Kyle

Well my wheel bearings are shot to all hell, I mean really bad. Couple of questions. 1. Does anybody have a decent writeup regarding the install? 2. Where are you guys buying them from? They are pretty expensive it seems and im on a budget right now due to school so Im looking for a cheap replacement.

dabeast727

theyre really easy to do, just coat the 3 hub bolts and axle nut in PB blaster a few days ahead of time. Then..
1. remove wheel
2. remove caliper via 2 bolt and set aside, dont let it hang by the brake lines
3. slide off rotor
4. use breaker bar or impact wrench and 35mm socket to remove axle nut
5. remove 3 hub bolts
6. use BFH or a gear puller (gear puller works great) to remove old hub assembly
7. install new hub and torque to specs.


go to autozone, pep boys, napa, whereever has them and find out who has them cheapest. Then go to the one with htem cheapest an dbuy them

Kyle

Ya I figured it was pretty easy, im just a person of pictures

Getting the rotor off may be the hard part theres a lot of rust build up.

OverlandZJ

There are two types available that i'm aware of. The Timken bearing which is OEM and the cheaper knockoff (chinese?). The Timken will last longer but if it's a budgeted purchase you should get a few years out of the cheaper set with moderate sized tires.

Replacement is easy. You'll need a 36mm socket, breaker bar or impact gun, a torque wrench, wire cutters, and a 13mm wrench.

If you can get access to your hub nut without removing the wheel that makes it easier. Remove the cotter pin and nut lock. Loosen 36mm nut. Remove wheel if still attached (have someone stand on brakes if you cant access with wheel on)

Remove caliper bolts on backside which are 13mm. Hang caliper with a wire or old clothes hanger, dont allow to hang on brakehose as it could damage it. Remove rotor.

Remove 13mm 12pt bolts (3) that attach hub bearing to outer knuckle. These are located on inside of outer knuckle near your axleshaft u-joint. Leave these in about 2 turns, you'll need to tap these with a hammer to drive the hub bearing from the knuckle. This can damage the heads on the bolts, if you can get 2 spares that you can sacrifice for the job it makes this easier... i keep mine in my toolbox as they are now a removal tool. Once the bearing is knocked loose you can remove the sacrificed bolts and old bearing.

During reassembly lay some anti-sieze in the knuckle where the new bearing will sit, this will help with a later removal. Also coat the 13mm 12pt bolts with anti-sieze.

Reassemble everything as you took it off and torque the 36mm nut to spec. I think it's 80ftlbs but i can check if you dont have a FSM.

Have you done disc pads before? Make sure the pads are seated in the groove properly at bottom closest to ground.

Edit: looks like i was a little slow with my typing.

Kyle

Yup I have done a complete brake job before (multiple times).

OverlandZJ

Figured you had, but worth the mention for others who have not. It can bend backing plates and ruin rotors if not seated correctly.

muddeprived

Here you go kyle:

http://jeep.off-road.com/jeep/articl....jsp?id=257794

http://www.nagca.com/grandtech/dana30wheelbearing.htm

http://www.jeeping.net/mambo/index.p...d=20&Itemid=47

While you do it, make a write up for this forum


I am the wheel bearing guy Been mudding with my tj (same dana 30 axle) for four years and went through 4 sets of wheel bearings, pretty much on a yearly basis. That's how much mud i saw And i don't even remember how many times i changed the bearings on the dakota. My first set was from advance auto because they offer a 2 year warranty i think (still?) so i exchanged them the following year. Then once those were gone i gone some cheap knockoffs on ebay for $60 each. Those went within a year too. My last set was from autozone and didn't get a chance to wear those out before i traded it in.

www.rockauto.com has them for $75 for timken bearings. Good deal.

www.partsamerica.com has them for $89 with 1 year warranty.

Autozone has timken for $117

Oreilly's has national hub assembly for $94 1 year warranty

There are a variety of wheel bearings for around $50 on ebay. They are "ok" and last a while. if you don't do alot of mudding or run huge tires, they should do fine. My buddy runs the cheap ebay ones on his YJ and been on there for a couple years now.

I had a hell of a hard time (3 freakin hours worth of POUNDING) getting my rotors off when i bought the jeep. They were rust welded on. We had to remove the hub with teh rotor on it and press it off with a 10k press. The other one we got off by pounding with a BFH. Chipped the hell out of it but it came off and i replaced both rotors. If you don't have a torque wrench, use the handle of a hi-jack over the socket wrench for more leverage. This worked wonders for me until i get the impact gun and now it's too easy.

Good luck!

Kyle

Oh I have a very nice torque wrench along with BB. Thanks for those links and when I get around to doing the wheel bearings I will do a CF writeup.

TrueBlueXJ

Good, cuz I need to change mine too.

okcjeeper

Yep I am about to change my front hubs/bearings, along with u-joints and ball joints...well after the lift is installed..

5spd-XJ

Just did my right side one on lunch yesterday. took about 45mins. I was VERY surprised to find that the splines were not rusted to the hub. but after i was done and lowered the Jeep, is noticed the dust shield sitting on the bench. . I once I ran outta work for the day i brought the Jeep back in and threw the shield back on, and still had some time left to weld up the new rear bump stop bracket i made earlier . (thanks to some of the guys at work for help with the welding)

muddeprived

I tossed my dust shield long ago. Rocks and mud kept getting stuck between the shield and rotor causing a nice long screeeeeech.

5spd-XJ

Thats a good point, I threw the idea back and forth to just leave it off, but I went with keeping it on. hopefully nothing will get stuck too bad

whowey

I also leave off the dust shields. They just give the mud, rocks, crud and stuff one more place to hang-up in there.

A quick question for the guys using gear pullers to take off hubs.. Are we talking a standard 3-jaw puller or something else?

muddeprived

Any update on this kyle?