So my front driver side bearing has pretty much given up the ghost. It's been acting up since February or March. This is my daily driver and as of this afternoon the ABS is kicking in constantly and the dash looks like a Christmas tree with all of the lights. I picked up an assembly and tried to tackle this tonight, but ran into some issues almost immediately.

How tight are the bolts that hold the caliper bracket on supposed to be? I can't move these to save my life. Even tried getting my impact wrench in there - on the top one it just about fit - and that wouldn't move the bolt with close to 100lbs on it. I really don't want to break something here. Tomorrow I'm going to try again with some WD40 on them and hopefully I can pick up a breaker bar that I'll have clearance to use. It's kind of tight under there.

Also when I go to reassemble the caliper, anyone know the torque off hand for all four of those bolts?

 

you can use a cheater pipe if you dont have a braker bar but is hard on ratchet. you may need heat( torch) or a propane torch will take alot longer to heat but in a pinch it has worked,sometimes it may take 5 mins to heat .

 

this should help bud
it's these two videos, the second vid tells you the torque specs for all the bolts and hub
‪How To Install Replace Front Wheel Bearing Hub Grand Prix Impala Regal 1AAuto.com‬‏ - YouTube
‪How To Install Replace Front Wheel Bearing Grand Prix Impala 1AAuto.com‬‏ - YouTube

 

what impact are you using? it will usually take some significant torque to get those bolts loose.. when changing most hub assemblies I use my 1/2 impact turned to about half power (sometimes full power). and yes, put some WD on them to loosen the corrosion.

the bolts should be relatively easy to get to though if you turn the wheel on the side you're working on so that the front of the tire is towards the car and the back-side is out to give you more room.. this is assuming that the hub is the same as every other grand prix/monte carlo/gm car that I've worked on lol.

You're biggest b*tch is going to be after you get the bracket and rotor off... you have to get that axle to push back from the hub.... do you have an air-hammer?

*and please PLEASE don't try and loosen the actual hub bolts with a 3/8" ratchet.. lol they're tight. for a reason.

 

Thanks guys. Did the job earlier tonight. Took it for a drive after and all seems good, but I had a loud whine. I know the PS pump was whining, so that could be it. From what I read in the product documentation the bearing may also make a bit of noise while it gets worked in for the first few minutes of use.

I ended up picking up an 18" breaker bar to use on the two bolts holding the caliper bracket on. It made it easier, but they were still on there good. Even after soaking the hub nut with WD-40 and letting it sit for a bit the bar did nothing to move that. I wasted 20 minutes heating that nut up, smacking the bar with a sledge, everything I could think of. Then I looked next to me and there was the impact wrench I used to take the wheel lugs off with. Don't know why I didn't use it from the start. Took the nut right off. And yes, I did pull the bracket and rotor before I pulled the nut off, so I put the rotor and bracket back on and used a screwdriver in the rotor to hold everything in place while I pulled the hub nut.

A couple of things I didn't do were to grease the axle before putting on the new hub. I also didn't clean up the rotor or pads before reinstalling them. Didn't have the grease or brake cleaner. Also I need to figure out the correct way to pull the caliper. I know there is a way to compress that piston, but I couldn't figure it out. All of that I'd like to have straight before I tackle this again.

All in all it took me about three hours. I'm sure I could cut at least an hour off that next time now that I know what to do. I might do the other one in the fall just to stay in practice. That is assuming I didn't do anything wrong and this one lasts me a while (like until I sell the car since I went with the three year warranty one instead of the one year).

 

Don't believe I have an air hammer, but didn't need one. Once I got the three hub bolts off it took one smack against the back with the sledge to free the hub from the spindle and one smack on the axle to knock the hub free of it. Couldn't have been easier unless it just fell out on it's own.

Yeah, my 3/8" set was of limited use here. When I picked up the breaker bar I also picked up a 15mm 1/2" socket. Even though I had a 3/8" one and an adapter so I can use my larger 1/2" ratchet on the 3/8" sockets, that adapter takes up a bit more room than I could spare in some spots. That was the biggest pain - where do I need an extension, where does the extension not fit, now I need a 2" extension, now I need a 6" one. Grrrr.

I probably should have picked up a couple of 1/2" sockets for removing the lugs on this and my wife's Impala too. I use the adapter to connect my 3/8" deep wells to my 1/2" impact for pulling the wheels off. Not the brightest idea, especially since I do not own a single impact socket.

 

for future reference, if you have a pair of large channel locks, or a c-clam with a piece of wood, that will usually work to compress the caliper pistons. then once they're pushed back, clamp off the line with some vise-grips (not too tight). that will make it a ton easier to put the brakes back together.

 

its a lot easier to put the spare on and break the hub nut loose. I always use a large c clamp to reset the piston in the caliper. here's good write up with some tips for next time.
Wheel Bearing Hub Assembly Replacement Guide - General Motors Pontiac Grand Prix GTP - Pictures & Instructions

 

lol I'm spoiled by working in a shop.. everything impact.. and every tool I need.

 

Very disappointing. After my test drive went well last night, I go out this morning and start the Monte and the Service Traction and ABS lights came on immediately. Not sure where to look now, but I'm going to replace the ABS harness to that wheel next and see if that resolves it.