Time to do wheel bearings on this g35 I just got. My previous one, I paid someone to do them. This time i'd like to do it to save some money.

First question is, is it easier to buy a hub/bearing combo and just remove and replace?

Second question. Is it cheaper/worth it to just buy the bearings and teach myself to press them on?

Third question, if only the bearings are bought, are the specific sided? left and right side? Or 1 can go on either side?

Last question. Ive seen people say both you have to pull the axle and some dont. Whats the real story?

 

If the hub has an axle you probably want to pull the axle so you can access the mounting nuts easier. As far as whether to rent a bearing press and how hard it is, if you are familiar with the process it's easy. Another alternative is to buy the bearings, label where everything goes and just pay someone to press them out. I don't know the price difference between bearing only and ones preinstalled on hubs but it's likely quite a bit cheaper to do the pressing yourself.

You can buy a 12 ton shop press on Amazon for about $150 and it is a very valuable to look for all sorts of things. If the cost difference between bearing only and hub installed ones is that much and you have somewhere to store the press then you.might just buy one do you have it in the future.

Fastest option is obviously to buy hub+bearing installed so you just quickly swap.

 

 

 

There is no way you are finding rear hub and bearing combos for $110. You likely can't even buy the knuckle for a reasonable cost. They want too much for them.

 

 

It can be expensive to have. Shop do work too, so it's up to you. I just bought mine pressed when I was new.

 

Just make sure you line the shaft up by hand nice and straight so it doesn't tear the rubber shaft seal, it's not hard. Rear axles is a non issue because it has the bolted flange at the differential.

 

I ordered two front hub & bearing combo and two timken bearings for the rear as well as two new hubs for the rear. I'll have the rear bearings pressed on the new hubs before I even get started then R&R them all.

 

Started off with driver rear. Took me a long time to figure things out as I went. (I'm a visual learner) I see what you mean about how the axle connects to the differential. I was thinking that side was splined also.

Passenger rear went easy once I knew what I was doing. The only pain in the *** was my aftermarket exhaust and my 20x11 wheels lol.

I lined the axle to differential the best I could but I could only do two bolts at a time so I couldnt star pattern. Doing this all by myself I had to put it in gear, get under car, brake 2 bolts loose go back to take car out of gear spin the axle to put two more bolts on the bottom, put the car back in gear, go under remove those two. Rinse & repeat. Same thing on installation.

I ran out of time yesterday after getting a late start and doing both rears. It rained overnight but I'll see if the ground will hold for me to get the front done.

 

 

I can't recall exactly but when I replaced one rear - with a used low mileage hub/bearing assembly - I didn't have to remove the axle completely. With the axle nut removed and the suspension hanging there was enough space to sort of squash the axle towards the diff and get to the nuts. Saves the time of removing and redoing the 6 allen bolts on the axle/diff flange.

^^ The axle nut wasn't a problem. With the wheel on the ground and center cap removed just loosen it with a long breaker bar.

 

I used one of those goodyear electric impact wrenches from pepboys for 99.99 to remove mine. Took about 45seconds to remove it. When putting it back on, I used a breaker bar to snug it.

Now that ive done them and know what to do I could probably do one in 30 minutes per side. as long as their are no hiccups like stuck bolts etc

 

I cheat, stick a screwdriver in the vanes of the rear brake rotor and turn it so it locks up tight against the brake caliper, then you can just turn the nut off, same trick works for taking those rear axle-to-differential bolts off...

 

For the axle nut I had to stand on a breaker bar to get enough torque to get it loose. They are assembled with mad torque, I believe it's something like 240 lb/ft.