Wheel Overhaul: Hub Bearings, Brakes, Shock Struts & Sway Bars

OK, on a recently purchased 2005 Prius I (245,000 miles) and over the course of several days, I swapped out all four wheel hub and bearing assemblies, all four new brakes (disc-rotor/drums; pads/shoes), and both rear shock struts. All wheel hubs were long overdue as rust-brown dust was identified all over the wheel axle area. In fact, they were so dirty that I decided to take some added time to remove and clean out the brake calipers. Added surprise was to replace the worn-out sway bars as well; its boots and grease were corroded and lost long ago. Sway bars were tricky as they required a simultaneous 14mm crescent and 6mm allen wrench to extract.


REAR WHEELS. I replaced the old shock-struts with new ones; careful as they had a noticeable rubber O-ring that controls contact between the car wheel well and top of the strut-shock. Tough preparation was time dedicated to removing of the interior upholstery, which provided access to the top of the rear shock struts. Next were the rear brake shoe-drums. They had some noticeable uneven wear so I decided to swap them both out. Drums brakes are highly challenging for me, as I accidentally ruptured my rear right brake cylinder boots; brake fluid draining a good amount. I decided to just go ahead and replace both right/left brake cylinder rears as they were probably the dated originals.


FRONT WHEELS. As I removed the front left-right tires, rotors, brake calipers— I hung those calipers with a bungee-cord. I also removed the front ABS lines from the front knuckles with a 10mm socket. With 30mm 12pt socket & lots of penetrating oil, I removed both the [front] CV drive axle nuts. It was a tough part as I had to use a breaker bar and an additional 2ft pipe for extra breaking leverage. Swapped out the disc-rotors and brake pads; one set of pads had some noticeable uneven wear from an uneven piston expansion. I replaced and upgraded my rotors for another with blackened rust-proof sealant. Next was the fun part of fully removing the knuckle. I brass punched out both right-left wheel hub & bearings. The standard hammer plinking wasn’t enough, so I had to quickly promote to small sledge hammer. Upon full removal and deconstruction of both front wheel assemblies, I quickly degreased all front suspension parts in the deep sink: steering knuckle & lower ball joint assembly, disc brake dust cover, wheel bearing dust deflector, brake caliper hardware, etc. I used a good helping of grease upon replacing the wheel hub and bearing assembly. I place grease on the hub and inside the contact area of the knuckle. Additionally, all large bolts were re-inserted with a good ribbon of anti-seize cream. Both strut bolts had a noticeable amount of corrosion that I wire brushed off.


Next project will be a quick front end wheel alignment. ; )

 

Andrew,
During the process, I lost probably a 1/2 cup of DOT3, hydraulic brake fluid. I did not use the TechStream, instead I had a friend help me bleed the brakes. I am awaiting an old laptop to freeup next month, in order to start using that TechStream. I cannot wait as i just got the items in the mail a few weeks back. Good to know that we can flush the brakes; i will definitely look into that project down the road.

My front brakes still has a lot of life left in them; but the rust-dust was everywhere and i already had an inexpensive ceramic brake pad set ready to go in. At least I now know where I am at with my brakes.

Axle nuts: Yup, that was really in there. Getting it done with penetrating oil, 1/2"drive, and 2' cheater was stressful. I must feel quite fortunate if i averted sawing off nuts and any chisel-work. I agree a 3/4"drive is probably the better tool to use.

No way in punching that bearing hub out of the knuckle if it stayed on the car. You'd still have to remove from your strike path the CV-axle. Plus I created so much brass punch-reverberation from the small sledge hammer strikes. They were significant strikes and necessary to move the process forward. The regular hammer was barely nudging the bearing hubs out of its knuckle socket.

Cheers.

 

It rides NOTABLY a lot better. I had been only getting ~35mpg in city/hwy, but now getting low 40s mpg. I do feel coasting/gliding is more fruitful. Still, i have more to do in order to improve mpg. Most noticeable are the creaks & low speed turn wobbles have all went away, now that i have replaced the 2 front sway bars. Tight U-turns and going over speed bumps are no longer noisy & alarming.

I must add also that at 245k miles, I bought this Prius off a family that neglected car preventive maintenance for a good amount of time; i was up for the challenge. For example it was burning 1qt oil/500miles. [More to this story in a future post to outline Prius rehab at 250k miles].

 

here's a photo of that cheater pipe + 1/2" breaker bar combo to remove that 30mm CV-axle nut

 

Andrew & Valde,
BLEED VALVE. Like i said, i had a friend help me bleed the rear brakes. Perhaps it did nothing but drip DOT3 on the floor, but I recall it significantly spurt out on my chest a few times on a rear spigot. I recall having my bud both engage and disengage the foot brakes while the engine was on. Then, I didnt give it another thought as the brakes were stiff and high on the pedal. See bleed valve diagram and pic. https://priuschat.com/attachments/07-prius-rear-brake-jpg.22216/
http://techno-fandom.org/~hobbit/cars/maint100k/271rbblcap.jpg


BRAKE LIGHTS & ABS ON. Glad we are having this conversation on rear brakes, as you may help me unfurl a hiccup. Of note, since replacement of my rear brake shoes, i have these lingering lights that still persist: brakes and ABS. Bleeding the Prius brakes is different and challenging enough. My braking is still excellent forward and reverse, so re-tackling the issue for another day. I have tried to unplug-replug all the ABS sensors connecting each hub bearing as well as disconnecting the neg terminal on the 12V. It still returns. No buzzer sound nor any brake related DTCs.


Looks like I may have to relook at these rear brakes....

 

SELF ADJUSTING PARKING BRAKE. As well, the parking foot brake returned back to good tension after a few days and about a dozen good forced and harsh reverse braking evolutions. I read a lot on the Prius' parking brake ability to self-readjust via tinkering/nudging it back to good health: forward & backward braking. Good it worked out, but still dealing with those unruly CEL lights: brakes and ABS.

 

thanks.

 

found some more pictures hidden on my phone...

 

Also, Im a big proponent of anytime & any excuse to get in under the car to see what's going on and to clean things out. This knuckle is that good excuse to get into it and clean things out. Infact, that was when i noticed that my friend's 2010 Prius didnt have wheel bearing dust deflectors on either right/left front knuckle; unless that is normal?

 

Andrew,
Good point in ref, I also serviced my caliper pins as I opened up all 4puns to still find a good amount of clear grease resident.

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

Yup, I forgot that with the 2nd hub, I promoted tools from a brass punch to steel punch. It went much faster, in fact ~40 strikes with brass vs. ~ 10 strikes with steel punch.

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

Andrew & Valde, et all,
OK follow up +3 months later. Finally got my slower laptop up and running with TECH STREAM. I used that to erase the dash lights: HANDBRAKE WARNING, BRAKE, ABS, CHECK ENGINE. 3:4 items resulted from that fiasco earlier with bleeding rear brakes with FOB in [in car proximity] my pocket.