The dreaded front wheel bearing howl

2005 gen 2 with 190,600 miles and the Front Wheel bearings started to howl. Not really too bad considering all 4 wheel bearings are original to the car. After looking at other owners posts about the Bearing swap I decided to post about my experience and maybe save some one some headaches.

 

Pics of the front suspension assembly before anything is removed. 190k miles has taken a toll. Just left click on each image to see a full size pic.

 

First step was to remove the entire spindle from the vehicle. It seemed much easier to work on the removal of the Wheel bearing/hub with the Spindle off the car. I wasn't interested in going the slap hammer method. Also after seeing the condition of the original struts/shocks I knew they needed to be replaced as well. Also the front wheel Rotors were looking tired as well as the pads. Both were replaced at 124K miles but were definitely nearing the end of their life expectancy. They weren't making noise yet but not much of the old Brake Pads remained. I was going to have it all apart anyway.

 

I decided to go with the grade 8 bolt removal trick to see if it would work to pull the entire Hub and Bearing out of the Spindle. The idea is to remove a few lug bolts from the hub assembly. I removed them all. Then place a 7/16" Grade 8 bolt thru the hole where the lug used to be and install an oversized nut, I used 5/8" with a washer and Grade 8 7/16" nut between the hub and the bearing with the bolt face against the spindle. By alternating the tightening sequence , like you would with wheel lug nuts, it's supposed to slowly bull the bearing/hub assembly out from the spindle.

 

Unfortunately I wound up with this 2 piece situation with the hub coming off but the bearing staying in the spindle. 190K miles and 17years of salt and corrosion fused the two dissimilar metals together pretty well. What the heck....I gave it a try !!!

 

Once the hub was separated from the bearing, I placed the spindle with the bearing still stuck inside on to a couple of pieces of wooden 4"x4" blocks with the Spindle facing down and the 4 bolts that hold the Bearing/Hub assemble to the spindle facing up. After gently and slowly prying out the dust cup the 4 bolts were exposed enough to get a socket on them. I first sprayed a liberal amount of PB Blaster around the space between the spindle and the bearing. I then loosened each of the 4 bolts about 1/2 way. Using a 1/2" 14mm impact socket and a 3" long extension I began hitting each bolt with a 8lb dead blow hammer working from corner to corner. Each time the bearing moved out a little bit I sprayed more PB Blaster solvent. It only took about 10 minutes for each of the two bearings to come loose from the spindle. The drivers side took a few wacks more to break free

 

I used wooden 4"x4" blocks to rest the aluminum spindle on while beating the snot out of it to remove the bearings but I saw a gentleman who constructed a box using 2"x^' boards that was just the right size so the spindle fit tightly inside. That would keep the spindle from moving around with each hammer blow and make it easier to consistently hit the spindle without harming the spindle. If I had seen this before doing my project I would have tried his method for sure.

 

It actually took longer to remove all the oxidation on the aluminum spindle with a drill and wire wheel then to remove the bearing from the spindle. It was pretty caked on.

 

I was trying hard not to mash up the mating surface of the spindle by using the air chisel.

 

In this pic you can see the 4 bolts holding the wheel bearing to the spindle. After carefully and gently prying out the CV boot dust cap in the center with a screwdriver you are able to get a socket on the bolts to hammer them out. Remember to re-install the CV boot dust cap during assembly. Carefully line up the hole in the dust cap with the hole in the spindle that accepts the speed sensor. I reinstalled my by placing a small 10" long piece of wood 2"x4" flat on the top of the dust cap and very gently tapping down with a small hammer. I made some witness marks with a sharpie on both the spindle and the dust cap to help with lining up the holes.

 

I almost forgot to mention the most important part of this whole project......Always disconnect the 12 volt battery before removing any parts, especially the brake calipers. Don't bring your key fab any where near the car and don't step on the brake pedal. Also be sure to use jack stands as well as your floor jack to support the vehicle while working under or around the car. Safety First.

 

I have an small 8 ton shop press that I could have used to push out the bearing if it refused to come out with the brute force, large hammer method. Luckily it came out relatively easily and the shop press wasn't needed. If you live near a PEP Boys Auto Parts store they will also use their shop press to remove the bearings from the spindle , for a small fee of course (about $30-$40 per bearing) if you bring the entire assembly to them. Also most machine shops will have a shop press that you may be able to have them remove the bearings for you. I was looking to save that $60-$80 by removing the bearings myself. I was lucky and both sides came out relatively easy but just be prepared in case you bearings are more stubborn than mine were.

 

The bearings I chose to use are from Detroit Axle. The model number is K 513265. I paid just under $100 for both sides with free shipping. They looked to be of very high quality and fit perfectly into my spindles. Both the Spindle to hub bolts as well as the wheel lugs lined up perfectly. Time will tell if they will last as long as the factory bearings but so far I'm very happy with the decision to go with the Detroit axle bearings. *****SPOILER ALERT***** these bearings are indeed made in China but supposedly under strict guidelines from Detroit Axle specs.

 

Left and Right Detriot Axle wheel bearing/Hub installed back into the cleaned up factory spindles. I needed to replace both brake dust plates because my original Toyota plates had basically disintegrated from 17 years of rust. The factory aluminum spindles cleaned up really well with just a drill and wire wheel and some elbow grease.

 

Another pic of the new bearings and brake dust shields installed on the two factory spindles. FYI, I put a generous amount of Permatex silver anti-seize on the inside of the spindles before re-installing the new wheel bearings just in case I or some other poor fool has to remove these bearings again in the future. I'm hoping the anti-seize will slow down the Oxidation caused by the aluminum spindles being in contact with the steel bearings. Especially since here in New York we are in the middle of the snow/salt belt.

 

So when I pulled the front wheels off the car to start this wheel bearing/hub replacement I immediately noticed the condition of the front wheel Brake Rotors and pads. Needless to say after 60k plus miles they were looking a little tired. ( See pics in post #3) I could have probably gotten another 10K miles out of the pads but the rotors , calipers and caliper brackets were pretty heavily covered in rust. I was going to have the whole mess apart anyway and there's no time like the present so I decided to do the Brake rotors and pads at this time. Also I noticed that the Caliper guide pins were a bit crusty and sticking a little . So here are the goodies ready to go on the car. I was so impressed with the Detroit Axle Wheel bearings that I decided to give their Rotors and pads a try too. The Brake dust covers are from Toyota and I paid just under $50 for the pair. ****** CAUTION ***** The brake dust covers can indeed be installed backwards....Ask me how I know that. So be aware when installing the dust covers.

 

Here are the Detroit Axle brake rotors and pads that I ordered for the Prius. The box included a free bottle of Dot 3 Brake fluid and a spray can of Brake cleaner. A nice surprise and benefit of ordering from Detroit Axle.