90 subaru legacy sedan

[mikaleda]

i am here again. this is my moms car it just hit 311k last month and we have replaced three of the wheal bearings now it sounds like the fourth one is going out! les schwab wants $220 to do one wheal bearing we had the other three replaced there. what i am wondering is how hard is it to do one of these? this particular one is the driver side front bearing. does anyone know what kind of tools i might need and/or have tips to make it easier? part of the reason i want to do this myself is i have the same year and model car as she does that has 211k on it so i know sometime in the future i will probably have to do this on my car.

as always any tips, tricks, or opinions would be appreciated.

[1997reduxe]

if you just scroll down a little you can see where there's the post about wheel bearing practice to see if it's the kind of thing you'd like to attempt. lotta work though.

[gbianchi]

another option is to replace the knuckle with a junkyard item with the bearing already in it, just a suggestion, been there done that............G

[crazyman03]

if you just scroll down a little you can see where there's the post about wheel bearing practice to see if it's the kind of thing you'd like to attempt. lotta work though.

 

yea, they are talking about it at the moment...

 

 

http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=133559

 

 

-Justin

[mikaleda]

if you just scroll down a little you can see where there's the post about wheel bearing practice to see if it's the kind of thing you'd like to attempt. lotta work though.

 

yes i saw that and i don't have basic things like a good vice or shop where i can do this lol. i work in mother natures outdoor garage kinda sucks because we have a big rump roast garage but it got turned into something else.

i like the idea of a used knuckle with a good bearing, i know where i can get one too same year and make poor thing got rolled.

[JPX]

Yeah, this is not something easily accomplished in the driveway with a basic set of tools. I was trying to avoid pulling out the heavier gear (air tools) to see how "simplified" I could make the bearing change.

 

I still found it to be an interesting experience. But I realize not everyone has the equipment, the time or the location to do this even if they were inclined to do their own work.

 

My suggestion to you is to use basic tools (some loaners from Oreily's and Autozone can save a ton of money for pullers and breaker bars) to remove the knuckle+hub assembly. Buy your own bearings and seals (online).

 

Then have the local machine shop press out the old hub and bearing and install the new bearing and reinstall the hub. Reassemble the rest yourself. This is time consuming, but can save some decent money.

[mikaleda]

Yeah, this is not something easily accomplished in the driveway with a basic set of tools. I was trying to avoid pulling out the heavier gear (air tools) to see how "simplified" I could make the bearing change.

 

I still found it to be an interesting experience. But I realize not everyone has the equipment, the time or the location to do this even if they were inclined to do their own work.

 

My suggestion to you is to use basic tools (some loaners from Oreily's and Autozone can save a ton of money for pullers and breaker bars) to remove the knuckle+hub assembly. Buy your own bearings and seals (online).

 

Then have the local machine shop press out the old hub and bearing and install the new bearing and reinstall the hub. Reassemble the rest yourself. This is time consuming, but can save some decent money.

that's a good idea i like it. fortunately when i inspected the car better it turned out that the rotors are almost wore through and are warping causing the vibration and squeak. easy fix i can do that in a half an hour if it ever quits raining