Replacing Axel/Wheelbearing

[Suigintou]

Ok, this is the second time I've ever replaced a CV axel and the first time I've done a wheel bearing.

According to this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=197yHCBg ... rofilepage

I gotta take the whole hub off. Well from my experience with the first CV shaft replacement I did, taking the hub off means that springs going to decompress and make getting the hub back on later a nightmare. I got the spring tied up with many loops of steel cord and I hope it will at least stay in place somewhat.

Gonna go rent a tie rod tool (we bent our own using it as a cheater bar during the earlier CV job on dads van) and a wheel bearing press.

I got the axel nut off (cut it in half) and the brake stuff and the nut to the Tie Rod. Once the Tie rod is off I'll take off the strut nuts and then the ball joint nut.

I wish I could take pictures but I don't have any kind of digital camera. I'm that poor.

EDIT: Wooo, the spring only dropped like half a inch. (not 4-5 inches like it did on my dad's van.)I don't know how much my string had to do with that.

Anyway, I run into a little issue: How do I yank the CV shaft out of the transaxel. I pulled straight out on it pretty hard...is there a clip? Or do I need to go eat my wheaties and try again?

Also, they didn't have a wheel bearing tool like on that vid so i'll just have to take the hub and my new bearings to a mechanic.

[log1call]

Whow dude, it sounds like you need a workshop manual first. Get that and have a read, then start working on your car.


There are lots of manuals here... http://www.main.experiencetherave.com/s ... FSM_Scans/

and here... http://pdftown.com/

Seriously, you are going about the job the wrong way, with the wrong tools by the sound of it.

I think it's great you are trying it yourself but you need to read up and understand what you are going to do before you start working.

It's easy to end up costing yourself more than the repair would be paying a mechanic if you do it wrong, and that is just discouraging. Swat up, work carefully, do it properly and you will get a lot of satisfaction, be more confident about your own capabilities and save money.

[kimokalihi]

The axles have a pin that you need to drive out before you can pull them off of the tranny stubs.

You'll need a punch of just the right size. BE CAREFUL because if you use too small of a punch or a tapered one (DO NOT USE TAPERED PUNCH) it will spread the pin out (the pin is hollow) and will make it very difficult to remove from the axle. You need the perfect diameter straight punch that fits right in the hole.

One thing that I figured out while at the local junkyard without a punch was that battery tie down rods usually fit perfectly in the hole. So find one of those if you can't find the right size punch. It's the threaded rod with the hook on the end that holds each side of your battery down. Put that in the hole and start tapping it with a hammer.

I've never replaced a bearing because I was told you needed a hydraulic press to get the job done and I don't have one so therefore I just went to the junkyard and removed the whole hub assembly off another legacy for $25 and did it that way.

Be careful not to damage the little rubber boots on the tie rod and control arm pivot bolts.

Good luck.

[Suigintou]

let me give some background info on this car. It has 223K miles. It is a 94 Subaru Legacy L, N/A, FWD automatic transmission, no ABS.

Kimo: While I was down there I discovered that the Tie rod boots are already torn all the way around. Not my fault, thats how they were when I jacked it up. I'm totally out of money though. I can't afford to try and replace even the boots. I looked them up and they're like 30$. I need money to buy groceries the rest of the month.

Anyway, I've been pretty careful so far. I've done as much reading as I can because i didn't want to make all the mistakes dad did when he did his CV axel (Like, he lost the grease seal and now his tranny leaks fluid all the time.). I couldn't find anything specific to the Legacy though. That's why I'm posting here so I can get that 1994 Legacy specific kind of advice. Not "How to change a honda CV" or "How to change a Ford CV".

Also Logical,

I was looking through those links but didn't see anything regarding what I'm doing. is "MT Main Shaft" the same as what I'm dealing with. I'm pretty sure MT means Manual Transmission and that is not what I have.

[SubiePrice88]

I've never replaced a bearing because I was told you needed a hydraulic press to get the job done and I don't have one so therefore I just went to the junkyard and removed the whole hub assembly off another legacy for $25 and did it that way.

Same here...well I didnt JY it but I paid $300 for a shop to do it

But its soo much better now! No noise!

Good luck man! Wish I could help

[kimokalihi]

I actually had 3 bad wheel bearings on my wagon. One of which I replaced only to find out that the junkyard hub assembly I replaced it with also had a bad bearing. So I did that job 4 times!

It's not fun with all the wrong tools at the junkyard with no air tools.

Fuckin cave mannin' it all the way. I think it was raining as well. Not good times at all.

[kimokalihi]

I glanced through all those links there and didn't see anything that would help you either.

