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I have a 2003 Camry 2.4L I4 with 110k miles, thanks to one of Eric’s videos (How to Find a Bad Wheel Bearing) I managed to track down a vehicle speed dependent noise to the front passengers side wheel bearing. I then watched his video on wheel bearing replacement on a Accord and was wondering if someone could answer the following questions.
In the video Eric cut the bearing race off the wheel hub with a air powered cut off tool. Since I dont have a set of air tools, could I get by with a Dremel and a cut off wheel? Is this race just part of the bearing which comes of during dis-assembly? Will the race be integral to the new bearing or is this a additional part which I would need to order?
The service manual shows removing this race a special service tool (SST) and a press which looks similar to a bearing splitter I have. Would I be able to do the same thing with the bearing splitter, a vice, a socket and a hammer? My idea was to rest the bearing splitter on the jaws of the vice, put a socket on the wheel hub, and hammer it out. Or would there not be enough clearance to fit the bearing splitter between the race and the hub?
The manual references removing the wheel hub and bearing with special service tools, and in Eric’s video he has a unusual tool which he uses. Would I be able to get by with this toolset from Harbor Freight?
http://www.harborfreight.com/fwd-front-wheel-bearing-adapters-66829.htmlThe manual says I should replace the axle nut and stake it to the axle. Where can I find a replacement nut besides the dealer? Autozone seems to sell them, but only as a kit with a replacement bearing and hub. I’d rather save $50 and not replace the hub if it isnt necessary. Is it at all possible to reuse the nut, or should it really be replaced?
Will I have to do anything to remove the stake when taking off the axle nut, or will it just require more force?
If you want to view the service manual, use the link below. It is section 30-23 thru 30-27 or PDF pages 285 thru 289. It is a ~35MB PDF file.
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B2MvE3Rweb__amNfYmo5VzFQOWs/edit?usp=sharingThanks a lot!
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Those wheel bearings are pressed in I believe. I may just be easier to remove the knuckle and have a machine shop press it in.
Yeah, and I assume the ones from Eric’s Accord video are too. I’ve watched another video where some guy used the same Harbor Freight tool set to install a similar bearing on a ’95 Ford Windstar. I only have 1 car and plan on doing this on a weekend, so getting to a machine shop, and finding one which is open would be difficult. When you factor in how much time that would take, compared to how long it took the guy in the video below, and that buying the toolkit would likely cost a similar amount to the machine shop and Taxi fees, it seems like DIY would be faster and I would get some additional tools out of it as well.
See timecode 5:20 – 8:50
Good luck.
If you live in the rust belt like I do, all the bearings we press out at work usually split due to corrosion and such.
Hopefully yours will come out as easy as the one above did.
I got the job done awhile ago and in the process I made a few mistakes, mostly due to listening to people on other forums, or that video linked above
-The biggest mistake was listening to other forums where they said you could just drive the axle nut off the axle without unstaking it. Although it seemed counter intuitive I read it enough places that I believed it. The nut came off most of the way before it had completely ruined the threads on the axle and would just spin without coming off any more. I spent a day cutting the nut off with a dremel and repairing the damaged threads or forming new threads where the previous ones had been swaged together with a triangle file.
-No matter how hard I hammered a socket on the rear of the wheel hub, it wouldnt come out. I had to go out and get a slide hammer and wheel hub flange.
-Despite all the positive reviews on Harbor Freight’s website, and the video I linked previously, their tool refused to work. The die which presses the old wheel bearing out would consistently tilt and jam against the shoulder in the steering knuckle which the bearing is pressed against. Tried hammering it, tried different sized dies, nothing would work. I applied so much torque that I cracked the 1 1/4″ MDF surface the vice holding the steering knuckle was attached to. I ended up taking it to a auto shop and had them press it out, and thankfully was able to get my money back from Harbor Freight.
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