Been searching the posts for a while and haven't found a good DIY for changing out the front wheel bearings and mine are growling like mad so today when I attempt the job if all goes well, I'll take a bunch of photo's and will try to post the DIY info tonight.

 

Very cool. Is it possible for you to provide an audio sample of the noise? I wouldn't even know what a bad bearing sounds like.

Thanks.

 

rclangelan, the wheel bearings that I have had go out on me sound like a little whirr sound that is based on speed. Sometimes you can even feel it vibrating the floor board. Nothing to make you feel like the vehicle is going to fall apart, but it is there. Also, you may notice that when you turn one way at speed (say 60 mph), the noise will be there and when you turn the other way, the noise will go away. This is due to changing the loading on the bearing and when turning the one way and the body leans a little bit, the part that is rubbing is no longer rubbing.

 

Thanks Thermo. Happy to report that my X makes no such noises.

 

Got the wheel bearings on the front swapped. Took about 4 hours and I rented a wheel axle slide hammer kit from the local auto parts store.

Here some shots and a brief description of the order of how I changed them. You can use a press, or do it a bunch of different ways, but this is the method I use when a press isn't available and I'm crunched for time.

1. Remove tire, pop out center cap, and reinstall tire.
2. Use 32mm socket to remove C/V half-shaft nut.
3. Remove tire, put car on jack stands.
4. Loosen up outer tie rod nut and place jack under nut and lift up on jack until there is pressure on the tie rod end, after that hit the side of the tie rod mount with a hammer until the tie rod pops out.
5. Remove lower ball joint securing bolt and pry lower ball joint out of spindle. If you have trouble with this step you can always remove the 3 upper strut bolts and take out the entire assembly.
6. Remove brake caliper, mounting bracket, and rotor
7. Slide c/v half-shaft out of the bearing assembly.
8. Remove abs wheel speed sensor.
9. Use slide hammer to remove wheel hub from spindle.
10. Use slide hammer to remove wheel bearing outer part that is still in spindle.
11. Take small grinder and grind notch in inner bearing race that is stuck to the wheel hub. Use a chisel to crack bearing on the notch ground in the bearing. After that inner bearing race should slide right off hub.
12. Put hub in ice water.
13. Place bearing in boiling water. (put in ziplock bag if you don't want to get bearing wet.
14. Once hub is cold and bearing is hot install bearing on hub with rubber seal of bearing facing to the inside of the car (away from the hub) use old inner race to hammer it in.
15. Put new bearing and hub assembly in cold water.
16. Use torch to heat spindle where bearing presses in.
17. Once spindle is good and hot, and bearing/hub is cold use slide hammer to press two parts together.
18. Reassemble and enjoy your handiwork with a cold beer knowing that you did it yourself and saved a lot of $$.

 

Took it for a ride after a few minutes the abs and cruise control not available warnings went out so the new wheel bearings must have fixed it.

The car is nice and quiet now going down the road with my foot off the gas. Before I changed them you had a hard time hearing the radio.

Unfortunatley I've still got a growling noise when I'm on the accelerator that is still pretty noisy. Must either be bearings in the front trans-axle or something up with the transmission (aside from my gear 5 ratio fault).

 

Superb write up, thanks for sharing

 

Well done!! ...and without a dozen special tools!! ...and without removing the steering knuckle!!

I've never seen or done it this way; A few questions, please...

- How easy (or hard) was it to jerk the hub and bearing out with the slide hammer?

- Did you do anything to hold the bottom of the knuckle steady when yanking out the hub and bearing? Re-attach the ball joint?

 

Q: - How easy (or hard) was it to jerk the hub and bearing out with the slide hammer? A: Not that hard, but does take some force and about 20-40 blows to get them apart. If it's really seized you can always remove the spindle and hammer bearing out from the back side by removing the 3 strut nuts on top and the sway bar end link bolt. Should only take about 10 more minutes to do it that way.

Q: - Did you do anything to hold the bottom of the knuckle steady when yanking out the hub and bearing? Re-attach the ball joint? A: On one side I did, the other side I just used my foot to hold it.

I've been doing wheel bearings for a long time and didn't think these would be that much different and they weren't. Just don't put the bearing in the spindle before pressing the bearing onto the hub or it will come apart and destroy the grease seals.

 

Hi, my driver side wheel bearing is due on my 05 x-type, was quoted near $500 for the one side installed and the part was listed at $130. I found at autopartsway.ca SKF1657635 for $60, has anyone tried this bearing and does it have the infamous exciter ring?

 

I think they all have the exciter ring, easy way to tell is one side is magnetic and the other isn't so the tip of a screwdriver will stick to it.

Got two OEM bearings from Las Vegas Jaguar online for only $93 so you may want to give them a look.

The diy posted above is an at home in your driveway option but the best way to get them installed is to remove the hub and press them on if you can.

Good luck.

 

agreed.

My 9 hour driver side bearing change ordeal is over. Most time spent Dremeling out the old outer race enough for the slide hammer to function and equally as time consuming and effort intensive was reinstalling the new bearing into the housing (bearing and hub chilled, housing heated) - this is an interference fit!

All done, drives like a dream - one happy, achy, tired camper!

Thanks for the write up.

 

So. The wheel bearing will not show itself to be bad thru the regular "shake the wheel top and bottom" check?

 

Another tip for locating worn wheel bearing.
Jack wheel up and spin it whilst holding the road spring. Any roughness in bearing will be felt through spring.
Both my fronts were noisy but no movement. Using this method located which one was faulty at the time as one side went about a year before the other.

 

when I worked rebuilding transmissions, we used a toaster oven to heat bearings up to slide onto shafts. I found one for $5 at a garage sale, and its nice to keep in the garage. Saves on trips inside to boil water.

Awesome write up and great tips!

 

I want to emphasize to all who read this post that the best method for doing this is to use a press to get the new bearing back into place as hammering on them can seriously shorten bearing life if you aren't careful.

 

I attempted this today. But stopped due to not being able to get the bottom ball joint to separate. I also couldn't get the assembly to drop even after I unbolted the top of the strut and sway bar link. Any suggestions? and will the axle just come out after I get the assembly to drop?

This is my first non US car, and so far I think that very thing is much easier to work on then the pontiac sunfire I just replaced. It seems that it is just me learning a new process that is the trouble. I might wait until my wife and daughter are on Christmas break, then I can use her car to take the spindle in to work and have it pressed in.

 

MY internet glitched, I double posted, can a mod delete this post for me? I cannot figure out how to do that. Thank you!

 

Not always. These are ball races whereas the test you describe is best used with taper roller bearings. As a general rule (but check every time), taper roller bearings are fitted to the front of cars which have rear wheel drive only. They are adjustable for end float.

 

[QUOTE=ltmax;921341]Took it for a ride after a few minutes the abs and cruise control not available warnings went out so the new wheel bearings must have fixed it.
QUOTE]

That's right. The ABS ring is built into the bearing. This is why the bearing must be fitted with the correct side inboard. See data sheet on SKF website http://www.skf.com/binary/79-61909/TT08_016.pdf