How I changed my 05's Front Wheel Bearing | Page 4 | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

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How I changed my 05's Front Wheel Bearing

Best of luck, and if you run into any snags just post on this thread :thumbsup:
Well my wife's '04 had a 29mm axle nut vs 30mm. I got everything off except for the top bolt holding the assembly on. I even put penetrating fluid on it. The top bolt I got about halfway and it wouldn't budge anymore. Maybe if I had something to push the hub assembly to the point of how far the bolts were unscrewed, I could hacksaw the offending bolt. My wrench was bending so much I thought it was going to break. Didn't have anything to heat it up. Then I couldn't tighten it back at all. So I decided to spend the money and take it down to the local shop ebacuse I didn't want my wife driving to work like that.
 



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Use a slide hammer part# 27033 and bearing puller part# 27037 from Autozone free rental, all you do is pay deposit then return it when done. Mount the puller to the wheel studs, mount the slide hammer to the puller and use the slide hammer to pull the hub/bearing assembly away from the knuckle. If you have the bolt out a few turns, that could give you enough room to cut the bolt between the knuckle and hub if you can get a clean line with a hacksaw.
I did my second hub yesterday and a bolt sheared before the wrench failed. A Craftsman and about 2' of cheater bar on it lasted longer than the high strength bolt, so don't be afraid to torque it, and no hacksaw needed if the bolt snaps.
 






I wasn't joking when I said those bolts were a real P.I.T.A.

The slide hammer is a great suggestion, just make sure that you aren't pulling on the CV axle so as not to damage it. You're basically pulling the hub from the knuckle, in order to get more room on the heads of those 3 stubborn ass bolts.

Glad it worked out for you!
 






Yes, very good point, should have mentioned that.
I first used the puller screw to "push" the axle spindle back to loosen it and break the axle free from the hub. Not all the way, just enough to unstick 120k miles of corrosion, once you can push on the spindle by hand and see it move you have it. Then I removed the screw from the puller and swapped the hammer on and used the hammer to break the hub free from the knuckle. Only took a few firm taps, they use a caulk to seal the joint between the hub and knuckle and the slide hammer worked great. I still had 1/2 of the one sheared bolt left and the slide hammer pulled the hub straight back without damaging the knuckle.
Good point though, you don't want to put any unanticipated loads on the axle, or move it beyond design limit for u-joints and whatever holds the axle assembly to the differential. I'm sure it's designed for some movement, but by loosening the axle first you can control that movement.
 






I used a 4x4 block of wood and a 5lb hammer to push the axle out. Then a 3 ft J bar to get the hub off.
 






I used a 4x4 block of wood and a 5lb hammer to push the axle out. Then a 3 ft J bar to get the hub off.

The problem with using the hammer on the axle is that you can damage the CV assembly if you hit to too hard, and you can literally mushroom the end of the CV where the nut goes back on, the proper way is to use a puller to loosen it from the hub. At least you used a wooden block though...but a rubber mallet would have been the better call if you didn't want to use a puller.
 






I can't see how a wooden block could mushroom the end of the CV.
 












Just wanted to say great right up. I did both sides of my wifes 04 in about 8 hours. Began around 1 pm Saturday had the passenger side done around 5 pm. Began on the drives side had it apart around 7 :30 quit for the night back at it around 10 am Sunday had everything done and cleaned up by noon.

As I was finishing up taking the drives side apart I had one bolt that would not move anymore once I got it were only 2 or 3 threads were hooding it in. I took the gear puller and pushed the axle in some and then put my boxed end back on the bolt with my cheater pipe and it came out the rest of the way.

Thanks for the good right up.


Now to look into replacing the upper ball joints
 






Just wanted to say great right up. I did both sides of my wifes 04 in about 8 hours. Began around 1 pm Saturday had the passenger side done around 5 pm. Began on the drives side had it apart around 7 :30 quit for the night back at it around 10 am Sunday had everything done and cleaned up by noon.

