Has anone changed a front wheel bearing?

[Specky]

And the reason why I changed it....



TTFN

[PIT-STOP]

Hi,
getting there slowly but knew I'd hit a problem sooner or later. All taken off, and new bearing in place. Refitting, and come to a snag. When putting a nut on the threaded bar/bolt from the lower ball joint, to resecure the carrier, the whole lot turns. Logocal for a ball joint I guess, but it stops me from tightening the nut!When it gets to the nylon the whole lot turns. Any clues how I hold it to tighten the nut please? Do i just clamp the carrier hard down on the ball joint in the hope it will hold by friction??? Help!

[dapinky]

Any clues how I hold it to tighten the nut please? Do i just clamp the carrier hard down on the ball joint in the hope it will hold by friction??? Help!

Basically, yes!

It's a taper seat, so the more it is into the socket, the more it will grip.

I generally just hold a bar as a lever to 'force' it down until it grips enough to tighten the nut - as you get tighter, so the friction naturally increases, and it will do up.

Sometimes i've needed to use things like a scisor jack to get enough grip to stop the turning, but generally not.

An alternative is to use a plain nut (not nylock) and tighten it up to draw the 2 halves together, then undo and replace the plain nut with the nylock for final use.

One thing to remember, suspension bolts/nuts should only be torqued up to the final settings with the car in it's usual resting height position (ie on the ground), otherwise the joints may not sit right afterwards, leading to minor irregularities - not so much of an issue with the ball joints, but may be relevant depending on what else you've had to disturb.

[PIT-STOP]

Thanks to all who helped. Advice taken and job done. Wouldn't have wanted to have done it without a 12 tonne hydraulic press though.

Thanks again.

[Specky]

Good skills, have a well earned beer.

TTFN

[pjw12]

thanks to every one who has contributed to this thread!

managed to change the bearing and cv boot in under 3 hours this morning with your help

[tedtaylor]

i realize thread is 8 years old, but the only one I found covering the front wheel bearing replacement job!
I've had some "whirling" sound coming from the front wheel bearings for some time now. I usually drive with the top down, so I don't hear it as much as I should. When I had the top up, windows up, I drove down the road and the wheel bearing noise was annoyingly loud. Time to do the job and not put off any longer!

I ordered a pair of "Centric" brand bearings from Rock Auto. Very reasonably priced at $28 each! I printed out the instructions from the M100 shop manual and went to work.

Jacked up both sides front of car, leaving front wheels hanging. removed road wheels, brake caliper, brake rotor, unpeened hub nut (1 1/4") and used air impact driver to remove. Unbolted steering tie rod end (simple tap on bolt thread w/ wood block dropped away free). Unbolted top and bottom swivel nuts. a simple tap with heavy hammer dropped both ball joint studs without having to use special tool). Finally, a simple 3 leg puller on the hub, and with simple finger tightening pushed the axle stud in and the hub came off. No tapping, no wrench, just simple finger tightening did it.

I took the hubs to my mechanic/machine shop for pressing out old and pressing in the new. Charged me 1 1/2 hr labor = $150

I will reassemble tomorrow which should be simple reversal of the disassembly procedure. I only note that the job was a snap, very simple, no fuss, no muss. I didn't have to use ball joint tools or penetrating oil, or forcing anything. Both sides disassembled with ease.
My car has 60K miles and always garage kept, so i'm sure the rust free condition contributed to the ease of operation. Looking forward to my new "quiet" ride tomorrow!!!

[dapinky]

Good news, Ted.

Having done the job myself, there is nothing too difficult involved (just a bit of project creep when you keep seeing other bits worth doing "while you're there"). I agree that taking the hubs to a mechanic is probably money well spent for most people.

I did them myself and it wasn't a quick job - even with a 10 ton press - as I had to make up a suitable drift to fit the edges of the old bearing (I think I used an old brake piston from something, but can't remember what it originally came from.... and plenty of messing around with a grinder to get the right size. Having said that, once I had the right 'tool' it was a faily painless process, so if I ever need to do it again, I would expect it to be quick and simple (yeah, right!).

[Rambo]

You are so lucky with your weather and lack of salty grit over there Ted that I'm sure it has a huge impact on removal of parts

One thing I was interested in is the price you quoted for drifting in and out the wheel bearings. $150 sounds a lot to me ($100 per hour labour) for a relatively simple job with the right equipment. What does this cost over here ? Anyone ?

[GeoffSmith]

… What does this cost over here ? Anyone ?

Ten years ago at a local garage it was a case of leave it and we'll do it when we've got a spare couple of minutes. £10 beer money I seem to remember.

[tedtaylor]

You are so lucky with your weather and lack of salty grit over there Ted that I'm sure it has a huge impact on removal of parts

One thing I was interested in is the price you quoted for drifting in and out the wheel bearings. $150 sounds a lot to me ($100 per hour labour) for a relatively simple job with the right equipment. What does this cost over here ? Anyone ?

Yeah, I was a bit surprised with that amount myself, especially since I've used this guy/shop many times for my daily drivers AND Lotus cars over the years. I was expecting $50 bucks or so thinking it would be quick and easy for them. In the past, they actually let me use their press. He did say it was stubborn and a bit tricky even for them and took every bit of the 1 1/2 hour time frame. in the end, I know they do quality work and the job was done right (not hacked, sawed, torched, cut, etc.), and I can take odd "Lotus" specialty parts and projects to them without too much grief. The bearings themselves were relatively inexpensive, so paying up for the labor evened out the whole tally overall.

[tedtaylor]

to followup & conclude, I put everything back together this morning without a hitch. Had to estimate torque on pivot nuts. Who in creation has open ended torque wrenches??? Not your normal backyard mechanic, that's for sure!
only fiddly thing was two of the pivot ball joints spinning, so clamping was in order.
took car for a test drive and it is smooth, quiet, and no more whining noises. Now i'm saying to myself, why didn't I do this sooner????

[dapinky]

.... Had to estimate torque on pivot nuts. Who in creation has open ended torque wrenches???

I used a 'crowfoot' spanner and torque wrench for mine.....

.... I appreciate that with a slightly different pivot point, the torque figures aren't totally accurate - so i did up a nut/bolt holding a steel plate in the vice to the correct torque, then undid it with the crowfoot, noting what number I had to set the wrench to in order to 'crack' the nut. Then did it up with the crowfoot and noted that the 'correct' torque on a socket undid it. Hardly a scientific method, and I can't remember what the numbers actually were (not far enough apart to be a worry), but it worked.....

.... on other ocassions I have just used a spanner and 'guesstimated' the force required (and I've never had one fall off yet!).

[tedtaylor]

if I remember correctly, the torque spec on pivot nuts were 45-49 ft.lbs. which is nothing really, I can hand tighten much more than that, so if the reason for the torque setting is to prevent it coming undone, than i'm more than satisfied and comfortable with my guesstimate. Now if the torque setting is scientifically calculated to be tight to do the job AND possibly be figured in for easy future removal, than I might be up the creek.
So the question is = do torque specs apply for easy future removal purposes? (not making too tight, disrupting removal) ????

[Giniw]

Torque spec is dictated by the screw diameter so it won't break when you tighten it (something like 80% of its tightening capacity if I remember correctly)
The screw diameter is chosen after a calculus to ensure it won't break while doing its job.

Then there are a few alternatives to ensure the nut or screw won't loosen (thread lock for instance, split washers, ...)
And of course, on the other hand you may apply copper grease when possible (not to be mixed with thread lock obviously)