Wheel bearing tutorial

The 4 hours labor for one wheel bearing replacement is pretty bad, those guys are showing no mercy!

 

For the ball joint, there’s 2 bolts that go up from the bottom. Remove those and it comes apart. For the tie rod end, loosen the castle nut and whack this red mark with a 3lb hammer. Do NOT pound on the threads.

 

Man, that’s a great detail - where to strike with the three pounder! I guess leave the nut on loose to protect threads from a miss.

Hardest part of the hub assembly removal for me was getting the disc rotor off, it was rusted solid to the hub, was only able to do so with advice from other threads on this site: lots of solvent, two 8m x 1.25 bolts, lots of tapping with a hammer, and patience. Dust cap was a pain too, after that things went smoothly. Don’t know what I would have done without the community here.

 

Glad you finally got everything off, fixed and back on. Here's a couple of hints that have worked for me in the past. First, although it's counter intuitive, hitting the outside face (as opposed to the back side) of the rotor with a 3 pound hammer actually works quite well to get it off too. And as for the next time, wire wheel the inside surface of the rotor that mates with the hub as well as the mating hub surface. Then give both a light coat of High Temperature Never Seize (or Castle Torque Master spray - same thing) to keep them from rusting together again.

 

Thanks, I'll try that when the other side needs doing, so far it seems good, @98K now.

 

Pick up a pair of the m8 x 1.25, they make quick work on the drums and the rotors. I did tap a couple times and spray the area down too, but came apart so easy I ended up buying a second set as a Christmas present for another Tacoma driver.

 

I had no idea that TacomaWorld was so kinky

 

Lol

 

I would highly recommend buying it as a whole hub and bearing assembly. Come assembled already with seals and mounting bolts. Heres a video of one i did on a 2wd. Same process applies beside having to remove the axle nut for the 4x4 version. Hope this helps.
FixItPhillip
https://youtu.be/BCP3wxUs-Vs

 

Nice video, thanks! I'll definitely do my wheel bearings when it's time, and will definitely buy the entire hub assembly to make the job quicker and easier.

I would add two additional things if it was my truck, and not one I was being paid to work on.
(1) I would pull the caliper pins that hold the pads for a quick sand and re-grease.
(2) I add like to add a very light coating of grease to the hub surfaces where the rotor touches. That usually helps when it's time to remove the rotors.

 

YOU GUYS ROCK
Along with other threads on front wheel bearing replacement.

Just did my passenger side bearing today. Took about 3 hrs cause I'm a little OCD about my truck.
It was starting to make noise and hitting a curb on snowy roads didn't help.
Everything came apart well.
Dust cap I used a dull chisel like shown in A1 Auto video (I think this video is very good) on 4 Runner.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdJq3jSana4
Impact to remove axle nut.
3 lbs hammer and punch to loosen axle from hub.
Seals looked good just cleaned and lubed lightly with wheel bearing grease. (only have 83000 km on truck)
Putting together used a little anti-seize on things in case I'm doing this again.
Knocked out centre wheel cap, installed tire and torqued axle nut.

BYE BYE noise.

Can't thank all of TW enough for your excellent write ups.

THANK YOU VERY MUCH TO ALL OF YOU !!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Who has a good way to pull the inner dust seal from the back side of the Spindle ? My Oil puller seal seems a little too short...
I'll look for a larger one... but figured i'd ask here first.

 

Making a major project out of a simple job. Replacing the bearing alone is a pain in the backside replacing the hub and bearing is at worst an hour job. No alignment needed there is no geometry involved.

 

The claw on my hammer worked for me

 

Okay -and so did mine this evening. Wasn't that bad getting it out, but How do you tap or press it back in easily?
I need to clean the inside of the area and try in the morning light.... It didn't tap in easily with a wide plate on the outer circumference. Where / what to hit it back in with is best??

 

I took the seal down the road to the hardware store. Walked around the plumbing pvc till I had a eureka moment. This is two fittings. One is a 4 inch coupler and the other idk what it’s called it it gets knocked into the coupler. Once driven together the inside piece fits perfectly inside the lip of the seal allowing no movement and the outside couple sits on the outside seal lip. I had my buddy hold the spindle while I took a small 8 inch or so 2x4 and place it on the back of the pvc so I could hit center. No need to full swing the hammer. Quarter speed or less, just a couple taps and make sure it’s in all the way around

 

You can't push it out with the bearing out?

To reinstall; get a 3" PVC "female adapter." Smooth on one end to slip over a pipe. The other end threaded for something to screw into it.

And a 3" cap. You'll hammer on the square to drive the seal.

The seal and the PVC are a perfect match. One wrap of tape to hold the seal on, and it'll pop in like nothing.