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Front wheel bearing replacement; an illustrated guide

Nuclear Chicken

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 9, 2010
Messages
403
Well, as the title says. It all started by a noticable grumbling sound coming from the front O/S wheel a few weeks back. I knew when I bought the LC that this wheel bearing had already been replaced so this made me somewhat suspicious. :?: :?:
Anyway, after a bit of consultation with Bob and ordering some bits from IanR, I finally got to work yesterday afternoon when wifey and squirts were all away at the outlaws till Sunday. Happy days. :lol:
Firts things first, I undulged in a bit of tool porn and acquired a Sealey hydraulic puller set, as below. It's a bit more than I needed for this job, all things considered and it certainly wouldn't be of use to press the new hub and bearing assembly, but hey what the heck, I got it anyway.

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First, jack up the car and secure it properly using a stand.

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Remove the brake caliper, 17mm socket. Here I used an extension bar to get a bit more leverage and turned the steering a bit to clear the arch. Bolts were :o tight. Contrast is a bit crap there but you get the idea.

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Prise the brake pads apart a bit to clear the disk. My disk isn't worn much and hadn't really a lip on it so this was easy enough with a little screwdriver. Worns disk will require a bit more effort here. Agian poor contrst in the image from my naff camera. Should have used some infill flash.

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Before removing the caliper fully, remove the small clip that holds the prake pipe in place on the steering knuckle. In hindsight I should have simply removed the bolted on bracket that holds it and the ABS wire but I had decided initially, after speaking to a Toyo tech, that the knuckle didn't need to be removed. More of this later.

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Hang the caliper out of the way, taking care not to damage or break the tiny piece of rigid brake pipe the connects directly to the caliper. As mentioned above, removing the whole bracket mount here will assist greatly here and is what I will do in future. 12mm socket. I used a bit of coat hanger as the caliper is heavy.

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Remove the disk and centre dust cover.

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Remove the cotter pin and nut cover. The more astute of you will notice a piece missing from the hub, at about eight o clock. This had me baffled for a bit but it'll become clear later. :o

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Remove the nut. For this I needed to buy a 35mm socket, 3/4" drive and an adaptor to 1/2" drive. A bit of serious pulling and it opened.

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Start removing the 4 hub bolts. They are awkwardly sandwiched between the outer hub and the bearing housing assembly. 17mm open end spanner required here. Why not a ring spanner? Well, a ring spanner will work to loosen the bolt but as it loosens the space available to remove the spanner lessens and you have to resort to an open end to finish. I hadn't a long enough open end and got a Halfords Pro version. Would have liked it to be longer but with a rag protecting you hands it can be pulled hard enough.

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Anyway, with a few taps from a hammer to break the 'seal' the hub pulled off and revealed this mess. :shock: The inside of the knuckle has corrosion on it, as does the rear of the bearing assembly and the end of the cone on the half-shaft. Note the ABS sensor. I had forgotten about it and was lucky not to damage it. Should have been removed at the start. :oops:

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It was becoming increasingly clear what was going on.

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Rear view

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From the parts received from IanR, it was clear that there should have been at leat one oil seal in the knuckle. Problem one. The lack of this seal meant that all the crap of the day was able to penetrate the bearing/ half shaft area and eventually made its way into the bearing. Hence the grumble. When I rotated the bearing by hand, the grittyness could be felt. And the bearings were a bit loose, not nice and stiff like a new one. Also missing from the previous 'repair' :evil: :evil: , was the dust guard for the disk and caliper. I had noticed this months back and had one ordered and sitting on a shelf. I was waiting on an opportune time to fit it and it had come. I prayed that the steering knuckle would be usable as I had no plans to replace it....I cleaned it up as best as possible with some fine emery paper and hoped for the best.

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Now for the fun bit. I assembled a bit of the Sealey kit and started pressing.

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And a bit more, as it started to give, a bit.

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And some more. :roll:

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It eventually popped, and, as expected, the bearing assembly fell apart and left a piece of the outer shell on the hub stub.