As I was finishing up taking the drives side apart I had one bolt that would not move anymore once I got it were only 2 or 3 threads were hooding it in. I took the gear puller and pushed the axle in some and then put my boxed end back on the bolt with my cheater pipe and it came out the rest of the way.

Thanks for the good right up.


Now to look into replacing the upper ball joints

I have a "how to" in my signature on replacing the upper ball joints and not replacing the control arms as the dealer and shop manual will tell you has to be done!

Good job on doing your front hubs, took me about the same amount of time as well.
 






Slined shaft

Replacing a front wheel bearing on a 2005 Ford Explorer




Needs:

• Replacement wheel bearing assembly (see discussion)
• medium flat blade screwdriver
• ¾" socket
• 30mm socket
• 18mm socket (see discussion)
• 15mm socket
• Breaker bar
Torque Wrench
• Appropriate ratchet for sockets
• Coathanger
• Softface mallet
• Penetrating spray (I use Liquid Wrench)
• Antiseize compound

Optional but recommended:

• 2005-2006 Ford Service DVD
• Work light
• ¼” Air impact ratchet
• Doodad that can press the halfshaft out
• Another working vehicle
• A safe way to work from under the vehicle (see discussion)
• Large loading dose of valium
• Someone else to take over



Initially:

I consider myself to be an intermediately advanced mechanic. I have removed and installed motors and transmissions, I just don’t enjoy it now like I used to when I was younger. I consider this to be a basic-level repair.

This really isn’t a how-to so much as it is a how-don’t. Had I known then what I know now, I wouldn’t have attempted this without more tools. Having read another how-to on an older model, I truly thought it would be a straightforward procedure, but I was mistaken. Firstly, the bolts that hold the bearing assembly on are very, very hard to remove. Most bolts are rough for the first 3-4 turns, then you can turn them by hand. On mine, it was necessary to crank each one out all the way. Secondly, these bolts are located directly behind the bearing. This means you have to hunch over the top of the hub and strain your back. Had I known this, I would maybe have tried to figure out a way to do this from under the car and facing the back side, a more direct shot. You can’t really just turn the wheel back and forth for the third reason – there is very, very little clearance between the bolt heads and the cv drive shaft. You need to use a thin walled socket. I wound up going through 3 before I found one that would clear.

Then, the head of all of my ratchets wouldn’t fit directly onto the socket. A 4” extension is too long. Using that flexible thingy is about out, too. You have to apply a great deal of force, and when I tried it, I wound up accidentally flipping it and banging myself into things much harder than my knuckles. Another trip out found a 2” extension that worked. If you had that and an air ratchet, I believe I could have knocked 30 minutes off the procedure, and saved most of my knuckle skin.

The final issue was the halfshaft. The splines refused to pull out of the bearing. 15 minutes of malletwork produced zero results. I finally got a sledge and tapped it out. I was careful to not bend the joint too much, but I don’t think I would recommend that method to anyone else (Ford says don’t tap on it at all). I later saw a picture of something with fingers that attach to the bearing flange, and has a center screw that you tighten and apply force to the halfshaft, that would have knocked (pardon the pun) twenty minutes off the procedure and ran a much lesser risk of mushrooming the end of the halfshaft or damaging any of the cv joints or whatever the halfshaft snuggles into on the other end. Having said all that, lets’ begin:

First –

Prepare your work area. I find myself running back and forth way too much, and then have to go into town at least twice (hence the call for a working vehicle in the tool list). Gather what you’ll need and put it where you don’t have to get up or hunt for it, but don’t crowd yourself. If you do, you could slip or trip, or if something goes south, your escape path might be blocked. I also recommend a work lamp. Even outside, it can be dark inside the wheelwell. It doesn’t have to be a million candlepower, but I do recommend it can survive a drop to the floor.

I also recommend washing the vehicle before you start. Disk brake and off-road vehicles get nasty down there. That crap gets on everything and makes it hard to hold onto stuff. Plus, some of that dust might not be healthy for you. A little cleaning now can save you a lot of grief later.

