Replacing front bearings

[sadarahu]

I saw some posts stating it is easier OR cheaper (labor) to replace whole hub with the bearing installed than removing and pressing the bearing. Just looked up rockauto.com today and I see they have only assembly kits where bearing and the hub are separate. It seems that the only improvement here would be about the old bearing removal. Any idea how to make it as much cost effective as possible ?

I was quoted for 4 bearings (front and rear) at about $850 just for labor :-(

 

Art

 

[lmdew]

I've always had good luck with used hubs and bearings.  I'm in CO where they are pretty rust free.

 

www.car-part.com is a good source.  You can get a good used hub and bolt it in with a lot less work than changing the bearing.

[Rooster2]

My experience.............probably 5 years back my 99 OBW developed a bad right front wheel bearing. I bought a hub tamer, and pressed in a new bearing with much cussing. The new bearing lasted about 6 months, and it went bad. I got to thinking that something was bad about the hub, so I went to my favorite yard, and bought a used hub. I installed the used hub easily, and it continues to work well up to the present. I sold the hub tamer, and vowed to only use wrecking yard hubs into the future.

 

Update...........my bearing kit was from Harbor Freight, not a Hub Tamer, but think it was a Chinese copy of it.

Edited August 16, 2016 by Rooster2

[Svengouli7]

I've had good luck with the harbor freight kit. Not a complicated job but depends on how much you want to take on I guess.

[gbhrps]

sadarahu,

 

The older subies have to have the hub and bearing pressed out of the carrier. The newer subies (my 2012 for instance) one just has to unbolt the hub assembly to replace it, or you can go the route of a separate bearing and hub if you wish.

 

I did one front unit just on the weekend, and with a good compressor and air tools it wasn't a big job to change over an entire hub assembly. My labour was free.

 

Can I suggest that you always give the model, year and mileage of your car with every thread you start? It sure speeds up the responses you'll get when we know what the starting point is.

[1 Lucky Texan]

1. I wouldn't do all 4 - just the bad one

 

2. An in-between option would be to take your hub and new parts down to a shop and pay them to do it with their hydraulic press.

[Fairtax4me]

The only reason to buy a bearing and hub kit is of the old hub is deformed or scored due to failure of the bearing when the inner race of the bearing actually spins on the hub. The only time this becomes a problem is when the bearings is severely worn to the point that it has a large amount of play, or if the axle nut was not properly torqued during an axle replacement.

 

The new hub still has to be pressed into the bearing AFTER the bearing is pressed into the knuckle.

[xdeadeye1]

I have 96 legacy. I took my hubs and rock auto Timken bearings to a local machine shop guy who didn't charge me much at all. 

[Ionlyhave3suubs]

+1 on looking for used parts. Much less expensive. I have tried replacing a bearing and hub with new parts before. Huge pain in the posterior. Bolting in a used assembly, much less headache. If you don't want to do the manual work yourself, find a good independent shop in your area that is willing to install salvage parts. When it comes down to it, all cars run on used parts. New parts are only new until they get used once.

[ThosL]

I found a shop working with the junkyard willing to install the used knuckles; best way to go as my last front bearing job lasted under 2 years.  It ran around $350 for both.

Edited August 20, 2016 by ThosL

[sadarahu]

Thanks guys. I'm completely confused and frustrated. I bought this Subaru hoping I'm getting decent quality although I realized I there might be some minor issues. IT only has 80k miles, but I wonder if it was tampered. The bottom of the car is very rusted. Before this one I have had Yaris-2007. So the same year with around 90k when I trade it. I wasn't so rusty and in much better shape. I just replaced drive shaft and motor mounts (3). The DS was ordered from RockAuto. When they were working on it we discovered that some wholes on the front of the assembly do not match. They guy enlarged the holes to be able to mount it. The previous knocking sound when driving 45mph+ disappeared. I was almost happy but now I discovered that when driving on higher speeds (60mph+) there is different sound but quite annoying and not normal. I know something is still wrong because I have had 2 4WD vehicles in the past so I kinda remember the feeling.

It is like a humming sound hoomming from underneath. I greased the DS on the connectors but it did not help. I wonder if there is any way that if the DS is not mounted perfectly straight it might be making this. It is really hard to tell for me if it is straight or not. It could be also something else. I have already invested almost 2 grands and seems like I'm dumping money to the drain. On top of that I have a feeling I need to replace shock absorber as I hear typical sounds when going over some bumps, although I can't figure out which one. I hear it on the left but nut sure is it the front or rear. Any method to test that ?