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A call to the engineering works 10 miles away. Yes, if you get it to me before 1800 I will try to have it done tomorrow before 1300 :roll: . Explaining that I needed certainty, he eventually agreed to do it. With the holiday w/e no way was I going to have a 3 wheel LC tilll Tuesday at the earliest. Bearing duly dispatched by 1700 and he phoned at 1745 to say it was done. If only I had waited but a kind neighbour had given me a lift so I couldn't really. :| But he opens at 0830 next morning.
In the mean time I tried to figure out what to do with the knuckle. I decided to at least partly remove it so that I could clean it better and get the seal fitted.

Opening the bottom arm nuts. Careful here. Support the lower arm with a small jack as it has the full spring load on it. :o

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When bolts are out, gently lower the jack and the bottom arm will move away. The split the steering control arm, trying not to samage the rubber boot. Easier said than done. These nuts and bolts were tight but they all opened OK using the extention bar.

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Out came Jack Sealey again as the joint was murder tight. Keep the nut on the top of the joint as when it pops it will go with a bang and you don't want it to do any harm to you or any components. And boy, did it go with a bang or what. :shock:

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Next morning, bearing collected at 0845 and taken home. In accordance with the Tech-doc Toyo repair manual, it seems as if a seal is required between the hub and the bearing assembly. The engineering firm argued not and I argued yes. Anyway, it was pressed together without and I know now that it should have been fitted. It was missing from the last repair job too that's why I was unsure and the components diagram on the Tech-doc is a little bit different to the actual bits on the LC. So, I figured, what the heck. It'll have to do as I'm not having it pressed out again just to fit this seal. :shock: Not ideal but you have to make the most of what you've got.

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Now to explain why the piece is missing from the hub, as I discovered when I left off the bits to the eng workshop. :shock: :shock: When the last repair had been done, by the previous muppet mechanics, lazy shits that they were, not only did they omit the 2 oils seals and a rubber 'O' ring, but they also pressed the bearing together without the hub bolts in place first, as it is impossible to get them in afterwards. What did they do? The cut a chunk out of the hub with a grinder, to leave an 'entry' slot. :o :o WTF?

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I was going to have the eng workshop weld it up but they hadn't time, I couldn't wait and anyway, it had been like this for a few years and didn't seem any worse for the wear. So I left it for now. I will do it again when I have time as I don't want a crack opening at the bottom of this crude slot and ruining the hub. Plus it will be a tiny bit out of balance till I do. However on a small diameter componet like this the out of balance issue is minor.

So I located the proper steering knuckle seal and tapped it into place. This is a view of the back of the knuckle. Simple to turn as it hangs from the top ball joint. The pitting and so on will obviously wear against this, but it will have to do for now. Hopefully it will do for as long as I have this LC. If you know what I mean. ;)

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Nearly done. Wheels studs tapped back into place on the hub. I tapped them out before the bearing was pressed so they wouldn't get damaged or be in the way.

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Jack up the lower arm again and fit the 2 bolts and close them up spanner tight.

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Reassemble the steering control arm joint and close up the nut. The joint might spin here, like mine did, so it needs to be pressed into place a bit, jamming the tapered surfaces together, to get it nice and tight. I used the small jack again with a block of wood on top and jacked it up from below to apply this pressure. I just closed it lightly spanner tight. Easier to do without the dust guard in place if possible.

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Offer up the dust guard and hub assembly and with your third hand :? :? get the hub bolts threaded in place a bit to hold it all together.

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Most things in place here with the big hub nut replaced too and lightly tightened.


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Tighten up the hub bolts murder tight with your spanner. Toyo quote a torque of 80Nm here but how the heck you get a socket and torque wrench in here is beyond me. :? :? Murder tight with a spanner and a bit more for luck will have to do. :D Replace the big hub nut and torque it up to 235Nm. Duly done with another nice tool I bought, a Halfords Pro 60-300Nm torque wrench.

Replace the roll bar drop link into the steering knuckle.

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Refit the hub nut cover and cotter pin.

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The tap the new dust cover in place. I replaced this cover as the old one had been bashed about a bit.

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Refit the disk, caliper and ABS sensor and wire. Bolt the bracket on the steering knuckle again and you're done. Check and torque up any remaining nuts, like the lower arm, hub nut and steering control arm.

