Front wheel is starting to squeal, are the bearings pressed in or can a DIYer change the them?

 

Do an advanced search for wheel bearings and you will fiind a couple of threads where the owners have done it themselves. You might also pm SCARDINI or look up his post. He did a good write up of the changing of wheel bearings.

You wil need a few special tools and access to a press to change the bearings.

 

The bearings are pressed in/out but the trickiest part is removing the ABS nut, it needs a special tool and is very very tight.

To keep the cost down you can take the hub uprights off the car yourself and take them to an indie to change the bearings.

 

I once thought of doing it myself, found out that tool cost about $150. Had to hand the job to my mechanic. Was about $500.

 

I just replaced mine. Bought the tool from ebay seller in England for $70 total, Timken bearings $38, 20 ton Harbor Freight press $160.

I was looking for an excuse to buy the press because it seems a handy tool to have. Of course, now I'll never need it again, but I'm sure I can sell it for $100 or more.

 

RJ, Good for you. It was a savings in the end. Looking back how difficult was this once you had the right tools?

John

 

Even with the tool, getting the ABS nuts off is a pisser and a 2 man pisser at that. I highly recommend buying new nuts and just cutting the old ones off with a radiac wheel.

Even on a rust free car, the nuts are bonded to the hubs. If you have an air tool with 500lbft of torque, they might budge. Trying to use a 10 ft breaker bar and leverage is a no go, because the tool lifts off the nut. You need about 300lb pushing the tool down on the nut, if the torque isn't centered on the nut, in order to put enough torques on the nut to break it free (I estimate 400 lbft).

If you give up on the air tool and breaker bar, take a 4lb hammer and chisel and whack the lugs until the nut eventually starts to slowly rotate.

Don't be like me, Just cut it off and buy new.

Once the nut is off, you'll use at least 10 of the 20 tons of the harbor freight press to get the hubs and bearings out and back in.

Its all very satisfying when you are done, but frustrating until you are.

 

With the hub bolted to the bench the breaker bar bent then eventually broke and the abs nut stayed put.

 

My car is totally rust free and removing the nuts with a five foot pipe on the breaker bar was easy. I just needed an assistant to hold the socket down.

The rest of the process is fairly straight forward, but pressing the hub back in would have been tricky without the support we fabricated. It can be done by using the race from one of the old bearings to support the outer race.

 

I did my first set of hubs with the hammer/chisel method (while I was waiting for my tool to arrive from england). The nut broke free with what I felt wasn't too much effort, so I bought a NEW set of larger bearing 2001 spindles from the junkyard to play with for $60. Rust free Texas car, this should be easy.

I mean, I got all the tools, now, I'll just crack those nut right off.... OMG No Fing way. Those nuts aren't budging.

I came to the rapid conclusion that the nuts are hit/miss. Budget an extra $50 for new nuts and $14 for a Harbor Freight 4" cut off wheel when doing this job. Life is too short.

 

UNGN, RJ,

I appreciate your detailed recount. This is the kind of feedback that allows someone like me make an informed decision.

 

A couple years ago I got this OEM toolkit for doing the wheel bearings. I scanned the step by step instructions that came with it.

XK8_FrontWheelBearing_HowTo.pdf

Toolkit is at least 50 lbs of steel. I have not used it yet but now that I have it I could not imagine doing the job without it.

The guy that sold me the kit told me a similar horror story of long breaker bar and a helper to break the nuts loose.

 

That looks like the full factory kit. It's not too difficult to substitute or fabricate most of them, but it would certainly simplify the job to have it.

 

I know, that is half the fun. It is like 3D chess: "how do I apply force here and here without breaking this off or bending that?"

I just wish I remembered all of the "special tools" I rigged up. When you press the old bearing out without the proper tool and they explode into smaller pieces, and those pieces become very useful tools to press in the new bearings.

I keep most of the bits my 20 ton press breaks in a catch box below the press, because these bits make pressing out/in other things without damage easier.

 

I have a wheel bearing removal tool. Getting out of the Jaguar hobby. I will send it to you for $50.00. Also have timing chain tensioner replacement tools for sale.
John MN. 952-567-1197

 

Regarding price. Yesterday I came across my receipt. Looks like my $500 estimate is off a bit. I had one bad bearing,but it turns out my mechanic had the foresight to replace both sides for $800. Don't know how I forgot that but it's one thing I can cross off my list of future repairs to budget for.
John