I see the front left was already replaced and it is not original (different color). No idea how much this might cost.

 

Art

[Fairtax4me]

Where did you buy the driveshaft? 

[idosubaru]

***Do not replace all 4 bearings.   The general automotive idea to replace things in sets and pairs is one of the most asinine archaic assumptions in auto world. 

 

There is absolutely no reason to replace 3 good beaings when you have 1 bad one.  

If the bad one wasn't failing, you wouldn't be replacing any of them.  

hundreds of tousands of other vehicles with the same age/mileage, or more, are running around with original bearings.  

they give MONTHS of noise and ample time to plan a repair, there's no risk of catastrophic failure, and you get no labor break when doing more than one. 

 

And even for those who say "well they can fail later"....that's still a terrible maintenance approach - if we reduce this to a statistically robust approach to maintenance "replace things with an XY% failure rate (similar to the 4 wheel bearings)" - you've got a long list of items to replace and wheel bearings are way down your list, they won't be up to bat any time soon. 

 

So in short - replace the one failing wheel bearing.

 

Cheapest can be installing a used hub.  $50 and less than an hour to swap out - should be $150 or less.  

Bearings will be more like $250 each for parts and labor.

 

 

Rusted cars suck - you're going to have a lot of issues moving forward - noisy heat shields, sticking calipers, rusted exhaust flanges, P0420.

 

 

Parts:
aftermarket driveshafts suck - you shouldn't be using them.  reboot your original axles (no matter what the mechanic says, he's not right).  or buy a used Subaru OEM axle and reboot it.  

 

motor mount - maybe it was the wrong motor mount and not the vehicle or prior history.  

 

struts are very roughly like $250 per corner to replace - $1,000 for all 4.  $500 for just fronts or just rears.  use KYB's. 

[shoebee2]

Just did my own wheel bearing using the kit linked at the bottom.

Cost:

Seals: 7.43 outer 7.43 inner.

Axle nut: 2.50

Timken bearing: 33.00

 

Harbor freight wheel bearing tool: 88.00, pick it up.

 

 

At first I couldn't get the old bearing to move. I tool my mig welder and ran a bead around the inside. As the weld cools it will draw in very slightly, just enough in this case for it to break loose. Popped like a sum-bitch when it let go. Scared the bjezuses out of me.

New one went in straight and smooth, same with seals.

 

Whole process took about two hours. Piece of cake.

[heartless]

I dont know who you are going to for these estimates, but there is ZERO reason to replace all 4 wheel bearings. None, nada, zilch. And whomever told you that you needed to is only out to take your money.

 

Replace only the one that is bad, and if you have a shop do it, it should be less than $300 for the whole works - parts and labor.

[gsac132]

I've replaced my 1999 foresters bearings and my 2000 forester I got bearings with seals from eBay for 80-100bucks but I did all the work myself I only did the one that was making the noise. They are a split bearing or a 2 piece bearing there's lots of great videos on you tube just do a search. Also an easy way to tell what's going on with your fantom noises is jack up one side of your car get the wheels of the ground grab the wheel and see if you can move it side to side a bad bearing will cause your wheel to move side to side and cause a clunking and a humming noise. Some machine shops in your area could or should be able to disassemble the bearings and seals and press it all back together for less than 75-100bucks there's 3 seals that go in the hub and the new bearing needs to be packed with bearing grease most reasons for new bearings failing is that they are not properly packed with grease when being assembled and it causes premature bearing failure and you stuck doing it again I've done both front and back wheels the back is way more difficult because I've never been able to remove the long lateral link bolt I've had to cut the bolt with a saws all and replace the bushings the bolt runs about 22 bucks and the 2 bushings cost 30 bucks each I'm sorry to here of your trouble I sympathize with you but I've got a lot of experience with this repair

[idosubaru]

I've never been able to remove the long lateral link bolt I've had to cut the bolt with a saws all and replace the bushings the bolt runs about 22 bucks and the 2 bushings cost 30 bucks each I'm 

 

seriously - i think that bolt was designed by an engineer from the northeast who moved to Japan and decided this would be his big middle finger and "!*(*%??@?%!!&%" to the rust belt.

