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Rear Wheel Hub/Bearing Removal

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Old 08-17-2014, 10:52 AM
Radagast the White's Avatar
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Default Rear Wheel Hub/Bearing Removal

Introduction|
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I did this job yesterday and it was a major pain so I thought I'd write something up about it. Sorry there aren't any pictures in the post.

Noticing Something was Wrong|
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I knew that one of my wheel bearings had gone bad because one day when I took a right-hand turn I heard a loud clunk sound come out of the rear right area of the car. It almost sounded like an empty paint can had rolled around and hit something metal. Turning in I would hear this clunk and when I returned the steering wheel back to zero or I slowed the car I would hear the sound again. 10 months after I started hearing the sound I noticed a quiet grinding sound at normal speed. I imagine this would get really loud over time.

Part Number|
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I ordered a pair of Raybestos 71227 from RockAuto. They were on sale at the time for $40 each. Shipped out of Houston.

Part 1: The Easy Stuff|
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1. Park the car, put chocks in front of the front wheels, and loosen the lug nuts on the rear tires.
2. Jack up the rear of the car. You can jack up both sides at once or jack them one side at a time, just make sure that you use jack stands.
3. Remove the tire and set it aside.
4. Use your favorite method to remove the brake caliper. Some people like to separate it into two pieces but I like to unscrew the two most extreme positioned bolts and keep the 2-piece caliper together as a unit. Hang the caliper wrong the coil spring with wire or bungee cords. Don't let the caliper hang from the brake line or you can damage the line and then you're really in for it.
5. Remove the rotor and set it aside.
6. Use a pry bar or screwdriver to detach the spring for the parking brake from what's left of the wheel.
7. The parking brake cable has its end looped around a lever. When you step on the parking brake pedal the cable pulls on this lever and pushes the brake pads against the rotor (which you have already taken off). Remove the cable from this lever using your pry bar or screwdriver.
8. Use your pry bar or screwdriver to remove the parking brake cable from the rear wheel assembly.
9. Unclip the ABS harness if your car has ABS.
10. Rotate the wheel studs so that you can get a 10mm socket through the holes and remove the four screws holding the hub/bearing and parking brake assembly to the car.
11. Carefully remove the hub/bearing and parking brake assembly from the car.

Part 2: The Part that Took me All Damn Day|
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Now you have the wheel hub/bearing, identical to the one that you pulled from the yard or bought online or whatever, and wrapped around it is what looks like a metal hair band (parking brake pads) with its ends resting against a small metal cylinder. When you step on the parking brake pedal the cable pulls on the lever the cable was wrapped around which lengthens the cylinder and pushes the brake pads against your rotor. All of this except for the lever is contained on one side of a metal dust shield.
What you are supposed to do is flip the assembly over so that the studs are supporting the weight of everything against the ground. You will see two Torx screws flanking the aforementioned lever and supporting a bracket. Remove the Torx screws and remove the bracket. Now flip over the assembly. On my car these screws were tighter than the devil's wallet. I soaked them in penetrating oil for just about the whole day and moved a big cabinet in the meantime. What finally broke them off was using the appropriate screwdriver bit with a 1/4" boxed wrench and a gut-busting amount of torque.
The parking brake pad sits around that cylinder I mentioned and sits on a clip at the 12-o'clock position. Use your pry bar or screwdriver to remove the pads from the assembly then use your pry bar to shimmy the pads over the wheel hub. Remove the little cylinder which actuates the parking brake. Lift out the hub/bearing. Assembly is the reverse of removal

Part 3: The Easy Way|
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I tried to find a way to remove everything without removing the infernal Torx screws but I couldn't do it. After I got the screws out I left the brake pads attached to the clip and attached to the brake actuator and separated the whole parking brake assembly from the hub/bearing. I don't think there's a way to get the thing apart without removing the Torx but not having to reassemble the parking brake saved a lot of headache.

Part 4: Reassembly|
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Don't forget to:
-Adjust the tension of the parking brake actuator using the toothed gear. There should be a little resistance when you put the rotor on.
-Reassemble the parking brake cable and spring
-Torque the hub mounting bolts
-Reattach the ABS sensor
-Torque the wheel lugs

I hope this helps someone. I found very little information online about doing this repair.

Here's a link to a video on youtube showing how it's done.
 
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