I replace my front hub assembly Friday night! All is good again!

I’d like to thank everybody that has added insight into replacing the front wheel hub assembly on other posts. I had a horrible howling sound coming from my right front wheel bearing for around a month or so and finally had time to replace it.

I completed this job on my 2007 Prius with 133,000 miles Friday night. From start to finish, raising it up on lift to lowering it for the final time took just slightly over 2 hours. After that was done, we spent an hour chaging the transmission fluid and the ICE oil and filter (and knocking back a couple cold ones). I think this is something anybody can definitely do with a little patience and willingness to save some money on parts and labor. I purchased a Moog front hub assembly from the local autoparts store using a 30% off online coupon, and bought a new axle nut from the local Toyota Dealership along with 4 qts of Toyota WS trans fluid (they must think this stuff is gold. Lol). I lucked out and the guy at the parts desk told me there was a $25 off online coupon which he applied to my order knocking the trans fluid down from $16 to about $10/qt.


Here is a quick writeup on the steps I used to replace the front hub assembly.


1) Raised car off ground

2) Removed front right wheel

3) Used a smallish punch to relieve the crimp in the axle nut

4) Removed axle nut with impact wrench

5) Removed front brake caliper and hung it up out of the way using some safety wire attached to the front strut spring.

6) Removed brake caliper mounting bracket and brake rotor

7) Removed the 2 nuts and 1 bolt holding the steering knuckle to the front control arm.

8) Remove the cotter pin and remove castle nut holding tie rod onto steering knuckle. Use Tie Rod splitter to remove tie rod from front knuckle

9) Removed the abs sensor from steering knuckle.

10) Used a ¾” wide brass drift to knock the axle loose from inside the hub assembly.

11) Rotated the knuckle and hub assembly to the side and pulled the axle the rest of the way out of the hub and carefully laid it to the side (don’t want to damage the threads or splines.) Axle will just hang out of the way (not actually come off the car)

12) Removed the two bolts hold steering knuckle to strut

13) Removed Steering knuckle from car.

14) Gently pry off the shield on the back without bending it.

15) Remove the 4 bolts holding the hub assembly in place. Placed it laying down in a vice and used a ¾” brass drift and large hammer to loosen hub assembly from steering knuckle.

16) Clean hole in steering knuckle with wire wheel and/or some emery cloth. Oxidation occurs with the steel bearing sitting in the aluminum steering knuckle.

17) Press in new hub assembly as far as it will go. Carefully tighten the 4 bolts, alternating from side to side to pull hub assembly into place. I used a regular 3/8” rachet for this. I did not want to strip the holes or get bearing cock-eyed. Torque the 4 bolts to spec.

18) Press the shield back on making sure you line up the hold with the whole in the steering knuckle that the abs sensor fits through.

19) Attach Steering knucle assembly to strut with the two bolts removed in step 12 above

20) Slide axle through the hub assembly and make sure it is seated all of the way (you should not be able to see exiter ring in back; it should be fully covered by the little shield.

21) Screw on new axle nut

22) Replace the 1 bolt and 2 screws that were removed in step 7 above

23) Replace the tie rod and screw on the castle nut you removed in step 8 above.

24) Torque the 2 strut bolts, the 2 nuts and 1 bolt attaching the lower control arm and the tie rod nut to spec. Replace the cotter pin on the tie rod end.

25) Replace the abs sensor and torque bolt to proper spec.

26) Replace brake rotor

27) Replace brake caliper mounting bracket and torque bolts to spec

28) Replace brake caliper and torque bolts to spec

29) Spray brake rotor on both sides with brake cleaner (make sure to rotate brake rotor to get all of it.)

30) Remove Center Cap in wheel. Replace wheel and 5 lug nuts.

31) Lower car to ground

32) Torque the axle nut to proper spec

33) Raise car again, remove wheel and put a crimp in the axle nut so it won’t come loose.

34) Replace wheel, 5 lug nuts and center cap

35) Lower car to ground

36) Torque the lug nuts to spec

The car is nice and quiet again! I can't believe I drove with the howling for as long as I did.

Thanks,
dave

 

If you don't or can't do it yourself, it will definitely save you money by finding a local mechanic that will let you purchase the parts and have him install them. Look for on-line coupons to your local auto parts stores for more savings.

 

Very true. Depending on where you are, there may be some small shops willing to do it for just the labor. I found a shop willing to install a used steering rack on my old 2002 Prius that I picked up from a salvage yard.

 

It is always recommended to use a new axle nut. I did. Cheap unsurance.