[sadarahu]

Fairtax4me - I bough the drive shaft from ROCKAUTO.COM

When I driver below 50mph it all seems to be fine but on the higher speed I hear  like humhumhumhumhum sound. This sound seem to appear after replacing the DS. The rattling noise from DS which was active around 45mph is gone.

 

Generally this is very bad idea to buy parts then go to mechanic to replace them. The reasons is simple. If the part is bad they have to cover the replacement (part_labor). In case I bought parts myself they will probably replace it and tI could eventually get the DS exchanged by RocKAUTO but this will put my car out of order for several days and I would probably have to pay the labor again. On the other hand if I would let the mechanic get the DS and install it I would pay about $100 more just for that part.

 

To make things worse I found two other issues with the car so I'm totally disappointed with Subaru. It seems like this car has not 80k but 200k miles on it although the CarFax shows 80k (when I bought it).

Now the front suspension (not sure what the proper part name is) shock absorber went bad. I looked and figure out it was already replaced because the left one is yellow. It makes rattling noise while going over the bumps.  The sealing around the driver door seems to be loose and when driving over 70mph I hear lots of noise so it probably needs to be replaced as well.

Edited September 8, 2016 by sadarahu

[1 Lucky Texan]

if you discovered someone has rolled-back the odometer and mismatched or otherwise fouled up some repair with the struts, how can that be Subaru's fault?

 

your complaunt about wind noise may be deserved, there's a very well-known problem with the 'gusset' at the front of the front windows (near the mirror)

 

 

http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/topic/4377-drivers-window-wind-noise-fix/

 

http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/topic/57446-wind-noise/?hl=+wind++noise&do=findComment&comment=463928

 

http://www.subaruoutback.org/forums/110-gen-2-2000-2004/251217-wind-noise.html

 

http://www.subaruoutback.org/forums/110-gen-2-2000-2004/247657-excessive-wind-noise-highway-speeds.html

 

http://www.subaruoutback.org/forums/110-gen-2-2000-2004/297977-another-wind-noise-solution-cheap-easy.html

Edited September 8, 2016 by 1 Lucky Texan

[Fairtax4me]

 

Fairtax4me - I bough the drive shaft from ROCKAUTO.COM

Send it back. Get your money back. Don't bother with getting a replacement, it won't be any better. 

 

Order a brand new Subaru driveshaft from https://www.subarupartsforyou.com/

[idosubaru]

what he said - you want Subaru axles, aftermarket axles are a debacle in general, not a Subaru thing.

 

you can alternately get a used Subaru axle and reboot it as well.

$20-$35 per axle, $50 in Subaru boots/hardware, +install, might not be much cheaper than a new subaru unit depending on mechancis/etc.

www.car-part.com

Edited September 8, 2016 by grossgary

[CNY_Dave]

I have been happy with axles from NAPA. I might just have been lucky.

[Fairtax4me]

Talking about the center driveshaft, not cv axles. The one in question is a Dorman part, which I have recommended before and have installed a few of on other non-subaru vehicles with no trouble. Put one on my 96 and it just wasn't right. Got a replacement sent out and it wasn't right either. Both had horrible vibrations above 55mph. One I could feel around 40, but it wasn't bad until about 70. RA was great, they wanted to send me a third one, all shipped to me and returned on their dime. I said no thanks to the third and they refunded me my purchase price and I think the original shipping too.  

Bought the new one from SPFY and it's perfectly smooth all the way to 80, and probably beyond if I drove that fast. 

[sadarahu]

I hear you guys, but what do you do in case you bought the part and have a shop replaced it for you ? If you paid for the labor once then after exchange you pay again right ? I guess 2nd time labor should be covered by the manufacturer or the seller. If I keep trying one after another it could never end until the part is god quality. I guess I will never again order parts myself (unless I do the work).

At least I know now that DS vibrations are  more common so I have to figure out what to do next. I think Sub dealer was asking around $600 just for the part and then $300 for labor.

[1 Lucky Texan]

no, I think you first analysis is right on, hiring someone else to do the work? - much better to have them source the part, or at least, buy it locally so returns are easier. Even more important if you don't have a spare vehicle.

Edited September 8, 2016 by 1 Lucky Texan