Front Wheel Bearing

[Russell]

Just returned from dealer and they have ordered Hub & Bearing Assembly (43510-47010) for my '07 Prius.
It was making a low hum noise and I have 13,000 miles on the car.

Wondering if anything is needed other than the replacement of hub and bearing, such as alighnment?
There will be no charge I understand due to warrenty.

Super Car!
Russ

[jayman]

The driver front wheel bearing went last year, still on warranty. I had a 1992 Honda Prelude, driver rear wheel bearing went early, also on warranty. My 2000 GMC Sierra 4x4, passenger front wheel bearing went less than 6 months into ownership.

With sealed bearings, sometimes you just "luck out" and a get a crappy bearing. Older cars and trucks with conventional bearings, I've repacked and noticed from the factory, they were put in dry. Just the grease in the bearing itself.

Depending on how much they have to take apart, an alignment may be needed afterwards, and should be warranty as well.

[VTMRGRTVL]

My '05 got a new right front wheel bearing at 45k miles. Covered under warranty... Have them check the alignment, and the ABS. I had to return because the ABS sensor was mis-aligned during reassembly...

[Devil's Advocate]

I replaced the driver front wheel bearing at around 100,000 (out of warranty) and it was a liece of cake. The whole bearing assemply is replaced so its four bolts and its on and off. THe only tricky p-art was re-installing the dust shield which is held in place by friction. No alignment needed and no ill effects. in about 20,000 miles.

[patsparks]

There should be no need for alignment as the whole thing is very precise and goes back exactly where it should. Alignments correct for wear in steering parts and bumping kerbs.

There is no need to pack a hub with grease when packing wheel bearings. Any grease outside the bearing does nothing anyway. I put a very thin layer of grease over the inside of the hub to catch any dust that gets in while assembling. I mean thin like a coat of paint. When you go to repack a bearing which has been flooded with grease the grease between the bearings will be clean and hard with cracks where it has dried out a bit.

[jayman]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(patsparks @ Oct 10 2007, 01:10 PM) [snapback]523709[/snapback]</div>

There is no need to pack a hub with grease when packing wheel bearings. Any grease outside the bearing does nothing anyway.
[/b]

I agree that grease in the hub usually doesn't help much. The exception is one of those hub grease packer gadgets for boat trailers that maintain grease pressure inside the hub. There is a zerk on the dust cap end, you attach a grease gun and apply grease until it oozes out the relief hole. So when you back the trailer into the water to launch the boat, you don't get water in the bearings

An uncle of mine taught me at a young age that you really can't have too much grease, unless it's forced in and builds up pressure and blows out a seal. I don't completely pack the hub with grease, but I like to smear some around inside, as you mentioned

The conventional bearings I've repacked - such as on my 1984 Ford F-150 - came dry from the factory. Less than two years old, and they were ruined. Since warranty back then was 12 months, I suppose they saved a couple of dollars per truck

I've never noticed "cracked" grease in anything I've repacked. I use Esso Unitol, which appears to be a very high quality grease. It's suitable for wheel bearings and universal joints

http://www.esso.ca/Canada-English/Files/Pr...GRSESUnitol.pdf

[perfectspeed]

Just joined forum. All this bearing packing diatribe is interesting BS. Yes, I've packed open bearings on Fords, Chevy's and 4X4 Jeeps, but they're not like the Prius. The Prius has sealed bearings. That's good or bad depending how you think. If you don't maintain a car, then it's good. If you do, then its bad, because you only get one packing and that's when it's manufactured new. Sealed bearings have low volume areas for the grease. Unsealed bearings have the entire inner volume of the hub available to pack since the hub seals are external to the bearing boundary. That high volume of grease provides thermal mass, and if your grease has some medium viscosity at normal use loadings then it'll flow to the bearing carrying lovely lubrication (when heat and G forces allow) to the bearing and suck heat away. Sealed bearing don't do that. Oh well. I have 130K on my Gen 2 2004. My front wheel bearings are howling like a coyote at full moon. This is my primary commute vehicle, of 4 operating cars, 3 trucks, and 1 street motorcycle owned, currently registered and licensed and actively driven, seeing 122 miles round trip per day, mostly at 85 to 90 mph. Yes I have police scanners and Escort rader detection. Yes, my Prius is amazing. It gets 38 mpg at 95 mph as measured early in life over a 1700 mile trek going and coming over hills and into and with the wind, but all of it was hauling ass fast. Smoking fast as measured by most people. So the reason I'm here is to find out HOW ANYBODY gets the front spindle (axle) nut off to change said front wheel bearing hub assembly. Anybody got a clue? The stamped detent in the nut flange which sinks it into the axle keyway has me baffeled. Do I try to lift out the dent to lighten the loads on the threads or just crank on it REALLY hard???? ANY Pics and first hand knowledge much appreciated. Posers keep quiet, please. Yes, I'm an engineer. Thanks in advance. PerfectSpeed is Being There...

[Patrick Wong]

Originally Posted by perfectspeed

... I have 130K on my Gen 2 2004. My front wheel bearings are howling like a coyote at full moon... So the reason I'm here is to find out HOW ANYBODY gets the front spindle (axle) nut off to change said front wheel bearing hub assembly. Anybody got a clue? The stamped detent in the nut flange which sinks it into the axle keyway has me baffeled. Do I try to lift out the dent to lighten the loads on the threads or just crank on it REALLY hard????

Yes, the point of the detent is to lock the nut in place. You must lift that out using a hammer and a pointed tool, before you can remove the nut.

Then when you are reinstalling, you should use a new nut and set the detent after tightening. Tightening torque is 159 ft.-lb.

[jayman]

Originally Posted by perfectspeed

So the reason I'm here is to find out HOW ANYBODY gets the front spindle (axle) nut off to change said front wheel bearing hub assembly. Anybody got a clue? .

I'm also an engineer (Chemical Engineer) and learned a long time ago to RTFM. Per the shop manual:

"Remove Front Axle Hub Nut: Use SST* and a hammer, unstake the axle hub nut. Set SST with flat side in. Do not grind the SST tip with a grinder. Unstake completely when removing the front axle hub nut. Do not damage the front drive shaft assy threads.

* SST 09930-00010"

No need for the SST. As Patrick suggested, any reasonable tool can be used, like a punch or pick, to unstake the nut

[perfectspeed]

Thanks Jayman. Learning experience. Never work on a vehicle without the shop manual. How hard could it be? Answer: HARD. Removed nuts by lifting dents with punch, but still shaved threads when removing. Both axle shaft threads were damaged anyway. One slight, one needs replacement. Fxck. I also bent BOTH ABS sensor probe center conductors when I seated the dust shields. I should have removed them prior to the whole bearing replacement thing. Straightened the conductors with pliers but am getting ABS, ASC, and Brake warning lights on dash. I'm ready to surrender and take it to the dealer and say fix it. Does anybody know how to reset the ABS warning lights so I can see if maybe that's it? Thx. Perfectspeed is being there...