rugger33
Well-Known LVC Member
...was a physical job but fairly straightforward. Back to riding in a car that doesn't sound like a tank now. Thanks to all the guys for the suggestions...a couple of thoughts from the experience:
1. The recommended torque for the bearing nut is 302 lbs! Harbor freight has a 3/4 inch torque wrench that just gets you there. BTW - bearing nuts are 35MM. They always seem to be out of that size at the parts store so I bought one on ebay.
2. Do your brakes; you will have everything off
3. Do rent that bearing/hub puller. There was no way in hell that I would've been able to get them off otherwise. I actually stripped the pilot screw a bit on the second one.
4. Because I was doing the brakes and also ran into an issue with the driver's side caliper piston not wanting to screw back in, the first side took about 4 hours. The second side was 2.5 - 3 just moving nice and slow.
5. The bearing nuts weren't that hard to remove. Loosed them with a breaker bar with tires on and wheels on the ground.
6. Across the board, air tools would cut time and alleviate some of the exhaustion that comes with this job using hand tools. I don't have a good air setup and it wore my arse out. Especially backing those knuckles off the spindle with that puller. I don't know what was screaming worse, my arms or that pilot screw stripping.
7. The service manuals would have you pull the upper and lower control arm bolts, the tie rod end bolt. Loosen the nuts but do not remove those bolts until you have at least started that knuckle off using the puller. Otherwise you will have a very loose axle that you have to stand on with one foot to keep it steady while you apply pressure to the pulley. It doesn't have to be that hard and won't be if you keep the bolts engaged while start the pulling process. HOWEVER, keep checking that those three bolts still have play in them; when they start getting tight, go ahead and pull them.
8. Last and least, I bought used knuckles online, had the new bearings pressed at Napa, and then had them both ready to go when I started the job. Saved me from having to back and forth to the store during the middle of the job and waiting for them to get to pressing the bearings in.
My costs were as follows: Replacement knuckles - about $175 (PM me if interested in my old ones; i will probably put them on ebay in a week or two), Bearings - about $200 for bearings and pressing them in (probably could do better than that if you tried), big torque wrench $55 (after Harbor Freight Coupon), bearing nuts $20 +/-, brakes (pads & rotors) - $175, brake caliper piston tool (for piston that wouldn't go back in) $30 (after Harbor Freight coupon).
As others on the site have indicated, it's not a crazy hard job technically so I won't bother with a write up. If I were to do so, it would be 1. Loosen/remove bearing nuts 2. remove tires 3. remove caliper (tie up away from the action), caliper mount and rotor 4. loosen upper and lower control arm nuts 5. loosen tie rod end nut 6. remove speed sensor 7. mount puller and begin knuckle pull. 8. when bolts in #4 & 5 above feel tight, pull them (I found you could leave the lower control arm bolt in for the majority of the process 9. remove knuckle. install in reverse.
Hope that helps.
JW
1. The recommended torque for the bearing nut is 302 lbs! Harbor freight has a 3/4 inch torque wrench that just gets you there. BTW - bearing nuts are 35MM. They always seem to be out of that size at the parts store so I bought one on ebay.
2. Do your brakes; you will have everything off
3. Do rent that bearing/hub puller. There was no way in hell that I would've been able to get them off otherwise. I actually stripped the pilot screw a bit on the second one.
4. Because I was doing the brakes and also ran into an issue with the driver's side caliper piston not wanting to screw back in, the first side took about 4 hours. The second side was 2.5 - 3 just moving nice and slow.
5. The bearing nuts weren't that hard to remove. Loosed them with a breaker bar with tires on and wheels on the ground.
6. Across the board, air tools would cut time and alleviate some of the exhaustion that comes with this job using hand tools. I don't have a good air setup and it wore my arse out. Especially backing those knuckles off the spindle with that puller. I don't know what was screaming worse, my arms or that pilot screw stripping.
7. The service manuals would have you pull the upper and lower control arm bolts, the tie rod end bolt. Loosen the nuts but do not remove those bolts until you have at least started that knuckle off using the puller. Otherwise you will have a very loose axle that you have to stand on with one foot to keep it steady while you apply pressure to the pulley. It doesn't have to be that hard and won't be if you keep the bolts engaged while start the pulling process. HOWEVER, keep checking that those three bolts still have play in them; when they start getting tight, go ahead and pull them.
8. Last and least, I bought used knuckles online, had the new bearings pressed at Napa, and then had them both ready to go when I started the job. Saved me from having to back and forth to the store during the middle of the job and waiting for them to get to pressing the bearings in.
My costs were as follows: Replacement knuckles - about $175 (PM me if interested in my old ones; i will probably put them on ebay in a week or two), Bearings - about $200 for bearings and pressing them in (probably could do better than that if you tried), big torque wrench $55 (after Harbor Freight Coupon), bearing nuts $20 +/-, brakes (pads & rotors) - $175, brake caliper piston tool (for piston that wouldn't go back in) $30 (after Harbor Freight coupon).
As others on the site have indicated, it's not a crazy hard job technically so I won't bother with a write up. If I were to do so, it would be 1. Loosen/remove bearing nuts 2. remove tires 3. remove caliper (tie up away from the action), caliper mount and rotor 4. loosen upper and lower control arm nuts 5. loosen tie rod end nut 6. remove speed sensor 7. mount puller and begin knuckle pull. 8. when bolts in #4 & 5 above feel tight, pull them (I found you could leave the lower control arm bolt in for the majority of the process 9. remove knuckle. install in reverse.
Hope that helps.
JW
