2010 Prius - Rear Hub Bearing replacement

A bit of musing about the speed sensor connector.Just checking them out, I've now got both speed sensor connectors so the securing mechanism has snapped. One because a bearing was previously replaced in the course of a repair, the body shop broke it. The other side, maybe the second time I coaxed it off, the locking tang gave up the ghost, is just dangling now. They both hold together ok, the one from the collision side has been thus for years.

I've had one more thought about removing the bearings, the rears in particular. In past during DIY wheel rotations, what I've been doing if and when a wheel is sort of rust-stuck, is to reinstall one lug nut at the top of the pattern, very loose, then put something like 4x4 cribbing snug against the inside face of the tire. This works best if the tire's barely clear of the slab, say a finger width or less.

Then take a big sledge hammer, lay it on the flat around the centre of the car, and swing it through an arc, smack against the timber. After a while you know just how hard to hit, jars the wheel loose, works quite predictably.

Maybe a variation of this could be used with (presumbably) stuck bearings: take off everything, down to the bearing, remove it's hold-down bolts, disconnect speed sensor cable, soak the joint with some penetrant (maybe from from the back through the two access holes). Then, reinstall a wheel directly on the bearing (maybe with some spacer washers, unless you have open ended compatible lug nuts, virtually torque them, and then proceed per the wheel removal procedure as described above.

My main concern, is that the bearing will separate into two halves. But this is also a danger with any method that pulls on the outer half. There is a contraption called a HubBuster (sic) that works similarly, just bolts a sort-of knee brace on the outer flange of the bearing, and you wack that with a sledge hammer. Using a wheel would be similar I think. You would want to have someone acting as "catcher", and/or some sort of pillows to break the fall of the wheel as it (hopefully) comes off. Use an oldish snow tire on steel rim if you have it.

 

Make sure also, that the stubby pin on the back of the inner brake pad falls in between the spokes on the inner pad. This means orienting the piston so the spoke pattern is in an "X" orientation, as opposed to cross orientation, ie NSEW. For screwing in the piston there's a cube shaped ratchet wrench attachment that's very handy (google brake piston tool).

Lube the caliper slide pins with something like Sil-Glyde brake lubricant, and put a thin coat of something like Permatex Anti-Seize on all faying surfaces: pad backs, to shims, to caliper/piston.

Get everything assembled thus (12 volt still disconnected), and pump the brake pedal multiple times, to get it seated with the spoke pattern in that orientation. Leave the parking brake off, until after a test drive if possible, that's the likely culprit, what might rotate the piston.

 

Thanks guys. I'll keep you posted. Hopefully i can upload some pictures.

 

I just replaced both rear hub assemblies last weekend and the car is so much nicer now. I used the home depot bolt method as well and it worked. There was some indenting on the rotor dust shield from the bolt heads but I assume that's ok. Can anyone verify? I had some black spray paint to cover over exposed metal and reused them. I used some PB blaster as well that may or may not have helped. I needed the two threaded bolts for the rotor as mine were fully rusted in place and I wasn't planning on replacing them. I have 113k miles on my car and the pads and rotors look good.

 

I went to home depot and bought 2 large threaded rods, washers and nuts. I went big so there a better chance of them coming off when i do this job. I'm in NY so I can imagine how rusty that hub will be welded to the rear axle. sunday is my turn to do this.

 

I ended up alternating the bolts. I started with say 12:00 and 6:00, pushed it a bit, then loosened and repositioned at 3:00 and 9:00. Then back again. I think I swapped at least 4 times. I think this helped ensure it didn't get overly crooked while extracting. Also, the bolt only needs to press out the hub between 1/4" to 1/2". You don't need much extra threading.

 

That's why i bought to rods. one on each side. turn a little on one and so the same for the other. Hopefully i don't seperate the hub itself and have a stuck base in the axle. Then I'm EFFED. I'll light a candle

 

I was just playing around, something like this?

 

YES! thanks for playing around. The rods i bought can hold up a bridge lol

How do you upload your pics? I was using photobucket last time and nothing was showing.

 

That one I just did directly off my phone. Priuschat site is a bit buggy, the drill is to click on "upload a file", then click not on the button, but on the text directly above:



Then, to get the image to appear within the text, set cursor where you want it, and click the button "full image".

Now, the above, I did on a Windows PC. I emailed that screen-grab to myself, opened the image on my PC, then used windows "Snipping Tool", which can does screen-grabs, can do crude annotations, and what you see is in windows clipboard.

When you're in Priuschat full edit window, set the cursor where you want the image and do the key combo <ctrl> V, to past clipboard content (could be image, could be text, whatever's in there).

 

Ok

 

New Yoik scene?

 

I was testing uploading a pic, Random pic at my job lol

 

I have SO much 1/2" threaded rod, nuts and washers kicking around. Was on a kick for a while, making bookshelfs and stereo shelves with it.

 

niiiice!

 

just picked up 4 new bolts and washers for the rear hub from the dealer. But of course I start vacation on sunday which is the day I want to do this replacement & i just came down with a cold & fever. This is going to be rough

 

Is there a need for replacement bolts? The originals were too rusty, stripped?

 

I haven't removed anything yet, but I figured since i'm in there why not change them. It was only $15

 

Ok, job done. my back and knees are killing me but job done.
Couldn't disconnect the negative terminal on the battery because it was so close to the body of the car I just took the positive off.
The rear hub came out nicely with the rod and bolt method. I had to go to home depot and buy smaller rods and nuts because the ones I bought the other day were too big.
Disconnecting the speed sensor is a but of a pain. I removed the hub and just turned it upside down and was able to get my finger to press the tab down.
I also replaced the rotors and pads, but looking at the old pads, there was plenty of meat left. The dealer told me it was almost down to the metal...liars.
The bad...Pads i bought came with the wrong shims. so i had to clean the old ones and reuse them. But i did grease the caliper pins and re lubed all the moving parts with anti-seize and caliper lube.

Drove it around for a little and everything seems great. So job well done for now.
next up I have to remove the front bumper to remove the headlights so I can clean them because they are getting faded and change out all the bulbs, and install L.e.d headlights.

 

Good to know: thread rod method popped it off, and it didn't separate the bearing into two halves?

I think too, if you're have problems disconnecting speed sensor, leave the bearing hold-down bolts on but very loosened off, so it won't fall right off, break the connection.