There's only one link for a legacy on pdftown.com and it's not working.

I looked at my factory service manual for the 91 legacy's and found out that FWD legacy's do not have servicable wheel bearings. You have to replace the whole hub. Says in the book the FWD hub/bearing assembly cannot be disassembled.

Scanned a couple pages for you.

[Suigintou]

Thanks Kimokalihi you've really helped me out. Not sure what I'm gonna do about my wheel bearing now. My local JY doesn't have any Subarus.

Our local mechanic quote me 350$ just to fix the wheel bearing and another 100$ to do the CV. He's also the one that diagnosed my problem as a bad bearing/cv joint on the drive side. I'll get the Hub out today and inspect it real good and replace the CV.

Edit: After looking at my hub, then at those diagrams, I think my hub does not look like that. Just to confirm when i say hub I mean the entire big block of metal that the brake caliper and tie rod ends mount to and that holds on to the bearings. My hub is thicker around the bearing area, like a cone or bowl shape and there is no bolts on the back that I can see.

[kimokalihi]

This may be the best picture I have. I haven't done any brake work so I haven't taken pictures of the hubs yet.

[kimokalihi]

That FSM scan shows the FWD hub. I believe the caliper bolts to those sections that stick out on the left side with the bolt holes in them.

[Suigintou]

Ok after studying it a long time I can tell that the bearing race inside the spindle is the press in kind. It looks exactly like the replacement bearing race I have sitting next to me.

EDIT: Nevermind, I took a look at the new axel and its got the hole and pin there. I took a battery hold down bar off my car and it fit through the wider hole. So I guess when Installing a pin, you tap it through the wider hole, and when knocking it out, you knock it out through the smaller hole, because the pointy end of the pin will be facing that way.

[Suigintou]

SUCCESS


Well, sort of.

I didn't replace the bearings. Too much trouble and they had no play, just the very slightest shhh noise when I turned them. So I snuck some grease up under the rubber grease seal of the wheel bearing, shot some grease into my broken tie rod boots, into my broken tierod joint boot, put in my new CV axel (Yes I did put the new pin in all the way through) and put it all back together.

Result: Much easier to steer, much much quieter. Apparently the old CV axel had developed lots of small cracks in the boot. When we got it out, It flopped around like a rag doll and made lots of grinding sounds.

Left to do: Replace Rack boots, Tie Rod joint boots, and the Ball joint boot(We looked it over closely, its broke and there is play in the ball joint.). I'll prolly have to do the same on the passenger side too. >.< Taking care of old cars is rough.

[evolutionmovement]

That scan shows the REAR wheel. In place of an axle on the fwd, the hub has an axle stub as part of it. Front hubs are the same with both versions. Very annoying in that the fwd and awd rear spindles mount the strut differently, requiring different sizes, meaning you can't use the myriad awd options on the rear, which also restricts choices on the front.

For the missing boots, just try to avoid conditions where water, dirt, and sand can get into the rack and you should be OK for a while. Eventually, though, it will eat your rack.

Be thankful with the balljoint—it's a cheap easy job on these cars. My friggin' Mazda 3 has the balljoint welded into the control arm, so it's $250 for the part and working on the car isn't worth it, so add labor on that. It was my fault the balljoint went (though it did last over a year with the boot wrecked), but there was no other way I could replace the strut that failed prematurely, but to get the f'n spindle off the balljoint. If the wagon was running, I would've set the Mazda on fire that weekend. A half hour cheap job on a Subaru is a an afternoon of swearing and pain on many other cars.

Bitching I may be, but I'm thankful to be in the position where an almost $400 ball joint is an annoyance. A few years ago, this was not the case and I think about that a lot. I also remember how my Subarus kept going with me the two times I was down and out and couldn't afford to fix them had they broken. Hope things pick up for you.

[kimokalihi]

My bad, sorry about confusing you with the scans. I feel stupid. So your bearings were good after all?

[fishbone79]

I pressed the front bearings in mine using a vise... I wouldn't recommend it, but it can be done. Been going strong for 4 years now.

[kimokalihi]

Friend of mine from work uses a hammer.

[Suigintou]

Its cool, no harm done. Thanks guys.

My mystery sound that set off this project is still there.

The reason i thought it was the bearings is cuzz that's what our mechanic said after giving it a test ride. I've worked with a lot of bearings since I've been a cycling enthusiast for many years. Those bearings on the car felt good.

A vise sounds like a good idea to me actually. I can see how that'd be done. Maybe when these bearings do start rumbling I'll try that. I live in Florida so sand just gets into everything.