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Refit the wheel and torque up the nuts to 113Nm. Bear in mind that, even when torqued up properly, the suspension parts bolted onto the steering knuckle have cotter pins through the castellated nuts. The nuts will have to be tightened a bit more to align the hole in the shaft with the slot in the nut so cotter pins can be fitted. Take a test drive and hope that all is OK. Thankfully mine was and the absolutely, unbelievably irritating noise is gone.

:cool: :cool: :D :D

Whether or not this all lasts for a few years in another thing. The fact that the last repair was only half done has had a very detrimental effect on the steering knuckle and drive shaft cone surfaces. By rights, if I was Bob M ;) , I'd probably have replaced them both. Or at the least, I'd have had the knuckle inner surfaces milled and polished a bit to imprive them. The cone surface is pitted beyond machining I think. Fiscal challenges rule all this out for now :( so if I get a couple of years out of it then I'll be a happy enough camper. At least I know how to do it again.

Anyone want to hire a Sealey 10 tonne hydraulic puller kit? :lol:
 
Sweet Mother of.... :shock: :shock: :shock: Scary amount of rust and corrosion there!! Any idea what's causing such severe rust?
Well done for persevering with the job and seeing it through ;) Looks like it was quite a challenge in the end!
Have to say I would have been tempted to treat the rust and maybe replace that battered hub with a 2nd hand unit or new if the £££ was right. Also what about coating the surfaces of the CV and inside of the hub with a light coat of grease? That rust must be caused by salt and/or moisture getting in there, so a bit of grease would protect things a bit.

Have the other 120 owners seen similar rust on their front suspension/"axle"?

Cheers,
 
Wow :o Excellent post, I'm glad it all worked out in the end.

I just hate having to get other people do do jobs for me, they never quite do it 'my way'. Note to Santa "I want a large floor-standing hydraulic press" its something I have wanted for years but can't justify :D

I can't believe (well, actually I can) that a 'professional' would grind a lump out of a hub to put the bolts back instead of simply pressing the bits apart, it must have taken longer to 'bodge it' than do it properly.

That rust doesn't look too bad to me but I'd have given it a buzz-over with a cup brush on an angle grinder and then painted/greased it as appropriate. good job though.

That hydraulic puller looks good. In a moment of madness I bought a £300 Sykes puller, like yours but larger. I thought I'd use it once, but its amazing what jobs crop up. You can never have too many tools :D

I look forward to the next illustrated repair :lol: :lol:


Bob.
 
That has to be one of the best write-ups :D (no offense Bob! ;))

OT:
In the image below, you seem to have hairline "cracks" on your disk. I have the same on my rear disks. I did not notice it on the fronts when I last checked. The rear were really bad though.
Any idea what they might be? They look like cracks but were not.

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Thanks for a cracking ( :lol: ) write-up
 
Sweet Mother of.... Scary amount of rust and corrosion there!! Any idea what's causing such severe rust?
Well done for persevering with the job and seeing it through Looks like it was quite a challenge in the end!
Have to say I would have been tempted to treat the rust and maybe replace that battered hub with a 2nd hand unit or new if the £££ was right. Also what about coating the surfaces of the CV and inside of the hub with a light coat of grease? That rust must be caused by salt and/or moisture getting in there, so a bit of grease would protect things a bit

Apologies for the lack of replies till now. Had no broadband all weekend. A Vodafone server vs my dynamic IP address issue of some description that I do not understand....anyway, resolved within the last 10mins or so and all good to go.

Andrew,

Corrosion. Yes. Salty roads yes. Missing seals is the main issue. The 'outer' sides of the bearing, just behind the hub and on the end of the half-shaft cone, should have been fitted with seals. I.e., the bearing is sandwiched in seals. I think these are mainly to keep out mainly water if the car is used for wading etc etc. However, with them both missing, and the dust guard, and a small O-ring just behind the guard where it seals onto the bearing assembly, were all missing. So, in the year I've been using it and the couple or so years prior to this, it has all been filling with all the gunk and crap that the UK/Irish winter roads have to throw at it. Hence the corrosion. And yes, I did coat it all with grease prior to assembly. I just didn't wite that bit down. :oops:

I think that I have the most important seal fitted; that at the back of the bearing on the half-shaft end. The other one I will fit at a convenient time but it will mean stripping out the hub and getting the hub/ bearing pressed open and closed again. When I do that I will either replace the hub or get it welded up properly. Absolutely disgraceful repair job. And I'm going to write to the selling dealer to to piss him off a bit. :lol:

No LCs should have this problem if they have original factory bearings and seals fitted. The N/S looks fine to me and the inner seal is clearly visible there, although a slighlty different 'shape' to the one I fitted.

