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[Diman Todorov]

oops didn’t mean to post this

[Diman Todorov]

Thanks again Fopeano!

I am on the road again! The wheel bearing + hub is replaced, the wheels are aligned, the squeaking is gone and she runs better.

To sum it up – the Chilton has the right piece of advice on this: take your steering knuckle to a shop for a new bearing.

Original quotes for full job: roughly $420-$520 depending on the shop.

The DIY cost if you have all the tools required:
$60 wheel hub, snap ring, bearing, axle nut
~$20 inner and outer wheel seals
$70 take knuckle to local shop (I got $50 new customer discount)
$89.99 wheel alignment at pep boys (probably can be got cheaper but I was impatient)
——-
$240 ($190 with discount)

You can save on that: ~$30 no wheel hub / axle nut, ~$20 cheaper alignment which will take you down to $190

Tools you will need:
$6-7 32mm socket for the axle nut
~$30 ye olde wrenches + sockets (1/2″ mount!)
~$30 breaker bar + cheater pipe (make sure one fits onto the other)
$15 torque wrench
$5 grease
$50-60 2 ton jack + jack stands
Assortment of duct tape, WD40, hammer, wire brush, PB fluid is kinda handy

Of course the cheap-skate jack started leaking after 3 lifts so: $4 jack oil. Make sure you vent that air from the leaky jack after every lift and DO NOT do anything stupid – always assume the cheap jack is out to maim you.

obviously protection equipment: latex and leather gloves, goggles – unless you like rust in your eyes, scuffs on your fingers and grease on your hands that never goes out

IMPORTANT but you can rent it from your local auto shop at zero cost:
hub puller
tie rod puller
– make sure you have the right wrench socket to actually use these tools

Bottom line – was it worth it? I didn’t save any money, in fact I probably paid more than the quotes. On the upside, I now have a decent selection of tools which will get most simple wrench jobs done. And also it was a lot of fun to figure everything out!

DO NOT buy any of those wheel bearing pressing sets. I am sure they work as advertised but the they don’t solve the equally difficult problem of removing the wheel hub and old bearing (ask me why I know)

DO NOT try to hammer out the wheel hub with a slide hammer, it’s a waste of time (again – ask me why I know)

DO NOT get a jaw puller, it is a neat and relatively cheap tool but was useless in my case as it had nothing to grip (by now you should have realized how clueless I am)

Remove the steering knuckle, which should take 1-2 hours tops if you have never done it before. It is literally just 5 bolts or so all of which are easily accessible for you to get leverage with your cheater pipe. Take that knuckle to an auto shop.

P.S. will cross-post on subaru forums

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[Diman Todorov]

Thanks again!

As you said, the snap ring will be a bastard to get out. It almost looks like someone over-tightened the axle nut and now the snap ring is stuck between the knuckle and the bearing.

In other news, turns out my assembly came with a snap ring but with no wheel seal – fortunately my local parts store caries these.

I tried renting a slide hammer, putting the knuckle back on the car and hammering the hub out but it won’t budge – guess I’ll wait until I get my hands on that floor press.

All things considered, I find it really hard to believe that it is possible to use the wheel bearing removal + installation adapters that are supposed to work without removing the knuckle. If you want ot even begin using that set you need to figure out the sneaky axle (granted I think I had the steering wheel turned the wrong way), the wheel seal that’s not easy to get out, the snap ring and the hub itself. At that point you really are better off saving the $$$ for the set, renting bearing pushers from your local auto shop and getting a press for $200.

[Diman Todorov]

so I got the knuckle off. The bearing definitely has play…

The set which I bought comes with a new snap ring *yay* and a new axle nut.

I tried to get the bearing out with one of those “never remove the knuckle” sets but it doesn’t work! I couldn’t get the axle out without removing the strut. And at that point doing it on the car became pointless.

Now I am contemplating how to proceed… Do I have a pro press the new bearing in? Or do I go to my friend of a friend who has a press and give it a DIY go?

[Diman Todorov]

Unfortunately I can’t easily link as I got it on ebay and it was the last two sets.

The part number matches this: http://www.discountautoparts.com/catalog-1/itemdetail/dura-international/295-96008

You are right, looking at my chilton it seems the bearing is in the steering knuckle. I guess I can still take it off and ask a local shop to press the new bearings in for me…

Oh man, taking those knuckles off will be quite the work-out with hand tools…

[Diman Todorov]

Thanks so much, fopeano!

I jacked her up and gave the wheel a good shake all around. It’s like you say – it doesn’t matter where I grab the tire, the play is the same. In particular if I grab it top and bottom it still wobbles.

I just ordered 2 hub + wheel bearing assemblies at $60 each which is much better than $500 😀 The hubs because on these cars extracting and inserting the bearing is a bit of a hassle requiring specialized tools.

I’ll try putting them on next weekend and will let you know how it went!

[Diman Todorov]

Hi spade,

I have had a car with a similar issue before – thrown thousands at it to fix mysterious coolant leak. In my case I did have the head gasket (2 of them – V6 engine) done, along with water pump, thermostat etc and it was still over-heating.

Speaking of which, you should replace wire clamps with worm screw ones.

The problem was only diagnosed correctly after an unrelated engine swap (lost oil because of failed crankshaft seal). Turned out it was a metal coolant pipe which had rusted through – should have cost $15 to fix it!

The moral of the story is: the coolant is going somewhere. The coolant is colored intentionally so that leaks are easy to identify. Find out where all the cooling lines go, take a flashlight and get under the car. Look at every inch of coolant piping for pink spots / gunk.

Look for the simple fixes first, before you go for expensive stuff:
* radiator cap
* o-clamps
* piping

I don’t know how much you love your car but for a temporary solution you can try that radiator sealant goop that goes in the coolant. Mechanics will say that it will clog your radiator and may make things worse but it may be a viable fix depending on what you’re planning to do with the car down the line. For me it didn’t make any difference – good or bad.

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