Wheel Bearing Shot After 30K?

[allwheeldad]

This is on my wife's 99 Forester. Right rear wheel bearing is on it's way out. No play in it yet but is definitely the source of the droning noise we hear. Thing is, I went back in the service history given to me by the previous owner and she had the bearing replaced at a subie dealership last year and there has only been 30,000 kms put on it since. I know that these cars are prone to rear bearing failures, but c'mon, seriously? I called the service manager at my local dealership and he said it should not have failed, that there is likely a distortion in the hub that has caused it to fail prematurely. I don't want to pay him $400.00 to fix it only to turn around and have to do it again in a year. I am good with doing most repairs myself, but bearings are a pain in the rump roast I don't want to bother with. Is there any merit to getting a used assembly and rolling the dice on the condition of the bearing? I know all the rusted bolts are the biggest pain, but I can get the part for $75.00. I'm not in any position to spend anything more than neccesary (my 99 legacy is pretty much parked right now because I am 10,000 overdue for a timing belt service and can't spend $300.00 for the kit), so I am starting to lean towards busting my knuckles instead of my wallet. Thoughts?

[idosubaru]

going used is a great option. you can try to avoid the ones with rear issues - i forget which models/years it was though but it is certain foresters. get a legacy rear, i believe those never had the issues?

 

i've replaced a bunch with used units. fronts are a bit less difficult than rears in terms of rust/corossion.

 

actually if you want to spend another $20 or so to make it really simple just buy a new ball joint. then you don't have to worry about the ball joint pinch bolt which is prone to shearing. chances are you're not going to get the hub off without ripping the boot on the ball joint anyway. a pickle fork makes removing the ball joint from the control arm a 30 second job instead of a 2 hour debacle.

 

subaru has a special tool - the hub tamer - for doing bearings without warping the hubs. but it may have already been damaged prior to the one you have on record - if it had also been replaced previously?

[StructEngineer]

Just a thought. Could you just buy a new hub, housing, and bearing online and assemble/press at your leisure? Then just bolt it on? Ebay the old housing if you want.

[01SubForest]

This is on my wife's 99 Forester. Right rear wheel bearing is on it's way out. No play in it yet but is definitely the source of the droning noise we hear. Thing is, I went back in the service history given to me by the previous owner and she had the bearing replaced at a subie dealership last year and there has only been 30,000 kms put on it since. I know that these cars are prone to rear bearing failures, but c'mon, seriously? I called the service manager at my local dealership and he said it should not have failed, that there is likely a distortion in the hub that has caused it to fail prematurely. I don't want to pay him $400.00 to fix it only to turn around and have to do it again in a year. I am good with doing most repairs myself, but bearings are a pain in the rump roast I don't want to bother with. Is there any merit to getting a used assembly and rolling the dice on the condition of the bearing? I know all the rusted bolts are the biggest pain, but I can get the part for $75.00. I'm not in any position to spend anything more than neccesary (my 99 legacy is pretty much parked right now because I am 10,000 overdue for a timing belt service and can't spend $300.00 for the kit), so I am starting to lean towards busting my knuckles instead of my wallet. Thoughts?

 

Intresting, I think ours is acting up again too but on the left side, not sure on the miles but it was just a few years ago and the right one is still stock. When ours went it wasn't noticed till it was floppin around, done siezzed up and chewed its self up, and driven some still.

As It didn't feel real bad just odd when driving, but when I put it up on jack stands and let it run in gear off the ground, it was very clear.

 

Wonder if cause of that, plus also using a corner generic shop, that and them having you get the old one out and probably not knowing that about them, messed it up. And why we got a mystery roar/drone now.

[ShawnW]

Subaru of America covers parts and labor on all dealer performed repairs for 1 year unlimited miles. Not sure what Canada does though. Might be worth driving across the border if the warranty is better LOL.

[allwheeldad]

Thanks for the feedback. The hub assembly I sourced out is actually from a legacy, so that is good fortune. From what I have been told by my connection at Subaru the wheel bearing replacement procedure came about because shops were deforming the knuckles. Apparently Subaru will not warranty any wheel bearing replacements done at a licenced Subaru dealership unless they are done using the prescribed method and tooling. I am going to go with the used part (as long as the bearing doesn't scare me) instead of trying to screw around with constantly replacing the bearing. Where I get confused is why there is a problem with the bearing/knuckle when the work was done by Subaru in the first place? They only offer a 1 year, 20,000 km warranty anyways, so I can't really come back on them for anything. I have five years of service history on this car and there was only one bearing replacement on the right rear in all those records. FYI, the warranty is transferable between owners. At least in Canada anyhow.

[01SubForest]

Thanks for the feedback. The hub assembly I sourced out is actually from a legacy, so that is good fortune. From what I have been told by my connection at Subaru the wheel bearing replacement procedure came about because shops were deforming the knuckles. Apparently Subaru will not warranty any wheel bearing replacements done at a licenced Subaru dealership unless they are done using the prescribed method and tooling. I am going to go with the used part (as long as the bearing doesn't scare me) instead of trying to screw around with constantly replacing the bearing. Where I get confused is why there is a problem with the bearing/knuckle when the work was done by Subaru in the first place? They only offer a 1 year, 20,000 km warranty anyways, so I can't really come back on them for anything. I have five years of service history on this car and there was only one bearing replacement on the right rear in all those records. FYI, the warranty is transferable between owners. At least in Canada anyhow.

 

Would be great if ya made a detailed thread about it as you go with pic's

[allwheeldad]

Got the car buttoned up and on the road yesterday. The rear knuckle assembly I picked up was out of a 98 Legacy wagon. Bearing was good on it and wheel speed sensor was intact so I decided to go for it. I word of advice for anybody else out there who decides to do the same thing, go to your subaru dealer and spend the $18.00 (CDN) on the lateral link bolt and nut. I'd heard so many horror stories on here about fighting with that thing that I couldn't bother to waste my time on it. I took my grinder with a cutting disc and some water (just to keep the washer from heating up and melting the bushing) and just cut the head of the bolt off and drifted the rest of the pin out the other end. 5 minutes tops, and alot less headache. I also soaked all the bolts with a penetrating fluid the night before I got into it. If this course of action is for you, make sure that the hub assembly come with and intact wheel speed sensor. You will never get the existing one out of the backing plate without destroying it. You won't readily find them at part stores and subaru charges something like $300.00 for it (which negates the reason for doing to job yourself, saving money). While I was able to wrangle the car away from my wife for a few days I also took the time to throw on new pads and completely flush the brake fluid, repair the rear wiper motor, patch a hole in the RR wheel well, and mount four new snow tires. Little bugger drives like a tank now. I've only had the car for six months and hadn't done any brake work, so I was shocked to find the fluid was a pukey green color when I went to bleed it. Is there some kind of additive or fluid out there that does this, or was it just really overdue fluid?

[edrach]

Wow, you were certainly busy when you finally got to it. Hopefully, it lasts a long time for you.

 

As to the green color: some brake fluids come with a color additive so one can tell during a complete flush that the old fluid is gone and the new fluid is in. Subaru's OEM fluid come in blue and yellow and the idea is to alternate colors periodically. Hopefully no one mixed the fluids in a previous service.