How I changed my 05's Front Wheel Bearing

[edwx]

I used SKF on both my fronts a year ago. Made in America with Timkin bearings. Not that expensive, and compared to what Ford wanted to charge me, it was a deal!

 

[delaware74b]

I replaced the driver's front wheel bearing hub today. The job went smooth until the actual removal of the hub. The axle nut was a 29mm, no where close to the 184 ft-lbs torque spec. It was only as tight as the wheel nuts, which I always hand-tighten with a torque wrench.

A little amount of heat, some WD40, and the deep offset Craftsman 15mm wrench for the hub mounting bolts. The one facing the steering tie rod end was the worst one. It fought every turn but it lost the battle.

Curse you Ford for using that f***ing black RTV!! No slide hammer would break that stuff on my wife's '04 with 119,000 miles. The corrosion between the hub and spindle was bad. I ended up using the 8-lb BFH to pound that hub out. Some 50-grit sandpaper, brake clean bath and wire brush cleaned up that mess. I used the silver anti-seize on the hub where the hub contacts the spindle.

I bought the Ford HUB67 kit from RockAuto for $170 shipped with a 5% discount. BTW, the Ford unit had Timken bearings in it. I still have the right side and both rears to do but the upper and lower ball joints are a higher priority. This thing is starting to scallop the inside edges of the tires.....

 

[edwx]

Congrats on your repair, you saved big $. Interesting that the Motorcraft part had Timkem bearings

 

[Explorer0204]

Congrats on your repair, you saved big $. Interesting that the Motorcraft part had Timkem bearings

Yup. I bought a Timken one from Amazon for 130 bucks. I was so excited thinking it must be better quality than the one that blew at 65k Miles... Well nope. They are Timken too. Oh well still the best brand so it is what it is.

 

[bongos44]

Great thread! So will anybody admit to using the $96 a pair hubs that are on eBay?

 

[Limited02]

Great thread! So will anybody admit to using the $96 a pair hubs that are on eBay?

I have used cheaper ones off of Amazon. You either pay a premium now and they last longer, or go cheaper and replace within the next two years.

 

[Explorer0204]

"Because they know all they soldyawasa guaranteed piece of ****. That's all it is, isn't it? Hey, if you want me to take a dump in a box and mark it guaranteed, I will. I got spare time. But for now, for your customer's sake, for your daughter's sake, ya might wanna think about buying a quality product from me."

Geeze man simmer down! All he asked was a simple question. By saying "will anybody admit" he is acknowledging the fact that they likely aren't as good quality. Not everyone has all the money in the world and Yea, last thing you want to do is skimp on a potential safety item but if it's that or feeding his kids well guess what he's probably gonna choose... We don't live in a perfect world. If we did we would all convert our third Gen suspensions to solid axles so we never had bearing issues again... But that isn't even remotely reasonable

 

[edwx]

Plenty of people have admitted it, and the results too.....that's why I went with the quality part.

 

[BigRondo]

I'm going to ask everyone to stay on track and calm down please. Thanks.

 

[jpoprock]

I saw someone on Youtube use socket extenders, attaching them to the bolts on the back side of the hub, then slowly turning the wheel which essentially acted as a hydrolic press... and it popped the hub off no problem.

My biggest fear about doing this myself is "what if I can't get it off". My truck is my only vehicle, and I don't have a garage full of tools. So, if I run into problems, I'm in big trouble cuz i'll have no transportation to go into town to get what I need.

A local mechanic told me he would install my front driver hub for me, if I brought him the hub, for $100. That sounds like a fair deal. But I hate paying someone to do something that I know I can do.

Also, this Anti-Seize stuff... is there any certain kind I should buy? Like PB Blaster or something?

My front driver bearing roars, and has for a year. But the hub doesn't seem "loose", which would be really bad. I need to make a 6hr round trip that's all freeway in a couple weeks... and on this bad bearing. There is no way I can get it fixed before the trip. So, I hope i'm not SOL.


Thanks!
Jason

 

[High_Order1]

Dude! A hundred bucks? This is like a 6-8 beer job. You can do it! You don't need a shop full of tools. Just let stuff soak.

Wow. This thread grew some legs, huh?

Shawn

 

[jpoprock]

I ordered and received the drivers side hub. I'm gonna do it maybe tomorrow. I need to anyway. I was hoping to do it at my girlfriend's dad's house cuz he has impact tools and everything else I could ever need. BUT... I don't have time fo dat. I think I can do it with a rented hub puller or slide hammer (can't remember which I need). And i also need to get some propane for my torch cuz I bet it's gonna need heated up.

Good news on the Rear hubs though... I found someone locally that can press bearings for $25 a tire, on a Saturday till 4pm! My rears are shot after two years... so that's next after I get the front dialed in.