Crispin

Marks on disk are not cracks. Just pad marks, probably as I reversed the LC into the garage. I do think these disks are rubbish though. They seem to have been changed prior to my getting the LC and based on the bearing repair, I have little or no faith in them...if you know what I mean :? . If you rub the disks with brake cleaner all that marking will rub off.

Bob,

I agree. And you know, it would only have needed pressing apart slightly to get the bolts in. Not even the full way. Lazy, lazy, sloppy.....grrrrr :evil: :evil: Now I'm stuck with the results of this for good. In theory a new steering knuckle and CV joint 'cone' (or whatever that bit is actually called!) are required to bring it back to new. I did wire brush it all down and emery paper it too. Too pitted though to make a really good job of it.

Anyway, I know how to do it for again and it's not that hard really. It'll keep me motoring for a bit and will make sure the MOT on the 27th has one less issue to be looked at.
 
Incidentally, those puller kits are going for a song at the mo. Try online or a local Sealey dealer. RRP £340+. I scooped it for £141 inc VAT. :cool: Even if I sold it again I'd still break even minimum. :lol: And it's the same hydraulic ram 'bit' that the similar but much mush lighter duty Draper kit uses as well. Draper kit weighs 4kg. The Sealey one 17kg. Draper sells for about £70 so the Sealey is much much better value.
 
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BobMurphy said:
Wow :o Excellent post, I'm glad it all worked out in the end.

I just hate having to get other people do do jobs for me, they never quite do it 'my way'. Note to Santa "I want a large floor-standing hydraulic press" its something I have wanted for years but can't justify :D

I can't believe (well, actually I can) that a 'professional' would grind a lump out of a hub to put the bolts back instead of simply pressing the bits apart, it must have taken longer to 'bodge it' than do it properly.

That rust doesn't look too bad to me but I'd have given it a buzz-over with a cup brush on an angle grinder and then painted/greased it as appropriate. good job though.

That hydraulic puller looks good. In a moment of madness I bought a £300 Sykes puller, like yours but larger. I thought I'd use it once, but its amazing what jobs crop up. You can never have too many tools :D

I look forward to the next illustrated repair :lol: :lol:


Bob.


Floor press - can a man of your talents and imagination not fabricate something using a 20 t (or larger) bottle jack?
 
sorry to dig this old post up.

my prado hasnt given me a days trouble, all the systems mentioned below have worked flawlessly everytime.

I did the above job recently to my 2003 prado 120 kzj manual, the job itself went smoothly and all genuine toyota parts used (bearings, seals). After assembly and first drive on a straight tar road the tcs light started flashing and the abs kicks in so the car cant really get out of 2nd gear although if I push the clutch in it rolls freely without any interference from the tcs.

what I have tried so far

1. removed front abs sensors and checked them (looks fine)
2. removed front abs cables to check for breaks and tested continuity (working)
3. unplugged one of the front abs sensors and switched the ignition on, which causes the abs/vcs/handbrake dash lights to come on, if I drive the car now its fine just no abs and the dash lights but it drives perfectly.
4. took it to toyota who after having the car for a couple of hours told me its the center diff actuator (rubbish), after hearing that just went to fetch the car again, then yesterday I activated the center diff just to test which locked the center diff BUT when I disenaged it the center diff light is now flashing!
5. reset the dtcs by bridging 13,4 connectors on the obd plug, ignition on, and pressing the brake pedal 8 times (worked and abs/tcs/handbrake lights off but back to tcs issue).
6. tried to do the zero point calibration which says it worked but made no difference to the tcs kicking in.
7. redid the hub/bearing assembly from scratch, the only thing I didnt do was seperate the bearing assembly from the hub itself (still the same).

To me, I think one of the abs sensors is damaged somehow and its incorrectly reading and thus the tcs is kicking in but I am not 100% sure, any help at this point would be great. feel like a bit of an idiot.......
 
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