I'm in it now - Front wheel bearing/hub replacement

I'm not sure if the Prius is any more difficult to replace a hub bearing than any other modern front wheel drive car. For example, the axle nut: the shop manual clearly calls for the SST to unstake the nut from the shaft

Last year I helped a neighbor replace the driver side sealed hub bearing on a 2003 Nissan minivan, that was an adventure. We needed a hydraulic press to press out the old hub and press on the new hub. Since he had moved here from Ontario, the much increased use of road salt in winter meant all the bolts were rusted/seized pretty good. Took us a few days

I have more bad news for you: when you inadvertently entered Ready mode to shift the transaxle into N, the electric brake boost pump ran, and the caliper piston shot out. You will now need a dealership scantool to properly bleed the brakes. They are impossible to bleed the old fashioned way

Please read this link. I have posted the correct shop manual bleeding sequence in the link

http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-ii-...em-rear-brakes-no-pressure-when-bleeding.html

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news. A car as complicated as Prius, a subscription to TIS or All Data DIY is a must

 

I have a 2002 prius 220,000 miles, and I am faced with a front end hum that changes when I turn or swerve. I am assuming it is either one or both wheel bearings or halfshafts, but I am not having any luck with either diagnosis or figuring out which part is which.

Are the wheel bearings for around ten bucks at O'Reilly's totally a wrong part? Should they cost a lot more? And they don't list a replacement "hub" at all, or at least not that I can find.

How about aftermarket half shafts- any tips or known problems with that?

Thanks, Joe

 

Huh. Doofus here relied on the phone call to the parts store- when I looked it up in their catalog the wheel bearing wasn't any ten bucks at all, and it does in fact list both a wheel bearing (around $60) and a wheel bearing/hub assembly (around $130). Never mind about that part. Sorry.

Is there any reason to replace the whole hub- it looks like you have to take everything apart anyway, and pressing the bearing out and back in to the existing hub doesn't look that tough. Very good notes from the original poster, by the way. Thanks!!

However, if it IS the halfshaft, are there any issues with replacing a Prius halfshaft?

 

post script:

I bought a new wheel bearing for about $50, pulled the brake off and cut little lines around the axlenut dent, using a small cutoff wheel on a dremel tool. Then driving a filed-down screwdriver in there popped it right out and the nut came off easily with no damage whatsoever. I suppose I could have re-used it but a new one was about $6 from the toyota dealer.

Disconnected battery before I took the brake off. Pressed it down a bit with a c-clamp and put new pads on while I had it off- the inboard one had come apart a little and was pretty super thin.

Anyway, I rented a hub puller to get the thing off, and took the whole mess to a machine shop. They pressed out the old bearing and put the new one in for me, charging $42 to do that.

Then I put the other set of pads on the other brake.

Problem solved. Noise gone. Yaaaaay!

oh yeah- cause of noise in the oem sealed bearing? I took it apart, found hardly any grease, and 200+k miles had worn a little groove in the race.

 

Here are some pictures of Wheel bearing replacement that I did on my 2007 toyota prius.

1. wheel hub bearing costs: $138 each
2. AIR tools ONLY. 1-3/16" socket to remove the Axle Lock Nut and 10mm to remove ABS/Speed sensor, 14mm to remove wheel hub bolts and 17mm remove Brake caliper.
3. NOT easy job, there is metal cover behind the bearing, it is pretty tough to get this piece put it back in place.

 

Thanks!

Odometer reading?

Did you need to remove the wheel lugs for service clearance?

BTW I recently bought a front hub & bearing, part # 43510-47011, for $68 plus shipping, from Champion Toyota - Houston. MSRP is $89.

 

Well this looks a lot easier than a Camry or RAV4 wheel bearing replacement!!
Most FWD cars need a special puller to change a front wwheel bearing.

 

great thread and info as always..my '05 with 180K has a howling/roaring noise from the front left which I'm guessing is the bearing. I have an appt. for tomorrow to get it in...local shop, not the Toyota dealer. Can I just have the shop do the noisy one only? I know the other will probably start making noise one of these days but I'd rather space out the costs if possible. It also makes some creaking/groaning type noise at low speeds over bumps and I'm figuring it the struts. Hopefully they will be replacing those as well. Aside from regular fluid changes and tires this will be the first thing to have failed or wore out on my car. It's been just awesome!!

 

They're going to recommend you replace both sides. Sounds like you already know this, but it's just a matter of time before the other one goes too. I would ask to see what kind of discount you would get for doing the other bearing at the same time. Typically when getting this much work done at an indy, you should get some sort of break. If not and you don't mind being without your car for another day in the future, it can wait.

If I were trying to pinch pennies I would skip the strut replacement. Groaning I would think would be more likely a bushing than the struts.

 

To the OP,
As a certified mechanic i've got to admit that sometimes you can have a real $h!tty day like the one you had but for you to air your shortcomings and fight it out really takes a big pair of stones,grit and determination.I like that!:rockon:
Glenn

 

oy vey ~




You know ... your economy wedge set ... it isn't THAT much less expensive than a nice/real set:



I'm just sayin' ...



.

 

I assume your Prius isn't like the photos posted by blk07prius. That hub assembly is held on the steering knuckle with nuts. I assume ours is machine pressed onto it. You said you pulled it with a hub puller, but how did you reinstall it? The service manual says to have it pressed in. I would much rather just remove the hub assembly rather than the entire steering knuckle if it's possible.

 

has anyone had the bearing housing stick into the aluminum and if so what did you do?

 

Has anyone had to replace the knuckle because of bearing hub stuck into it? I heated beat and beat it it will not come loose. any suggestions ???/

 

Got so lucky and got the hub out of the aluminum knuckle but my advice to anyone that lives in an area with snow and salt is remove the knuckle from the car it only takes 10 more minutes, then remove the thin metal piece that is on the back side, you only need a screw driver, its the piece that is in the way of the four bolts that hold the hub on. Next one I do I am ordering the knuckle-$165, and a new ball joint-$41, Brake dust cover-$14, and bearing assembly with axle nut- $67. I have some photos if anyone wants to see. All in all one hard nice person job. Thanks to everyone that wrote there experiences on priuschat as I had enough problems. PS ditch the screw driver pry trick if you have salt corrosion it will never work remove the knuckle from the car, remove the thin metal shield from behind and get a mini sledge you will do better!!! good luck

 

Please do post the pics. I plan on changing mine this summer. I have 124k miles.

 

here are the pictures, If I ever do another, I will order a new lower ball joint, $41 dollars at toyotapartsbarn.com a knuckle $167, brake dust cover $14, bearing and hub $66, axle nut $4. The steering tie rod end should be ok. If your bearing is making noise do not wait, it could drop off the car and cause much more damage, a gmc jimmy is down the road from me now with that if I get a photo I will add it.

 

axle nut torque spec 159 ft lb, 4 bolts behind knuckle holding the bearing on is 41 ft lb, ball joint assembly nut 52 ft lb, lower two nuts and one bolt for ball joint is 66 ft lb, tie rod end steering 36 ft lb, two bolts strut 113 ft lb, front brake bracket bolts 81 ft lb, speed sensor 71 "in" lb.

 

That info would come in handy. I already have bearing and hub, axle nut, and the item in pic #4 (brake dust cover?).

Can you explain why I would need a new lower ball joint and knuckle? Is there any way to check if I would need them?

Road noise is getting louder. It could be due to the i3 tires starting to worn out. Two of them were patched up from flats caused by screws. I can not be sure it is due to the bearing.