Derboost

Now let me say that this job was quite straightfoward, BUT I would suggest that you have a bit of experience
in bearing fittting as well as presswork or you may really mess things up in a big way. You also need a ball joint service puller set, and yes you need ALL
the tools in the kit. I got mine from OTC/ msc industrial supply cat #78453842. You will also need a way to make some mandrels for pressing the bearings in and out.
And a way to heat the carrier to around 150 degrees.

Now for the fun

1) jack up car and place on jackstands, remove front wheels
2) remove front plastic underpanel
3) have someone hold the brakes (hard) and remove the front large (1.25") axel nut, this is TIGHT 340 ft.lbs. so get ready for a fight.



4) with a brass or aluminium mandrel and a hammer tap, (ok smack), the drive shaft to dislodge it from the splines of the hub (don't mess up the threads!!!)
5)Remove the brake pads and the brake caliper (hex drive) tie it up in the wheel well out of the way
6)Remove the psm sensor, move it to the side (2 10mm nuts)







7)unbolt lower sway bar link
8)unbolt headlight sensor link
9)Remove the brake rotor




10) Remove tin brake shield (10mm bolts)
11) remove 18mm nut and press apart tie rod link with the tool




12) remove the 18mm nut and carefully use the tool to press apart the lower ball joint




13) Unbolt the clamp on the strut, then while pressing down on the lower arm slide the carrier off the strut and the front axel (gt2 remove axel-bearing retainer) and take to the bench





14) Now from the rear side carefully press the center hub out of the bearing, It will come apart with 1/2 the bearing attached to the center hub, it is TIGHT
and will take a bit of force to remove it. Be careful NOT to hurt the carrier as it is $$$ if you break it




15) With a puller remove the center race(the part that was left on the shaft) from the hub, set aside




16) take off the 4- 13mm bolts and remove the bearing retainer plate from the carrier
17) HEAT (and DO NOT skip this step) the carrier to 100 deg,F and with a mandrel press/drive out the bearing from the carrier, again BE CAREFUL when suporting the carrier!!!!
18) Clean all parts.

19) Now the bearing is about a .0035 PRESS fit in the carrier, you CANNOT just press it in cold, you MUST heat the carrier to get it in, there are 2 methods to do this

a) heat carrier to 100 deg F and using a mandrell that touches only the outer part of the bearing press in the new bearing

b) set a inside micrometer to .004 over the bearing size, then heat the carrier to around 150 deg F, at this point check size with the mike to make SURE the carrier is
over the size of the bearing and drop the bearing into the carrier, it will slip right in with no force at all, HOWEVER if you goof up and it sticks 1/2 way you are screwed.

20) Replace the bearing retainer plate with the 4 bolts, if yours has it the small notch goes to the bottom, its a water drain, torque the bolts, 27 ft lbs
21) Very carefully suporting the inner bearing race only,press in the wheel hub to the stop, be careful not to hurt your new bearing. WATCH what you press on!!!!!

22) assemble in reverse order, center 1.25 nut torques to 340 ft,lbs.
23) make sure to torque all bolts/nut to the correct values and double check all bolts.nuts before driving




As you can see this bearing was SHOT, 26,000 miles and sounded like road noise, it did not respond to any tests like a bad bearing at all, so check your bearings!!! Thanks to Jeremy at Imagine Auto for the quick service and the tips, you guys are great !!

Good luck !! Do this repair at your own risk, this diy is just provided as a general guide.

gota911

WOW, I'm impressed that you did this. Nice write up. However, it is certainly out of my league.

Derboost

thank you, I did my rears also, boy were they shot........

Tippy

Great write-up using the correct tools.

I am not as PC, if you will, with ball joints, ball peens are my friends....

You must of been in low, low temps if you got .004 expansion from 100-150 degrees from the carrier, that is a hunk of aluminum.......

Tippy

You could use a 1/2" impact to remove that nut and put up no fight

Derboost

Sorry, i've been a race engine builder all my life, impacts are not for me.Air tools have there place but not to remove a splined shaft or near cv joints, IMHO


Yes it is a little cold up here, about 34 in the shop, nice t-shirt weather...

Tippy

Who do or did you build engines for?

Doug Donsbach

Good work.

Tippy

Dont F1 teams use impacts on the wheel changes? Same scenario just one more part removed.

Paul 996

Very nicely done! Thank you for the contribution. Now somebody in power stick this in the permanent DIY section before it gets lost

Derboost

I owned my own shop, we did Busch,Woo,northwest tour,winston west, southwest tour,outlaw late models,superstock,comp eliminator, and a whole lot of Blown alcohol drag stuff.
now i'm justa cranky retired old man.......sold my shop and moved to the cold north......

Derboost

correct, large nut with very special torque limiting gun, they are pretty cool...and $$$$$$$$

redridge

wow... I wish I had some of that engine build experience. thanks for sharing

Tippy

Nice creds. I got a lesson from the Lake Speed/Spam team engine builder on valve springs. Very informative.

Riad

Fantastic post, very well done and thanks for taking the time to do the write it up.