I'm in it now - Front wheel bearing/hub replacement

i noticed lately something seemed loose when i'd brake so been taking it slowly stopping. last week brought it in for an oil change and they did this winterize and brake inspection. oh it wasnt the brakes but he said loose bearing.

My lease was 4 years but the warranty was 3.. i said.. what about that last year, is there some sort of extended warranty i can get.. he said yeah for 1000. i'm there.. ok. So this is covered under that. Haven't had the brake actuator noise go on since that last time. Had that done, what.. 3 times now.. although if i have to push the brakes hard you get a bit of that noise, so betcha that'll be having to be done again sooner than later.

This bearing though.. thought of looking it up and this guy describing this, wow.. sounds like a job where you gotta take it in to the shop. He's trying to fix things and wrecking other stuff.. lol.. and he's going at it for days. wow.. wouldnt wanna buy that used car off 'em. haha..

So yeah what would this job cost, seems like the labour is the pain, i'm betting like several hundred but probably closer to over 500 i wouldnt be surprised.

And he mentions the word, cv boot.. i'm there.. ahh yeah i remember that.. the covering of that gear that spins to drive the wheels. I had this bad taurus before this one and didnt even have 100k km and oh maybe got it at 80k km but had to get that cv boot covering replaced twice. Seems like whats tearing it. When he mentioned that i was thinking.. yeah if i keep this car once the lease is up and the warrant's done i can totally picture things like cv boots and who knows what else needing replacing. Nope for sure handing this car back once that lease is up.

Meanwhile those bridgestone turanza's, when i brought it in for that oil change they said they're at the uh, whats the name of it.. the wearline indicator. I been thru so many of those brands on here with plugs and stuff i doubt they're the originals. got 60k km.. at least that last tire i bought another brand instead there and no more of those turanza's.

Gonna be putting on the winter tires in a few weeks but yeah in spring i gotta pretty much buy 3 new ones and drive it for a couple months and hand it back. Sucks doing that but no.. not gonna keep it. Is there some kinda double extended warranty for after 4 years where they say, no we can't cover that cause we know its gonna break down. lol.. naw.. gonna be handing it back.

These $30,000 cars there.. gonna be looking into the cheapest brand new smaller sized car i can get. What kind would that be? Just my luck too.. got it in spring of 08 when gas was $1.50/L looking like it might go who knows where.. but never went back to that price since. So yeah.. next spring gonna be looking around for the cheapest brand new car i can get and i got a hunch it aint gonna be no toyota. lol

 

Need Help! How does the speed sensor actually work? I changed the front left bearing without disconnecting battery. After reassembly I had ABS VSC and ! lights. It was because I did not have the hole in the dust shield over the speed sensor. Instead of taking it apart we just drilled a hole in the dust cover where the speed sensor sees. That worked somewhat but at higher speed 55mph the lights would come back on again and then go off at low speed! Wth. My friend is convinced that when we drilled in we hit one of the teeth on the axel. This is indeed true and one of the teeth is chipped. However I do not think that is how this sensor works but am not sure.

I took it all apart today and there is a little chip in one of the teeth of part of the axel gear. I reseated the dust cover so the original hole was over the speed sensor because it was a little bigger than the hole I drilled and I thought it may help.

Could someone please explain how the speed sensor actually works and if a chipped tooth on the axle gear could actually cause it to stop working correctly

 

Taking it in to CV shop tomorrow to see if they can put new teeth on the cv axle also probably will replace dust shield as my is a little bent up or just leave the damn thing off all together. This repair is really testing my patience.

 

As the rotor teeth pass by the speed sensor, an AC voltage is produced whose frequency is directly related to the speed of the rotor. This allows the skid control ECU to judge the rotational speed of each wheel.

A chipped tooth will cause a disruption in the AC voltage, and in your case the damage was apparently bad enough to cause the skid control ECU to log a DTC.

I suppose by now you have learned that if you have made a mistake in assembly, you need to disassemble the components sufficiently to correct the mistake, rather than trying to drill a hole here or there to correct the problem. I recommend that you replace the dust shield rather than attempting further ad-hoc re-engineering of Toyota's design.

 

Yes I plan on replacing the dust shield as well. I too was worried about the drilling but my buddy thought it would be ok. Whats strange is how it would work at low speed but at higher speed would trigger the warnings. Perhaps the chipped tooth spinning faster was getting harder to read.

That dust cover is sure one finicky part to take off / reinstall. I know if I went to Toyota they would just charge me an arm and leg and tell me the sensor was bad anyways.
Hopefully the CV shop can fit a new gear over on there. I am however having trouble getting the CV axle off from the transmission. Does anyone have any pointers for me? I have the axle loose and have tried giving it a pretty good pull with no result. Is there something else holding it on that I am missing?

Also besides the hole we drilled it wouldn't have matter anyway because after taking the dust shield out I could clearly see that it had been bent a few times and would probably be hitting on the bearing

 

You will need to use a slide hammer, or a pry bar to gently pry the axleshaft out of the transaxle. A snap ring holds the axleshaft in place.

