You sure they're $140? Cheapest I could find was $199 plus $17 shipping.

 

Honestly, i thought it would come off. I tried penetrating oil with a slide hammer and it wouldn't budge. You don't want to use heat because the knuckle is forged, and applying too much heat can weaken it.

When i pressed it out using a press, it took some force before it popped out. It was definitely in there.

Can you line up a local garage willing to pop the bearing out? Shouldn't be much. Remove the knuckle and then take it to the shop. Once it's out, (and if you have a bearing and hub pre-pressed together) you don't need a press anymore and the new bearing will install by torquing the bolts to draw it in.


If you need an excuse for tools, a press from harborfriend is cheap


Bearing prices have come down since i wrote this write-up. I think i paid $100 for the bearing and $160 for the hub and then pressed them myself. Bearings can be had sub $100 and are more plentiful, and if you search ebay, there are vendors selling pre-pressed bearing/hubs for under $200. I'm sure as our cars get older, prices may fall a bit more.

As far as i know, the only manufacturer is still NTN, so it doesn't matter where you source the bearing from, it's the same as OEM. If someone gets a non-NTN bearing (referring to what's stamped on the bearing face, and not distributor packaging) please let me know.


Both my front bearings started failing at 70K miles, and were very noisy by 85K when i finally did the repair. I now have 130K miles, so about 45K on the two "new" bearings. Really curious to see if they start making noise in another 25K miles. I hope not. But at least parts will be cheaper by then if they do.



EDIT 1-22-14: Other brand bearings have entered the market. Beck/Arnley (p/n 0514262) , Moog (p/n 513311 ) and Centric (p/n 40542019) now make bearings for the G35x. No idea if these are repackaged OEM like the Timkin, or their own manufacture. If you find out, please let me know so that I can edit accordingly)

 

UPDATE

Well, here I am at 135K miles...and the drivers side wheel bearing is humming again.

I replaced it at 85K miles (failed at 75K), so it made it only 50K miles before failing again. My first bearing made it to 75K before it started making noise. Right now it's only the driver's side that has failed. Passenger is ok.

The irony is both failures occured right after getting new tires. I bought new tires around 70K miles and the bearings went less than 5K later. Now i just bought tires at 130K and the bearings are out again? I wonder if tire balance has anything to do with it.

Just bought a new bearing (timkin). I did notice other brand bearings now exist, so your choices are:

Beck/Arnley (p/n 0514262)
Moog (p/n 513311 )
Centric (p/n 40542019)
Timken (p/nBM500013)
OEM NISSAN 40210-AL800


I went with a Timkin, and am reusing my old hub. At this point, i'm not convinced a new hub will matter much since this is wheel bearing #3 i'll be changing...all up front. So my cost with the bearing will be $100 or so. Just need to find a warm day to do the job.

Hopefully this is the last one I do. Fortunately, my car is very reliable....other than wheel bearings

 

I came across a CBK branded wheel bearing with the same P/N than moog (513311). Anyone have informations about them ? is it rebranded ?

 

thanks for the update

 

The OEM bearing is manufactured by NTN in Japan. It will have this name and "made in Japan" stamped on it.

If you don't see these markings, the bearing may be from a different manufacturer.

 

I just wanted to say thank you for this amazing and detailed DIY. I'm in the middle of replacing the right front bearing on my 2005 G35x, which started making noise around 115K miles. I just now managed to pop the old bearing (with hub) out of the spindle, so now I'm home free on this repair! It was rusted in there pretty tight, but I used a gear puller (in a very strange way) to do it. I got a new bearing and hub pre-pressed on ebay for $199 +$17 shipping.

Thanks again!

 

Great write up ...

Although I didn't read it before I did my wheel bearings, it's pretty close to what I did, except for pulling the entire assembly off the arms. I did not do that... I popped the bearing out on the car.

My OE bearings last 143 K miles, and I put Timken's in, from Rock Auto. I hope they give me just as many miles.

I thought, they were going bad again.... as the humming and vibration was back. turns out it was the R.F. CV short shaft, that had a hole in the boot. The joint had lost most all of it grease, and I didn't catch it immediately because we have been washing the car once a week to try and keep as much of the road salt off the car as possible. Needless to say... I had the Shaft packed and rebooted, (because good luck finding a reman. one) and all is good.

 

Any insight on how you got them off on the car?

I think that's the biggest turn-off to this entire project. I tried with slide-hammers and pullers and couldn't do it. Needed a press to pop mine out of the knuckle.


I did read of a member who got them off by removing the knuckle, and then threading the 4 bolts out of the bearing partially, and then hitting the bolts (with a peice of alumunum in between to prevent marring the bearing bolts up) from the backside in order to free up the bearing.

 

There is a tool made by otc called "hub grappler" this tool should take care of it.

 

Well, I did another one of the bearings yesterday. Got the bearing off with no press. Took me 2 hours start to finish and was actually a pretty easy job.

I did everything else by the DIY, except when it came time to remove the bearing from the kunckle, this is how I did it.

I took two blocks of wood and put the knucle on it with the hub bearing facing down. I backed the 4 bolts out about 1/4" away. I then took a rod of aluminum (to not damage the bolt heads) and a hammer and proceeded to hit the bolt heads around in a cross pattern. Amazingly, the bearing moved, and I was able to hit it out pretty easily this way. Took me all of 2 mins to hit it out and no damage to bolt heads.

The bearing was pretty junky. A bit of in and out movement and rumble. Another NTN branded bearing (this is the OEM brand), so i'm convinced they suck.

Given the different aftermarket options out there, i'd almost suggest doing one of those instead. I stuck another OEM bearing on, but really wish i knew if there were higher quality bearings. I replaced this one at 137K miles. The first one was changed around 70Kish?

I may have to do the other side, but I need to check first. This side was so bad I think i felt it through the front dif into the other bearing. On the highway at 80MPH...silence! So before I order a new bearing, i'll pull the wheel and rotor and double check.

But this job was SO much easier when I could reference my own DIY!

 

So i was able to figure out a method to remove my hubs to reuse them. I used a press, but a 3-jaw puller may work as well.


I simply used 2 large wrenches under the bolt holes on the bearing, and a 1.5" diameter peice of stock to push the hub out.

It didn't require too much force, so the wrenches weren't in danger of snapping. In fact, it pushed through pretty easily.



The front part of the bearing comes off with the hub, so this method does destroy the bearing. Of course, it's junk at this point.




Then you simply take a small dremel or cutoff wheel and cut through the remaining sleeve. Use some scotch bright to clean up the hub and you should be good to go.


I reused both hubs the SECOND time i replaced my front wheel bearings. I figure if they were only gonna last 70K miles each time, i might as well forgo the new hubs and just replace the bearings.

 

I can't imagine I should have to do these soon, but if I do I know how to save even more money!

 

Consider yourself lucky. I'm about to change out #4 in the next week or two.
It's not too bad...so i might let it go a bit longer.

Both front brearings have lasted me about 70K miles. No clue why. I've balanced my tires, compression rods have been replaced. No vibrations. I drive all highway...so i just go straight. No idea why they fail for me up front.

First time i replaced the hubs. This time, i could care less. If they fail a 3rd time it will be at 200K miles and i'll be ready to ditch the car

 

Keep in mind if you damage the hub where the bearing seats to the hub, you will have excessive runout at your hub. Best to use a bearing puller to remove any remaining parts that get stuck to the hub.