Well, that tell-tale distant whir of an impending wheel bearing problem had been bugging me for a couple of months, so today I tackled the problem.

I need to thank you all for the ideas and tricks that allowed me to do the job.

The stories of so many about how hard it would be to break the ABS nut loose gave me worry, especially with 1/2" drive tools.

Someone had found that a Craftsman 3/4" drive 2" socket would fit the numbs on the nut, so I bought one and improved on the idea by grinding the chamfer off the edge, thus giving me more bight on the numbs.

I also bought a 3/4" drive impact wrench capable of 1400 ft-lbs of torque! Also one of you came up with the idea of just using the wheel itself as a retainer for the hub assembly during the unscrewing.

These worked great! And you know what? That ABS nut did put up a fight for a couple of seconds before breaking loose (it was no contest from that point).

Thank you all for making sure I bought the 80mm bearing used in the later cars. I found some nice Timkens at Rockauto for quite a reasonable price.

Some of you have drilled holes in your work benches to hold the hub during re-torquing. That gave me the idea to make a wooden holder that could then be secured in a large vise. Of course I needed a 3/4" drive torque wrench for this. It worked Great as well!. One thing though: you'll need someone to help hold the socket down onto the ABS nut numbs; it's impossible to apply 200+ ft-lbs of torque AND maintain control over the socket.

I really had only one set-back to the project. When I pressed the stub axle out, it took the inner bearing race with it. I used a small disc grinder to slice into the race as far as I could without hitting the axle; then smacked the crap out it with a sledge and chisel for about 10 minutes until the race cracked.

Despite the race problem and a sniggle or two here and there I completed the job in four hours. I need to thank the members of this forum for all the information on this task and the great ideas that I used or improved upon. (Oh yeh - and thanks to Ed China for showing me how to just pound a ball joint loose.)

It's probable that the other bearing will start to go within the next year so I bought two bearings. Once the second bearing is changed, I'll offer to sell my "Front Wheel Bearing Kit" to anyone here. In the meantime, if you're in the southern Maryland, eastern Virginia, Delaware or so, and you'd like to rent the kit for the job let me know.

Once again - THANK YOU ALL

Ciao!

 

I must have missed that section in JTIS!

Great result and thanks for posting the additional info.

Graham

 

You made that sound easy.

 

Thanks Norri.

To tell you the the truth, it really wasn't all that bad. I'm sure it's mostly due to all the research and preparation I did in advance. "AND" having a serious take-no-prisoners" attitude toward getting that abs hub nut off!

The lower control arm ball joint did take some severe wailing-upon before it popped free. And for a moment (or two) I totally freaked out when I saw the inner race on the stub axle. Here, I had simultaneously wrecked the old bearing AND made installing the new bearing impossible. I was a momentary basket-case!

Looking at the Jaguar approved special tool that would be used for extracting the stub axle, I do not see how it would prevent the inner race from doing what it did. There is no room between the race and the axle flange (going to the wheel hub) to give any purchase on the race. All you can support is the sheet metal bearing seal. Curious.