DIY Rear Wheel Bearing Replacement Walk-through w/.pdf

I did both rear wheel bearings on my 2005 Legacy GT Wagon this past weekend. As promised, here is my walk-through of the process.

I took over 40 medium-res pictures to accompany this walk-through, but for some reason, some of them are MIA on my camera card, so apologies in advance that the pictures I typically include are not all there.

Also, since we have a size restriction on .pdf files, I loaded the whole walkthrough and .pdf here. .pdf starts in Post # 6 I believe.

LMK if you have any questions.

Nice, thanx, I know I eventually have to do this.

Great write up there, SBT

You can use a slide hammer to remove the old hub too.

I used one from Harbor Fright, it worked but I broke one of the pieces, so I took it back and got my money back.

I recently purchased the KD slide hammer from tooltopia.com for less money shipped.

I'll replace the right rear soon. Then I will have all new wheel bearings on the 05.

Max, thanks for the suggestion on the slide hammer. Any possibility of damage to the CV joint or to the diff-side connection beyond that? With the puller, it was a nice, easy transition off the shaft. There was the potention for ~1-1.5" of movement on the shaft (back and forth) while taking the hub off, which is why I opted for the puller. Also thanks for the link to the tool place... good stuff.

Slide hammer works fine without damage to the CV joint or to the diff-side. I replaced 4 front wheel bearings & 2 rear wheel bearings over the 197+ miles on my GT. The only thing I would add, is do not use slide hammer to remove wheel bearings if not replacing the wheel bearings. I have pulled the hub right out of the bearing assembly twice out of the 6 wheel bearings I have replaced.

Pics. of my slide hammer I put together. I used a old hub & adapted to my slide hammer.





Mike

Updated OP with link to full walk-through with pictures and full .pdf.

Got it done this weekend. Thanks for the write up.

Like Mike said, becareful with the slide hammer, I also began to pull the bearing out of the hub. I stopped and let the PB Blaster do its work, after about 15 minutes I was able to tap the backing plate with the hub out of the spindle.

I did my right rear, the last of the 4, saturday. My wagon has all new hubs now.

Just read you link, I have not removed any of the ABS sensors when doing this job.

I would also suggest you get a 3ft pipe for the breaker bar.


Also a 1 1/4" socket is the same as a 32mm.

Why did you say to pull the battery cable ? That sounds like something out of the shop manual. They seem to pull the negitive cable for everything.

Not sure how removing the HBA without removing the ABS sensor is possible. It sets into the groove. Mine wouldn't come out without pulling the sensors one each side, actually hung-up on the first side, and I realized I'd missed that. One of the steps in the FSM.

My wagon is a early 05, made in jun 04...

I did wipe the ring ont he axle CV before I installed the new hub, but mine don't come that close to the sensors.

I put a thread up back in April I think it was with a few photo's. I'll try and find the pictures, but the house is a mess with having oak floors installed this week so I don't have a home PC right now.

I also laid the parking brake/backing plate on 4x4's with 2x4's and drove the hub out of it.

Also if you put some anti-seize compound on the two 8mm bolts before you thread them into the brake rotor.

I also recommend anti-seize on all the bolts and lug nuts.

I pulled the abs sensor just in case something were to happen.

Hardest part was to line the new hub onto the spline of the axle.

I find the hardest part is getting the 4 bolts back into the new hub, just trying to line up the threads. But I'm 57 y/o and don't see so well in low light conditions.

Max - Think I detailed this in the walk-through .pdf, but I pushed the bolts through the rear trailing arm and the backing plate so they were just jutting through, then held the HBA in place with one hand, while I reached around with the other hand and hand-tightened the bolts into the new HBA. Once they're started, you can just run them in the rest of the way with your ratchet and then torque to spec. Was actually the easiest part for me. And same age, same issues...

Yea, I have to admit I didn't take a lot of time trying to line up the backing plate, Hub and the spindle before I started sticking stuff back together.

Awesome walk through, gunna have pick up a hub puller from my buddy tonight