Start by popping the hood. No, we’re not going to extract the bearing from the backside, but the wheel speed sensor plugs into its’ socket inside the engine compartment where you can’t reach it from the wheelwell, forcing you later to either cut its’ cable off or climb up onto the truck and hope it doesn’t fall off the jackstands.

Here is Fords’ neat drawing of it, snug in its’ home aft of and below the battery, near the frame rail (I don’t know where it was on the passenger side):

clip_image001.gif


Here is a photo of where I found it. I added the arrow and inset:

plug.jpg


Notice there is a tab at the top, you have to depress it to separate the halves. Don’t ‘help’ it with a screwdriver.

Remove the lug nut cover with a medium to large flat bladed screwdriver, and break loose the lug nuts. Break loose the center axle retainer nut with the 30mm socket.

THEN –

Jack up the vehicle. Blah blah in neutral, wheels chocked, be safe, etc. etc. You know the drill. Finish removing the center nut, or at least get it to the point where you can spin it off. Or else, when you get the tire off, its’ going to be an uphill battle holding that bearing flange still while you try to crank that nut the rest of the way off. Do not accidentally hit your friend who is trying to hold the flange in the face as I did (sorry Robbie). After removing the lug nuts and the tire, put the tire under the frame. Read ahead to find all the bolts involved, and douse them liberally with the penetrating spray.

NOW –

You should be here:

wheel1.jpg


There are two crinkly washers applied to the lug studs on this vehicle, apparently to help hold the disk onto the wheel assembly. I am certain there probably is something I should know about them, but they were such a pain in the ass I wound up getting cutters and just cutting them off. The Ford DVD never said anything about them, and there weren’t any replacements in the Ford kit I bought.

NEXT –

Prepare your coathanger. Untwist it and stretch it out. Find something solid as far back on the right side of the wheelwell as you can get. I picked something more in the middle, and it wound up constantly dangling in my way.

Unclip the many fasteners that hold the sensor cable to the brake line. Remember how they go. (BIG hint, remember how that sensor wire snakes around the caliper. You will see that again later.)

Take the 18mm, get behind the caliper and remove the two bolts.

caliper.jpg


This is a photo hunched over the wheel assembly looking straight down. Your target is the bolt marked with the white arrow (there are two, one above, and one [not pictured] below). Don’t mistake it for the one the red arrow points to. That’s a slider to compensate for pad width.

After removing both of the caliper bolts, take your mallet, and carefully tap the top of the caliper towards the right until you can see the top bolthole. Thread the coathanger you tied off earlier through this, and pull the slack out as you continue to tap the caliper loose. Tie it off and let the coathanger support the weight of the caliper, NOT the hose. Do not bend the brake line any more than you need to. You may need to separate the wheel sensor line from the caliper a little at this point. They just unsnap from each other.

Now, take the disk off. Look at it. If it is deeply scored or discolored on either side, you might consider getting it turned down or replacing it. Same for the brake pads. If they are thin, your next job might be a pad replacement.

FINALLY –

Comes the bad part. Using all your mojo, figure out a way to remove the three bolts holding the !@#$%%^ bearing assembly on.

nuts.jpg


In the above photo, two of the three are marked by white arrows. I apologize for the ****ed perspective, but its’ pretty cramped in there. We are looking down and back from the front bumper. The red arrow points to the tie rod end, and the green arrow points towards the floor. This also shows my earlier attempt to use a knuckle adaptor and breaker bar to remove those bolts, which didn’t work very well at all. With this setup, you could only turn maybe a quarter turn at a time. That bolt is at least two and a half inches long – you do the math!

It was bad enough that I gave up. Here is a picture of a buddy that came to rescue me:

robbie.jpg


See how hunched over he is? That’s why I say that figuring out a way to do it from the other side would be the way to go next time, and using an air wrench. Yes, that is a lot of light, but note to the left my initial lamp that I dropped and broke.