I hope that you have already drained the transaxle ATF; if not ATF will leak out as the axleshaft is removed.

 

The bolts that hold the hub on are behind the cv dust cover. I can't get a socket on them. How do you get the dust cover off, mine seems to be held in place by something and I can't figure it out?

 

I got it off! I found another thread that said to take the whole steering knuckle off the car. That is the way to do this. A few more nuts and bolts and you can work on it on the bench. Gently pry the dust cover off with a screw driver and removed the 4 bolts that hold the hub on. Now I am beating on it and the hub won't come out of the knuckle. Guess I'll have to take it to a shop and have them press it out, Midwest winters really froze(rusted) this hub in place.

 

The ABS sensor pokes through the shield and needs to be removed, after that it's just a friction fit.
Data point; I have replaced both my front hubs the Timken I used on the left seems to be holding up fine the no name Chinese??? i put on the right is too loose and I have a Timken on order to replace it.

 

Cross post! Yeah I had to beat both mine out with a REAL BFH and a huge socket as the drift I then had to sand away the corrosion in the carrier bore till the new one would fit. With all the corrosion removed the bore may actually be bigger than the bearing OD. I reused my carrier anyways but it should be replaced. My 05 is coming up on 160K of abuse.

 

You are right on with the BFH. I used my 16 lb sledge hammer to knock the hub out of the carrier. Had to take three whacks at it, like I was on a chain gang breaking rocks. Sanded out the corrosion with my moto tool, put it back together and done. nice and quite. The only other part I needed was a new axle nut. Now it seems I hear the front left making a little noise, oh well, I know how to fix it now.
Thanks for all the help everyone.

 

Hello all; I have a 2006 Prius and am in the process of replacing the front right wheel bearing/hub assembly. I can't get the axle nut off. I'm about 90% sure I have the dent stake or whatever it is out of the way so I can remove the nut, but a 30mm won't fit it. I bought the replacement axle nut from the dealer, and only a 33mm socket would fit it. I put that socket on the existing axle nut and have put as much force as I possibly can on it with an air gun and a pry bar with a big steel pipe attached, and all it's doing is slowly rounding the edges of the nut. Do I need a 12-point to do this? Any suggestions? I'm lost at this point having given up for the day. Thanks.

 

Yes. You will need a 12-point socket. I used a 1 3/16" 12 point socket to remove axle nut.

 

Absolutely 12 point, 30mm is best or 1 3/16" will work, it is tight. 3/4" drive is a good idea. The car should have it's weight on the tire while loosening. Since you have already started to round it, a block of wood to the floor to support the breaker bar head while you jump on it may be a good idea. Replace the nut once you have it off, about $5.00 at Toyota. If you live anywhere near the rust belt remove the hub before attempting to beat out the bearing.

 

Thanks everyone. I got the axle nut off finally (with the 12-point). Amazing how that works with an axle nut. I removed about 1/2" of the threads on the axle because at one point I used a cutter to try and only cut through the axle nut dent part. I don't think it will be a problem though since the threads aren't work down or uneven, there just gone for a little portion and after the new nut is on there it will be past that spot. Today I have to go to the dealer and by a new dust shield. Mine basically fell apart in my hands (every piece of it that was close to the assembly.) Oh yeah, I have the entire hub and bearing assemply so I'm not beating the bearing out. Just putting the entire new one on. Easier for me that's for sure.

 

I am guessing you will have to do some beating out yet. It is a bolted in assembly with the flange, studs etc. But not the whole steering knuckle.
Call this a heads up. I replaced the LH with Timken at 125K. I replaced the RH with a Toyota part at 140K, replaced it AGAIN with a Timken at 160K, For me that was a lesson learned.

 

Does any one have the front wheel bearing part number for the gen2 Prius, not Toyota's part number but the number marked on the rim of the bearing so that I can order a bearing from local bearing specialist Timken number would be ideal. I intend replacing front bearings and have access to a hydraulic press to push them out and in.

 

It's your game but the whole assembly is: Timken HA590064 Front Hub Assembly
About $100 USD complete. I wouldn't mess with replacing just the bearings and I am one cheap SOB.

 

Thanks for the reply. I have no problems with my bearing but am planning a very long tour next year and feel it prudent to change them in plenty of time before I go since I am now at 80k miles.
I have access to a fully equipped engineering work shop and have plenty of spare time but not spare money hence the intention to change just the bearings.Prices over hear seem to be much higher in the UK Toyota want £260 for each hub.
I can get the bearings at trade prices through contacts in the engineering trade saving at least £200 per wheel. For this saving I can fit new discs and pads all round change all filters plugs engine oil and transmission oil.

 

...I think this reads kind of opposite. With mine, if you turn the wheel to lean the car left a little bit, that puts more weight on the *right* wheel bearing, and vice versa.

So, if you turn LEFT and the noise increases, it's the RIGHT bearing that is making the noise.

That's what mine did anyway, and shonuff that was the bad bearing. When I removed the bearing and tore into it I found hardly any grease after 220,000 miles and a pretty good groove worn into the race.

-Joe