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Wheel Bearings on 1991 Loyale?


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Are you talking front or back wheels bearings? Do you plan on doing the work yourself? Loyales are great cars. However you will need to spend some money on maintainance. In addition to fixing the bearings, which won't be toomuch, I would put new timing belts on it right away unless you know for sure when they were done last.

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Are you talking front or back wheels bearings? Do you plan on doing the work yourself? Loyales are great cars. However you will need to spend some money on maintainance. In addition to fixing the bearings, which won't be toomuch, I would put new timing belts on it right away unless you know for sure when they were done last.

 

I *can* do the work myself but I'd prefer not to. I sent an email to the person and asked what bearing it was, I'm waiting for a reply.

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Doing wheel bearings on these beasts is actually somewhat of a pain in the rear..essentially, the bearings (there are two per side) need to be pressed into the steering knuckle, then the axle stub needs to be pressed into the knuckle/bearing assembly. You can do it at home the old fashioned way with a hammer, a drift, a bench vise and some spacers to help pull the axle thru, but it's pretty easy to muck up a bearing that way if you're a newbie mechanic.

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I *can* do the work myself but I'd prefer not to. I sent an email to the person and asked what bearing it was, I'm waiting for a reply.

 

 

I recently did the drivers side/front bearing on my loyale. Lots of cussing and swearing while swinging that hammer, but the job got done and the car is nice and quiet going down the freeway now. $40 for the bearings, $20 for the tool I found on ebay to pull the axle through the bearings. A mechanic will probably charge you several hundred in labor. I think it's rated a four hour job...

 

-Doug

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I *can* do the work myself but I'd prefer not to. I sent an email to the person and asked what bearing it was, I'm waiting for a reply.

If you are willing to do the dissasmbly/assembly work, you can just take the knuckle/control arms to a shop and have the bearings done. This might be a good compromise for you if you are limited on $$, and not ready for a crash course in bearing replacement.

Probably less than $100 for parts and labor.

good luck, John

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first - make sure it actually needs a bearing. just because someone says it does, doesn't make them right.

 

machine shops i've taken them too will do the bearings for $50 a hub. you remove and reinstall the hub and save labor costs and dealing with mechanics.

 

if money is an issue and the condition of the car is unknown, install a used hub. you can buy used hubs for $25-$40 easily. someone on here can probably send you one for cheap. if money is an issue it is better to do that than put $100+ into a car that ends up overheating, breaking down, needs a clutch....etc. you're not overly concerned about replacing the bearings in the "good" hubs right, so get another one just like it from a yard!

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I just redid the front bearings on my 87. They were not as bad as I thought they would be. I took the whole shaft off from the tranny out. Took the whole assy to a garage near me, they took them apart, and then turned my rotors while they were there, put everything back together, and only charged me $60. I will be doing the rear bearings this weekend, after I go get them. I don't think the bearings that were in there were ever changed.

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GD, I have an axle tool my father in law built. If you want I can take a picture of it to post.

 

Yes, please do. I'd like to see pics of everybody's trick and tools. There is a thread for it 'round here somewhere

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GD, I have an axle tool my father in law built. If you want I can take a picture of it to post.

 

Sure - I've seen plenty of axle tools, but one more never hurts. Could build one but I was intriuged by the "$20 ebay tool" as I haven't yet seen any commercially availible tools in that price range.

 

GD

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  • 2 weeks later...

I replaced a rear wheel bearing on my Loyale last week, the bearing plus inner and outer seals, came to about $70 tax incl. A local garage pressed the old out and the new in for $45, (took the rear swingarm to them). Managed to do the R&R without special tools, But it sure was hard loosening the nut on the bottom of the shock (after breaking it loose, I noticed that it was spot welded

to the swingarm on 3 corners of the nut!!) Next time I'll know to loosen the BOLT, Not the nut!! LOL

Works great, took about 90 minutes to disassemble, about 60 to reassemble.

(note- NAPA had the seals for less than 1/2 the price of Kragen. Same make.)

Be sure to put the spring washer on the spindle facing correctly (it's marked

"outside" after cleaning the dirt off), This was the cause of the bearing failing.

A brake job last October, The washer was reinstalled backward.

So I saved $185 from the $300 quote I was given by two shops.

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