I put in a new Timken rear wheel bearing and hub assembly in my 2010 Prius tonight . I used some bolts and washers to pop the old bearing out. On a scale of 1 to 10 this is an 8 since the old hub sort of rust welds itself to the rear axle. Here is some pictures
That's job is no fun on a Prius. I'm going to buy an air hammer when I need to do the rears. The fronts put up a large fight and I'm done playing around.
Looking at the pics: you hold the bolt head, while wrenching the intermediate nut towards the bolt head? Build up compression in all bolts thus, then maybe tap the edge of bearing with a hammer to (hopefully) break the bond between wheel bearing and solid rear axle mount? Then repeat, till it finally breaks free? The bearing held together, came out in one piece? I believe it’s a really good idea to disconnect speed sensor first? Our 2010 touring (CDN) is very similar model, same colour too.
Yes. Speed sensor was already disconnected. The sensor is attached with two tiny wires and it would have been torn out if not removed. I was also periodically hitting with 4lb sledgehammer too.
Luckily it came out in one piece. I also sprayed seafoam deep creep on it too to help dissolve the rust and break it free.
Are the fronts tougher than the rears? I heard you need to buy a special 32 point large socket to remove the compression nut.
I haven't done the rears yet, but they look to have the same issue with corrosion in the knuckle. The saving grace is if you get really stuck you can take the whole knuckle off and the bearing pressed out. I used a standard 32mm socket, it was either 6 point or 12 point. I didn't buy anything special.
After test driving it I noticed that the front passenger bearing seems to have a bit of a drone while driving. I may just pay to have a garage do it. I hate putting in a ton of money into fixing something that I can fix myself. I decided to spend $207.99 with tax for the Timken bearing since most garages used the cheap Duralast brand which is only half the price of the Timken brand. This is why I refuse to use Duralast. Last year in January a 2 month old Duralast bearing hub assembly broke free and locked up my rear wheel. Thankfully I was driving inside a city at only 30 mph. If I would have been on the highway at 60+mph it could have lead to an accident
If you want a garage to do it you can always spec what bearing you want. They'll just upcharge you accordingly. Or find one that will let you bring in the part. The other option is to just take the whole knuckle off and bring it to shop to have the old bearing pressed out.
The garage replaced it under warranty with another Duralast and 3 months later the ABS light was on. The internal speed sensor failed. They finally fixed by putting in a Moog hub assembly and it been working good ever since.
Autozone rents all the tools you need. I did both rear hubs on my prius Then did a driverside on a 2007 Saturn Vue Rented the tools from them and saved lots of money. Didnt buy no tools or pay anyone. Got both hubs for the prius at Amazon for $73.57 and the one for the saturn from ebay for $35 http://www.RedBullet.net http://www.ProjectLithium.com http://www.PlugOutPower.com http://www.Pulstar.com