ONCE –

You get the bolts loose, you should be ready to remove the bearing assembly. Ford specs out a special tool in their DVD (Remover, front wheel hub, 205-D070 (D93P-1175-B)), and maybe you could rent something similar from one of the big box parts stores. I am definitely going to look next time. Once you get the assembly off, clean the mating surfaces using some degreaser and a razor knife, and apply some anti-seize. Because it was difficult to push the new bearing on, we decided to put some on the splines, too. I don’t know if that’s ok, but it is what we did and it worked for us.

The kit I bought came from Ford, and it was only around ten or so more dollars than from one of the big boxes. My kit came with all new bolts, and a preinstalled speed sensor. It even had a replacement holder for the sensor wire mounting location above the shock absorber.

The box said it was p/n 4L2Z 1104 AA and if I recall correctly, it was around $170. Assembly pretty much really is the reverse of disassembly. Torque the bearing bolts equally. Run the center nut back on there as best you can. Ford specifies a new nut, but the kit didn’t have one. So, I used the old one. Hope my wheel doesn’t fall off. Install the rotor, having cleaned your greasy pawprints off of it so you don’t contaminate the disc pad linings. Correctly routing the sensor wire, reinstall the caliper.

Clip the sensor wire back up the brake line, then put the tire on and hand-tighten the nuts. Lower the car, torque the nuts (DON’T forget the center nut!!) and reinstall the cover. Finally, reinstall the sensor connector halves.

That should be it! Oh - the torque specs are: center nut (184 lb-ft), the caliper bolts (24 lb-ft), and lug nuts (100 lb-ft) according to Ford. I couldn’t find the specs for the bearing bolts.


-Shawn
 






Slined Shaft

Followed most of your advise and found it useful. To get the shaft out, I loosened the three bolts that hold the assembly in place. I then got it seperated enough to fit a wrench end in between the the hub and the spindle, snug down the three bolts with a wrench in between (finger tight) leaving a gap of about one half of an inch. Put nut hub on enough to cover threads and tap center of shaft, once it moved a little I removed the hub nut and three bolts and the whole thing slid right off. FYI, on a 2006 Explorer the hub nut is 32mm not 30mm, go figure. Oh yeah, I chose the hunched over method and now have a sore back.

"Don't do anything today you can put off until tomorrow, you might think of a better way to do it." Grandpa's advice.
 






Newbie here,

Fantastic website with a weath of info. I'm in the process of doing the driver side front bearing hub. Nice to know that I'm not the only one to encounter the fun with the 3 ugly bolts. As noted by someone many posts ago, the 15mm offset box wrench is the ticket. Too bad I lost the first one I bought when I did the passenger side about 6 months ago. Great pics, great info, great attitudes from all.

Thanks
 






Newbie here,

Fantastic website with a weath of info. I'm in the process of doing the driver side front bearing hub. Nice to know that I'm not the only one to encounter the fun with the 3 ugly bolts. As noted by someone many posts ago, the 15mm offset box wrench is the ticket. Too bad I lost the first one I bought when I did the passenger side about 6 months ago. Great pics, great info, great attitudes from all.

Thanks

May have been me that you are referring to, and it's essential that the person wishing to do this ever-so-fun repair, use a "deep offset" 15mm wrench, not just a normal offset, and one that has a thin sidewall (as clearance in that space is an issue). I used a Craftsman, just because of the whole warranty thing, like anything with a thin wall that you need to apparently apply more than 200+ft pounds of torque on to kick those loose. The craftsman one I used in the pictures and reference I posted on this thread, was just thin enough to get in there and do the job, and strong enough to stand the 200-250ft pounds of pressure I had to put on those PITA bolts to break them loose...and even once they're broken loose...they don't really loosen at all until the last thread is out of there.
 






Mission Accomplished

Hey Potroast,

I was able to borrow a snap-on 15mm offset from my NAPA guy. He used to be a Ford mechanic, so there was a bonus there. I rewarded him with a six pack of Bud Light.

