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Pages: 1

Front hub removal

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Posted by: chriswells78

Ok, so I changed my fuel filter yesterday and as I was taking the wheel off, one of the lugs was really tight. Being the over-agressive bull headed person I am, I took the breaker bar to it. SNAP! I broke one of the studs.

What is the best way to get the hub off? I see the 4 bolts on the back of the knuckle but I also see the 1/2 drive journal in the middle of the hub on the outside. I don't want to break anything else getting this off to replace that stud. Any suggestions?

Posted by: 02LincLS

'02? dont even waste your time, take it somewhere. its corroded in there and unless you want to take the whole arm out and bash on the back of the bearing, there is no hope.

i bought the part at autozone, its a temkin bearing.

other than the 4 bolts, you only need to remove another 2 bolts (same size) to take off the caliper and rotor. I've had it all apart, sprayed it a lot, and tried 3 separate times with no luck.
there is another thread here with pics that shows it apart. just search hub bearing.

Posted by: jrdpf17

have a broken stud too.

Posted by: chriswells78

Quote:

Originally Posted by 02LincLS

'02? dont even waste your time, take it somewhere. its corroded in there and unless you want to take the whole arm out and bash on the back of the bearing, there is no hope.

i bought the part at autozone, its a temkin bearing.

other than the 4 bolts, you only need to remove another 2 bolts (same size) to take off the caliper and rotor. I've had it all apart, sprayed it a lot, and tried 3 separate times with no luck.
there is another thread here with pics that shows it apart. just search hub bearing.

I have the caliper and rotor off, I'll take the 4 bolts off, that is what I wanted to know. I can take the hub face somewhere and have them press a new stud in, I just didn't want things to come falling out when I took those 4 bolts out. I've been hitting the bolts every couple hours with PB blaster since yesterday.

Posted by: milehighmikey

The last time I had to deal with a broken wheel stud, I was amazed at how easy it was to pop that stud out of the hub with a 2 pound hammer and a punch. The new stud simply pushed into the hole and then was pulled in nicely with its lug nut and possibly the wheel or a socket used for spacing to keep pulling into the hub to fully seat it without the nut bottoming out first.

Depending on where you are located, getting that hub out of the steering knuckle will likely be your biggest challenge, it all depends on how long it has been on the car and if you live in a corrosive environment (winter salt, year round salt in the air from the ocean, etc).

Posted by: chriswells78

This is a very corrosive environment. But I like your idea about installing a new stud with a lug nut and a socket. I think I'm going to try that.

Thanks

Posted by: rickztahone

i've had 4 total studs broken. 3 of them i took to mechanic, and he charged me 40 bucks. i rather take it to someone who knows what they are doing. and if they mess something up then they have to fix it. currently i need to have one replaced.

Posted by: chriswells78

Done. I went to Napa, bought a wheel stud ($2.39) and a set of 4 locking lug nuts (I should have really had them anyway) and had it fixed in 1/2 hour thanks to highmilemikey's method. I didn't have a short enough socket so I took 2 box wrenches, a washer and a lug nut. I ruined the lug nut but I bought 4 more as mentioned above so it was no big deal. I just squired some oil on the back side and on the threads and went slow so I didn't break this one too. It took me longer to put the rotor and caliper back on than it did to install the wheel stud.

Posted by: 02LincLS

check it frequently with a torque wrench

Posted by: milehighmikey

Quote:

Originally Posted by chriswells78

Done. I went to Napa, bought a wheel stud ($2.39) and a set of 4 locking lug nuts (I should have really had them anyway) and had it fixed in 1/2 hour thanks to highmilemikey's method. I didn't have a short enough socket so I took 2 box wrenches, a washer and a lug nut. I ruined the lug nut but I bought 4 more as mentioned above so it was no big deal. I just squired some oil on the back side and on the threads and went slow so I didn't break this one too. It took me longer to put the rotor and caliper back on than it did to install the wheel stud.

Glad to hear it saved your butt. The last thing you want to do is to break a hub out of the knuckle -- for nothing.

As the last poster advised, check your torque a few times after some runs on the new stud, in case it had any more seating left to finish.