Rear wheel bearing - WTF am I doing wrong?
#21
Junior Member
iTrader: (11)
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Petaluma, California
Posts: 164
Total Cats: -4
Addtnl info on replacing the bearings
If you don't have a 20 ton shop press I wouldn't bother attempting replacing the bearings yourself. Not sure if you know the process, but here it is in a nutshell:
Pressing the hub OUT of the knuckle is easy - just leave the knuckle attached to the lower control arm and swing it down horizontally, resting the top of the knuckle onto a jackstand - then tap it out using a socket that is slightly smaller than the OD of the hub. Usually 3-4 wacks will do it.
Removing the inner bearing race from the hub is a royal fukin PITA unless you have one of the really expensive pullers that have a very sharp edge to them. I use my dremmel and a cut off disk made for SS, about 1 minute of cutting a deep groove in the race is sufficient to fit my big friggin chisel into. A couple of very hard wacks with a BFH will crack it, at which point you can remove it from the hub. After doing my first one it was super easy, but the first one took me about an hour to do, subsequent work took me 5 minutes tops
You need internal snap ring pliers in order to remove the OEM internal C ring from the inside of the knuckle - it is a bit of a pita to do it, even with the proper pliers.
Pressing out the bearings is easy if you have a good shop press. I bought a 20T HF special and it makes short work of them. I wouldn't even attempt it with a 10T. Rust should not be an issue, it is just such a tight **** fit you really need a lot of pressure to press them out and likewise to press them in.
- Press the hub out of the knuckle
- Remove the inner race from the hub
- Remove the internal C ring
- Press out the bearing(20T shop press is a must)
- Press IN the new bearing
- reinstall internal c-clip or new clip(new style clips don't require special pliers)
- Press in the hub
Pressing the hub OUT of the knuckle is easy - just leave the knuckle attached to the lower control arm and swing it down horizontally, resting the top of the knuckle onto a jackstand - then tap it out using a socket that is slightly smaller than the OD of the hub. Usually 3-4 wacks will do it.
Removing the inner bearing race from the hub is a royal fukin PITA unless you have one of the really expensive pullers that have a very sharp edge to them. I use my dremmel and a cut off disk made for SS, about 1 minute of cutting a deep groove in the race is sufficient to fit my big friggin chisel into. A couple of very hard wacks with a BFH will crack it, at which point you can remove it from the hub. After doing my first one it was super easy, but the first one took me about an hour to do, subsequent work took me 5 minutes tops
You need internal snap ring pliers in order to remove the OEM internal C ring from the inside of the knuckle - it is a bit of a pita to do it, even with the proper pliers.
Pressing out the bearings is easy if you have a good shop press. I bought a 20T HF special and it makes short work of them. I wouldn't even attempt it with a 10T. Rust should not be an issue, it is just such a tight **** fit you really need a lot of pressure to press them out and likewise to press them in.
Last edited by minime; 05-14-2009 at 12:59 PM.
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
StratoBlue1109
Miata parts for sale/trade
21
09-30-2018 01:09 PM