I don't know why the heck those bolts are so tough to remove. Like you said, right through the last few turns, they are stubborn. It seems like they used some "yellow" lock tite on them. Still, I've never seen anything so tough to back out, even when using a MAPP torch.

What a great feeling to drive down the road now with no wobble in the steering wheel, or that moaning sound when you turn the wheel just a bit. Sure wish they had made them serviceable with grease fittings, but then what better way to keep the parts stores in business! Guess every 75K, I'll have these to do.

Thanks for the response. Time to kick back and get ready for opening NASCAR season. Go Mark Martin (gotta root for the old man). Since he ditched the Viagra sponsor, he's done the best he has in years. GO FIGURE.

GMBEN.
 






When I installed my new OEM Motorcraft hubs on both sides, the hub kits came with new bolts, with that yellow threadlock already on them, the same yellow stuff that was on the PITA bolts....they went in as smooth as butter, but I would imagine that if I ever need to replace the fronts again, that damn yellow threadlocker is going to be the culprit again!

Also, just to refresh the topic I posted some months back...my "connection" to get the BRAND NEW Ford OEM front hub assemblies for 4x4's for about $120+shipping is still good. Just PM me if you're interested and I can pass on his contact info. He bought up a bunch of the Ford service department stock when their various dealerships closed around the country, and literally has millions in Ford parts in a warehouse...all new stuff. He's a powerseller on eBay, and I have referred quite a few members here to him and there have been no issues.

I get no kickbacks or anything from any purchases made, but just want to pass on the savings to members here. As it is, they are about $250 each new from Ford, and about $180 each for a aftermarket assembly from any auto parts store (including online)....so $120/ea for a new OEM part is a pretty good deal...
 






Hey potroast,

$120!! Did that come with the abs sensor? I paid $203.00 from my NAPA guy which was a "mechanic's discount". They originally priced over the counter at about $20.00 more. These came with the sensor and all the nice rubber insulators and wire looms. I know I can get them somewhat less, but as I mentioned, he has helped me with free loan of tools. Plus, he buys shirts and hats from me about once a year.

Still, there are some parts that he can't get. If the need arrises, and your supplier can help, I'm all for saving money.

Have you ever changed the front struts on your vehicle? I am at around 90K, and I have been considering tackling the struts myself. I had a real scary experince doing struts on a Chryler Concorde. The one compressor tool slipped around and I thought for sure it was going to fly off; taking my head with it. The Ford looks relatively straigh-forward, but any cautionary tips would be appreciated.

GMBEN
 






Hey potroast,

$120!! Did that come with the abs sensor? I paid $203.00 from my NAPA guy which was a "mechanic's discount". They originally priced over the counter at about $20.00 more. These came with the sensor and all the nice rubber insulators and wire looms. I know I can get them somewhat less, but as I mentioned, he has helped me with free loan of tools. Plus, he buys shirts and hats from me about once a year.

Still, there are some parts that he can't get. If the need arrises, and your supplier can help, I'm all for saving money.

Have you ever changed the front struts on your vehicle? I am at around 90K, and I have been considering tackling the struts myself. I had a real scary experince doing struts on a Chryler Concorde. The one compressor tool slipped around and I thought for sure it was going to fly off; taking my head with it. The Ford looks relatively straigh-forward, but any cautionary tips would be appreciated.

GMBEN

Yep...ABS sensor is already attached to the hub assembly, again it's all new stock stuff. PM me and I will give you his contact details.

I would suggest creating a new post for the strut removal (if you haven't already), just to keep things on topic with High_Order1's post here :thumbsup:
 






Great price. I'll shoot a PM sometime soon.

Thanks for the tip on new thread. I'm new to this, and wanna follow the rules.

Later,

GMBEN
 



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part pricing

try hubbearing.com their parts numbers are the same as advanced and way cheaper. free shipping on $50 or more
 






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