DIY Wheel Bearing replacement

[Eward]

I have a '94 Imprezza wagon (frnt wheel dr) and an '01 Forrester, both are getting loud, I believe its the wheel bearings. How feasible is this as a DIY job? I am fairly experienced with these cars, have done timing belts, CV axels, etc. myself. I dont have a shop press, is there a way to do it without one? (maybe buy a pre-assembled bearing?).

 

Do I need other special tools? can I just take the whole knuckle assy off and have a shop press the bearings in?

 

Advice and or pics would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks,

 

E

[NorthCoast]

Take it off and have a shop press it in. That's the easiest.

[torxxx]

they are press fit bearings ---> knuckle and then the hubs need pressed back into the knuckle/bearing

 

Unless you've done a wheel bearing on another car before, I wouldnt recommend doing it yourself. It gets spendy when you start ruining bearings or the knuckle

[Rooster2]

My experience...........I bought a press from Harbor Freight. It cost about $100. I had a devil of a time removing the old bearing, and pressing on a new one. Then, the new bearing went bad in 6 months, so figured out the hub was actually bad.

 

I finally went to a wrecking yard, bought a hub unit for $75, installed that, and so far, so good. Yea, it is possible to buy junk at a junk yard, but if it is junk, they will guarantee for 30 days. In the future, I will go this route again, when I have a wheel bearing go bad.

[GeneralDisorder]

It's not really that difficult. Get the Harbor Freight wheel bearing adaptor set and use it to do the bearings on the car. I did several dozen bearings with that $80 set before I stepped up to a Hub Tamer.

 

GD

[ferox]

With two cars in need I think learning how to do it would be well worth it. I've done 3 of the 4 corners on my brother's '93 Imp and it wasn't too bad. I do have a shop press however. If you do it on the car with the HF kit, I would also recommend picking up a large bearing puller as well. It's not necessary but it can come in handy to remove the hub. With a few tools and a little ingenuity you can save yourself a lot of money and have the satisfaction of knowing it was done right. I would also recommend taking a couple photos of the rear e-brake set-up if you disassemble it.

[unibrook]

You can definitely do it in your driveway. I use the HubTamer on my 2001 Forester. Bro borrowed it to do his 95 Camry front bearing. PM me if you want me to email you my step by step instrux.

[torxxx]

nah, no need for rear brake shoe pics. Just do one side at a time. When you go to put together the first side, you pull off the rotor on the other side so you can visually look at the brake set up. Its rule #1 when it comes to brake shoes. Never tear down both sides, only one side til its back together

[unibrook]

  torxxx said:

nah, no need for rear brake shoe pics. Just do one side at a time. When you go to put together the first side, you pull off the rotor on the other side so you can visually look at the brake set up. Its rule #1 when it comes to brake shoes. Never tear down both sides, only one side til its back together

 

That's one of the things I like about the HubTamer tool method. No need to remove the brakes.

[porcupine73]

The harbor freight front wheel adapters work very well, it's kind of a lot of steps but the tool works great. If you have an air ratchet that makes it a ton easier with the half dozen or so ons and offs needed. Plus if you have their large bearing separator that makes it a lot easier to get the bearing race off the hub.