Another thing you might want to think about is what if you had a bad hub and thats what made the bearing go bad. You might notice it when you pull/press them apart and need to buy a new hub anyways. If you reuse your hub and thats what made your bearing go bad, your going to do the same thing to your new bearing. Honestly, its not worth the headache and trouble to save a few bucks. I probably cut 3 hours off the install time, and thats if you have the tools handy, if you need to go somewhere to use the tools, your car might be down for a few days.

 

The AWD fronts you need to buy the hub and bearing separate, they don't sell them already pressed. The for RWD, you can buy them already pressed.

 

I see. Then for those that don't have a shop press, that HF wheel bearing adapter tool I mentioned should still be able to press the hub into the bearing. That appears to be the most challenging part of this job.

 

There is a runout spec...something like 0.005". I have the ability to check this.

More than likely i will buy a new hub, i just wanted to see what the hub i remove looks like first. After 2 bearings and a hub...what's another $140 for peace-of-mind

 

HF does sell a press for about $100 as well...

if you are looking for an excuse to buy tools

 

Nobody sells them as an assembly...at least yet. I would think seller could make some profit buying bearings and hubs and pressing them and selling them as assemblies. A lot of guys change out the hubs as well, but some just do the bearings.

Pressing the hub into the bearing is simple. it doesn't take much force. I used a 12-ton press and it went in with ease. I bet a good hydraulic jack could do it if you had a hard surface to jack it up against...but that's kinda hack.

I think the biggest issue would be removing the old hub from the bearings, which is why i chose to buy a new hub and pre-press. Even the FSM states removing the hub will destroy the bearing. There is no way to grab the inner race of the bearin with a bearing separator, so you end up pulling the hub out with the race attached and then have to dremel that apart. Plus you gotta do this while your car is apart and you may already be a few hours into the job.

That's why i bought a hub. It took all of 5 mins to press the hub in and most of that time was spent looking for proper sized pressing dies to push with. That way, like i said before, when i get the old bearing/hub out, i can just kick it aside and move onto reassembly. Not "f'in" around with the old hub is worth the extra $140-150 for me to just get through this job with the least amount of hassle. I almost considered buying a used spindle for $100 as well.

I'm only doing 1 side at a time (1 side still has some life left) so i'll pull the hub out of the old one at some point when i have time and inspect.

If i buy 2 new hubs, i wonder if i can Ebay my old hubs?

 

Ok, just to update. Halfway done with one side. Everyone who said I'd have to pull the spindle was 100% right. That bearing was not coming out at all!

It took me 4 hours to get the spindle off, and that included an hour of trying to use a slide hammer or other methods to get it off.

Plus side, taking the spindle off was easy as pie. I'm heading to work now to use the press and press the old bearing out right now. I'll wrap up tomorrow AM.

I've been taking pics during the entire process.

 

Ok, Hard part done!!!


New bearing and hub installed...just waiting for me to put spindle back on car in the AM!

DSC00069.jpg?t=1312072389

Overall, not too hard, but I needed to have a press. Without it, no way this bearing was coming out. It took a little bit of force on the press to pop the bearing out, but it came. The disassembly was not that bad actually. I wish i had spent the $100 for a Harbor Freight press to keep on-site because I had to travel 1 hr each way to use this press at my work. That's why i didn't finish the job tonight.

I'm gonna put together a DIY...but here's a few teaser pics of my job today

The pressing out of the old bearing
DSC00061.jpg?t=1312072289


As the car sit right now


Pushing out the CV shaft (which came out VERY easily)


Undoing upper Ball joint


Spindle Removed



Formal DIY to come later. I gotta take more pics tomorrow during the reassembly and then put it all together. I'll attach link here. I'm gonna skip the BS about trying to pull the bearing out with the slide hammer. I took pics, but it didn't work. My car is pretty rust-free, and all the suspension came apart easy...but not this bearing. I needed the press...period. So i'll do the write-up on the basis of removing the spindle and pressing it out. Seems to be the most common way necessary

EDIT: I didn't realize I until I got the spindle out, but they are forged aluminum, not cast. They are much stronger than cast, but you don't want to use heat on them. That's why I didn't attempt to heat up the bearing and pull them out. Forged AL and high heat are a no-no

 

Looks great so far!

 

Your pictures are really helpful. Thanks for posting. One question. When you put the new hub/bearing into the knuckle, did it easily slide right in, or did you have to press it in too? I would think it should just slide right in with little effort.

Thanks.

 

Success! Started at 10am To put the spindle back on and done by 11am!! Reassembly is very easy! I still gotta do the other side, but its nowhere near as bad as the pass side was. I have some time so I can wait for cooler weather to do it. But it's so nice to be able to go over 40mph now and not feel vibration and hear a loud whirring noise!

Mychee, the new bearing did not slide right in. I cleaned up the spindle well with a powertool and put some high temp antiseize on first. The bearing went in halfway before it stopped. I just put the four bolts on the back and tightened it up evenly in a x-pattern and it drew it in. Was easy as pie. Having the spindle off made things SO MUCH more easier that when I do the drivers side next, I'll plan on taking it off and not even bother trying to take the bearing off on the car. It's not gonna come. Removing the spindle was very easy. There are some tricks, which I'll point out in my DIY.

All in all, fairly easy job...just seems intimidating. I did this alone, with no air tools. Only tools i rented (that i used) was the FWD axle remover tool and a pitman arm puller. Look for DIY coming this week

 

Congrats on getting it done! Definitely looking forward to the DIY, since I'm also in the NE and my car has 68K miles on it - my bearings are quiet now, but sooner or later they will need to be replaced.

 

Ok....done


https://g35driver.com/forums/g35-sed...-bearings.html

 

Awesome writeup, very detailed!! Definitely looks like I'd be able to do that one at home - the only trick will be finding a press for a new hub/bearing assy. I'd probably change the compression rods at that time too since it'll all be apart - better start saving my $$ now.

 

Very nicely done! Just want to make one suggestion. I would think the part you pulled off should be called the knuckle. Never heard it called spindle before as usually spindle refers to the axle shaft. I could be wrong, but that was causing me a lot of misunderstanding at first. But anyway, great job and this write-up will definitely come in handy.