so as not the much up your wheel alignement, remember how the top bolt (camber bolt) comes out so it go's back in the correct way, take out the bottom bolt.

6/take off the cv joint crush nut, remove the hub. prop something under the cv joint so it doesnt move or have the inner joint slip out of place its only held in by the boot.

7/ steal the misses car and take it to thhe hub to the mechanic. Have the mechanic replace the bearing with a bearing kit which should include all new seals. Japanese bearings made to oe standard or genuine do last alot longer than others, bearings produced in japan are held to stricter manufacturing tolerances than most others.

8/ do it all again in reverse. you are suppost to replace the crush nut once it's been removed.

So the special tools required: 32mm socket and a tie rod tool (not the forked kind that'll rip the tie rods boot apart and you'll need to replace the outter tie rod) or 3 jaw gear puller

Should take 20-30minutes, and if your careful marking the camber bolt's position you'll aviod paying for a wheel alignment.

Only thing you'll need to do a search on is the abs on the hub, mine doesnt have abs so i've no idea if its just as simple as unbolt the hub, or if you need to do something funky to take it off.
 
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Thanks very much all the info, I really appreciate it, I'll give it a go on the weekend,
cheers
 
you shouldn't need a press to get them just a hammer :iconwink:

if you dont know what your doing then get a work shop to do it. But ive done many wheel bearings and never used a press
 
Well, I didn't get around yet to having a crack at replacing my bearing, was just looking at Flea bay when I came across one of these kits,
m1a9cjY9rEPFcXkQ3ZbDB5g.jpg
is this kit suitable to do the job?
$60 delivered, anyone used one before?
cheeers.
 
Well I've got all the gear ready to have a crack this weekend, anyone have the torque values for the crush nut, chamber bolts, tie rod & ball joint?
thanks in advance,
cheers.
 
I have a section of the service manual for this job

I can't get the file small enough for the board. If you PM me I will email you a section of the service manual with the required torque settings.

But

Camber Bolts 175Nm
Axle nut 220Nm
tie rod end 27Nm and tighten to within 60degrees to align for the pin
Transverse Ball link (ie the hub lower ball joint retaining bolt) 50Nm
Calliper to hub 80Nm
ABS wheel sensor 32Nm (this seems high to me compared to the tie rod end)
Wheels 100Nm


CrazyDave
 
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Hi all, picked up a pair of Slotted front rotors for the forry off flea bay from Roxburgh Park,Vic, $117(Aust Made) with 12 mth warranty,
not a bad deal I thought considering what's out there,
cheers
 
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Well everything went as expected, it took a sledge hammer & socket to separate the hub from the housing, the pusher/puller adapter tool that I bought worked a treat, to press the new bearing into the housing I used the old bearing casing to push the new one in with the adapter tool, it cant get pressed in as well since the inside diameter is slightly larger where the retaining ring sits, putting it all back together went well, also fitted new rotors, repaired a slow leak in the passenger rear tyre, topped up my oil- so all in all it was a productive day!
cheers.
 
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Also a big thank you to CrazyDave for the pdf, very much appreciated. made it a lot easier-cheers.
 
Sounds like you had quite a busy day.
But well worth it by the sounds of it :)

Regards
Mr Turbo
 
Thanks all, the real stuff starts in a few weeks when I do my Cam belt- etc, done one on my old NH Pajero a few years back.
Anyone know if the kits you get from the US off flea bay are compatible with what we have here & how do they compare with price?
Thanks in advance
cheers
 
Gates Racing Cam Kit, just over $300 delivered, is it a good deal?
You will recieve the following parts:
Number of Timing Belts: 1
Number of Idlers: 3
Number of Tensioners: 1
Number of Water Pumps: 1
Total Parts: 6
 
fayfam,

Did this 6 weeks ago, Below is what I ordered. Job took about 5 hours including valve cover gaskets and and Oil change and new leads and coolant.

I used a forward shipper as Amazon would not ship the water pump to Australia. I have read that the gates pump isn't so flash so wanted the asisn. The one I got looks great good casting and finish - I am fairly sure the one I ordered will not fit your car- mine had the thermostat exit facing the radiator not the ground and has one bypass line

You will need to check the part numbers particularly the water pump there is a part change around 2006

The gates kit is excellent - the idlers and the tensioner have the same markings as the ones removed (manufacturer and part number was IDENTICAL).

Came in at about $370 AUD in the end but the exchange rate at the time was $1.05 US and it has come back a bit since then. If I was doing it again I would probably order the gates kit with water pump of fleebay and if I didn’t like the look of the water pump get a factory one I was quoted about $135 for genuine in Australia - then sell the gates one.

While I was at it I also replaced some of the spring clips on the radiator hoses with the screw type (only the ones that are hard to get at (I was being cheep)


DescriptionUnit priceQtyAmount www.amazon.com-Beck Arnley 036-1860 Valve Cover Gasket Set - Beck Arnley$32.481$32.48 -Gates TCK304 Timing Belt Component Kit - Gates$168.241$168.24 -Aisin WPF-025 Engine Water Pump - Aisin$57.201$57.20 International Shipping-Priority Mail @ 17.00 lb(s) Items are too large for a prepaid large box.$105.731$105.73 Postal Insurance$5.901$5.90 Ship to Oz Fee$33.261$33.26 Subtotal$402.81 [COLOR=#333333 !important]Total [/color]$402.81 USDCharge will appear on your credit card statement as PAYPAL *SHIP TO OZPayment sent to Ship to Oz


Crazydave
 
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