Thanks!

j

 

[jpoprock]

Jeesh I just realized something... what if I have to get freaky with the factory bolts? I'm screwed cuz I'm positive mine didn't come with new bolts. At least there aren't any "loose" in the Timken box. They may be sorta screwed on to the assembly, but I bet there aren't any.

Is it possible to just order three bolts from Rock auto? Or is this a dealer part I'll get screwed into paying too much for?

J

 

[jpoprock]

Bump for bolts

 

[Bobmbx]

I ordered and received the drivers side hub. I'm gonna do it maybe tomorrow. I need to anyway. I was hoping to do it at my girlfriend's dad's house cuz he has impact tools and everything else I could ever need. BUT... I don't have time fo dat. I think I can do it with a rented hub puller or slide hammer (can't remember which I need). And i also need to get some propane for my torch cuz I bet it's gonna need heated up.

Good news on the Rear hubs though... I found someone locally that can press bearings for $25 a tire, on a Saturday till 4pm! My rears are shot after two years... so that's next after I get the front dialed in.

Thanks!

j

The bolts aren't the problem. Its getting the RTV or whatever it is the factory used to all but permanently bond the hub to the knuckle to let go.

I ended up driving a flat head screwdriver into the sealant all the around the hub to try to break some of the bond, and then ended up beating the hub off with a sledgehammer (striking it from behind, right at the lug bolts).

Took.For.Ever.

A lot of people have had trouble with the hub mounting bolts. Mine came right off.

 

[jpoprock]

I think if you torch it, the ITV will sorta dissolve and make it easier to get off. I guess the bolts are no different, just hard to get to.

 

[jpoprock]

So it's not like I won't be able to reuse them it seems. I was concerned I might have to cut them off, and would need to use new ones.

A local place told me if I provide the parts, they charge $75 a side for front, and $150 a side for the rear... And could have them all done in a day.

I'm still confident I could do the fronts if I had an impact wrench... Then again, for amount of time and effort, maybe it's worth having them do it?

I just hope that Timken hubs last longer then 2yrs. My rears are shot again already. I thought they were Timken, but I don't recall what I bought.

Thanks!

Jason

 

[thepotroast]

I just had to replace the front rotors/pads on my 03 Eddie 4x4. I couldn't get one of the lugs off on the left side, drove it down to the local tire shop. They couldn't get it off with the standard impact wrench they use for customer vehicles. So they broke out some big ass air impact wrench that looks like it takes off 18-wheeler wheels. They actually broken their Snap-On socket trying to get it off. The lug got stuck in the socket, and it cracked their impact socket. They had to apply over 400lbs of torque on that lug, which is absolutely insane. It was clearly seized. Once I got it home, had to heat up the damn siezed bolts for the caliper bracket to get those bolts off!

The moral of my story, I need to do hubs on this truck. They aren't bad, yet....but having been a contributing poster to this thread years ago with my last Ex and going through this already, I can tell you I won't even tackle this truck's hubs based on the fact that there seem to be seized bolts and lugs just getting to the damn left brakes, I just know those 3 hub bolts are going to be a PITA to remove too. When I did the last set, they were hard as **** to get off, but I got it done.

 

[jpoprock]

yeah, it sounds like there is too much potential for it being a nightmare. Maybe some guys get lucky and the hub comes off fairly easily, but many have troubles and end up totally exhausted. I don't have that kind of time because I'm a single father with stuff to do. I'm strong as an ox, but I don't want to mess with back breaking labor if I can avoid it.

"Ain't nobody got time fo dat!"

 

[thepotroast]

yeah, it sounds like there is too much potential for it being a nightmare. Maybe some guys get lucky and the hub comes off fairly easily, but many have troubles and end up totally exhausted. I don't have that kind of time because I'm a single father with stuff to do. I'm strong as an ox, but I don't want to mess with back breaking labor if I can avoid it.

"Ain't nobody got time fo dat!"

We have much in common. I don't mind doing brakes like I did last weekend, or other minor mechanical now on my truck, but my days of wrenching everything....even though I know how, and still have the tools, are starting to slim down a little since my income allows me to pay someone else to do it, and my time with my family and of course myself...start to become a little more precious

The hubs are a PITA, I won't lie. If they weren't, this thread wouldn't be so large! It's one of those things, where you've basically disassembled the entire front drive and you better hope not only that those 3 hub bolts come out, but also are in good enough shape to go back in. I hated reusing my hub bolts on my new hubs when I changed them over. If I could go back, I would have ordered some OEM hub bolts for it to go with the new hubs. The amount of force I had to exert to get those off, combined with soaking in lube, heat and a big ass hammer...it couldn't have been good for the integrity. Which is why Ford recommends in their TSB to replace the bolts when you remove them.