Front wheel bearing and hub replacement

Well yours truly decided to take on this daunting task as I was hearing the tell tell wa wa wa sound from the bearings. I did this on the first weekend of my mandatory vacation so I didn't have y'all for help. First off, y'all know how I do it and in typical bmf fashion it all went to shit. Couldn't get the tie rod off and ended up cutting it. Had hell getting the UBJ to pop out. That lady in the 1A video tapped it and it popped right off. Bull shit. I beat that thing like it owed me money and got nothing. Dented the crap outta my upper. Oh well. I figured out a way to do it with the ball joint tool.

Then after final getting the knuckle out and pressing the hub out the bearing decided to splode. That was cool. Then my buddy with a press didn't tell me he didn't have all the accessories with it and we couldn't get it to go in straight and it kept shifting with our rigged setup. I finally had to take them to a shop who promptly charged me $275 to press them in. Yay.

And to top it all off my replacement tie rod ends have that stupid ass nylon nut, not the castle nut. And I dont have a torque wrench that'll do 153 so I just kinda ugga duggad the hub nut back on. AND the wa wa wa sound is still there.

Being me is awesome.

 

You have my deepest, most sincere condolences. I, too, have been in the swamp. Not that wheel bearing swamp, but another one. (What the hell were we thinking?)

 

I hate how every other truck in the Toyota line is a bolt on affair.

 

I'm thinking you should of had more of that Rocky Mountain Spring Water !

T

 

Oh, and I forgot some details. I had to buy that 35mm socket, and the new kit DOES NOT come with new cotter pins. I need to get new ones and put the torque wrench on the front hubs.

I took it to get aligned and they said my rack was bad. I knew that already but they said they couldn't warranty it. So I guess when I do my rack I'll do all the other stuff too and get a warrantied alignment.

Also, to get the UBJ to pop out with a bearing tool you have to flip it over and put the deep cup AROUND the UBJ so it seats on the UCA. Take the other end and position one of the flat pieces on the UBJ and hold it till you get enough ugga duggas to pop it loose. I really should've taken pics of how I did that.

 

Welp, there's your silver lining! The fact that you had to BUY a special tool for that one use means you'll never have to use it again. But, it's like that hand-me-down baby crib, you'll want to hang on to that sob for dear life. Keep it and let it gather dust in your toolbox at all costs.

 

I'm beginning to think I'm the only one who didn't have problems with the UBJ. All I had to do was loosen the nut and hit the UCA with a hammer and it popped out with a couple hits.

It's also unfortunate that the wheel bearings (front or rear) on these trucks are are such a pain in the ass. Makes me miss the unit bearings on my Jeep.

 

You sir have the same luck as I do. Nothing I ever do goes to plan or like the YouTube videos.

 

This story reminds me of a guy we nicknamed ‘The Mangler’. Everything he touched he mangled.

 

Please tell me you didn't have the bearing pressed at the same shop that jacked up your rear bearings, did you???

 

Hell no! I wanted somebody new to screw me over. But this place does have a 20 ton press and can do the rear bearings...

 

I think my wheel bearings might be making noise. That's my hopes anyway because I don't think it's my tires and I don't wanna think about the other options right now.

 

Back in the first photo, the castle nut was stuck on the outer TRE?

 

Oh my, I didn't realize this job was so ugly.

 

Yes, I managed to wedge the nut on the stud. Stud just turned and turned.

 

Well I'm kinda going through the same thing with this '01 I bought. In preparation for the frame caps I'm installing, Im currently removing the front suspension and it's been fighting me every inch of the way. Ill be happy when this is done...

 

I have now done my left wheel bearing, and my right wheel bearing TWICE! I feel your pain. It is a major hassle, I couldn’t get the right bearing out the second time and took it to a local Toyota friendly shop and the guy was reluctant to press it out for me. He said they built a cage around their press for doing these wheel bearing jobs because it takes so much pressure!

good on you for getting it done.

 

I had this same issue happen to me. (front passenger wheel bearing change on a 2000 tundra)

where I changed the same bearing 2x times. (and had mechanics shops do only the bearing change for~250$) and the bearing failed almost instantly after the change.

 

What brand, out of curiosity. I'm not going to brand-shame or anything. OEM was Koyo, I believe. I still tend to go with Dana/Spicer products, will will accept SKF if no other option. There are a ton of shit bearings out there, the three I named should offer similar-to-OEM longevity.

 

I feel for you and dread the day I have to do this. I just did steering rack bushings. YouTube video showed it was about an hour job. About 6hrs in I was just laying under my truck, tools everywhere, bushing welded into the rack and I was debating every life decision I’ve ever made that led me to that moment haha when it was all done I realized the bushings probably weren’t my issue and my rack is most likely toast.

while cleaning up I saw a nice crack and tear in my LCA bushings. I gotta stop working on this thing. Like the old saying in my job goes “if it ain’t broke, fix it until it is!”

 

Looking back and knowing what I know now, it isn't that bad of a job. At the time, I was on a 30 day mando vacation, had nobody's numbers, and didn't know what I was doing. If I had to do it again, it wouldn't be as bad. That UBJ though, it pissed me off.