I Easily Installed Another L Driver Side Wheel Bearing Hub Assembly

Well, had to change out another driver side front wheel bearing hub on my 2008 Prius. First off, I drive a lot and put a lot of miles on my car. So this hub assembly had about 35,000 miles on it. But it still should have lasted longer. Had the same problem with my 2004 Prius. I do live in the Syracuse, NY area which gets the most snow of any city its size or larger in the country. And they use a tons of road salt in central NY.

Anyways, because this had been replaced back in April 2019, I made sure to use anti seize on the spindle knuckle and hub assembly, I pretty much knew it would be an easy job. But be warned as most here know, if you live in a road salt area like mine, and are trying to remove the original hub assembly, be prepared for a POS and several hours just trying to remove the basically fused hub to the knuckle.

Anyways, I was right, so lets get to it, kind of like I explained back in April, but a bit clearer hopefully, but no pics unfortunately. First off, if your hub is not fused to the knuckle, you don't need to waste your time following the laborious factory instructions.

1. Remove the center cap and loosen the spindle nut and lug nuts before you jack your car off the ground.

2. Jack the car up and use jack stands for safety. Then remove the wheel lugs and wheel.

3. turn the knuckle to the left (if you are working on the driver side) to easily get to the caliper and bracket bolts.

4. Use a 14mm socket to remove the two caliper bolts, and hang it on the strut coil out of the way.

5. Use a 19mm socket to remove the lower strut nut and push the bolt back out of the way to gain access to the upper bracket bolt. use a 17mm socket to remove the caliper bracket bolts and remove the caliper bracket.

6. remove the rotor (mine was easy because I use anti-seize on the back.)

7. remove the spindle nut and push the CV shaft far enough back to gain access to the hub mounting bolts. Usually you have to remove the small speed sensor dust cover with a flat head screwdriver, and push it back out of the way to gain access to the 4 hub to knuckle mounting bolts. I was lucky because the covers on both sides are missing! Those covers were missing when I bought the car, and yet, never had any problems with my speed sensor! In my opinion, based on my experience, they are not needed.

8. Use a 14mm socket with extension to remove the 4 hub mounting bolts (one upper and one lower on each side.) first leave the knuckle turned to the right to get to the two bolts on the right. Then turn the knuckle facing to the left to remove the remaining 2 bolts, and the hub assembly should slide off the CV shaft and out of the knuckle (as long as its not fused to the knuckle). If the factory had used anti-seize before installing the the front and rear hub assemblies, it would make this job a piece of cake. But of course they don't give a crap!

9. clean out the hole where the hub fits into the knuckle and coat it with anti seize compound. (this will make it much much easier if you have to replace the hub assembly again.)

10. line up the brake shield behind the new hub assembly making sure to insert the CV shaft into the hub and push the hub into the knuckle while lining up the bolt holes. Then while supporting the hub, screw one of the top bolts to support the hub and continue to install the other 3 bolts and torque all four to 41 lbs

11. Now coat the front of the hub with anti seize, and replace the rotor, and screw in two lug nuts to hold the rotor firm to make it easier to install the caliper bracket and torque the bracket bolts to 82 ft. lbs. Then replace the caliper to bracket and torque the caliper bolts to 25 ft. lbs. Would be a good time to coat the brake pad slide pins with high temp grease, and slide the pads onto the caliper. Then remove the two lug nuts holding the rotor on.

12. Then install a new spindle nut and hand tighten, and put the wheel back on and then screw on the lug the lug nuts and hand tighten and lower the car to the ground.

13. Torque the spindle nut to 159 ft. lbs and take a punch and indent the spindle into the axle groove and replace the center cap. Then torque the lug nuts to 76 ft. lbs.

14. Remove the jack from under the car and take your ride out for a spin. If everything is OK, you are done!

Took me less than an hour. Probably take about a half hour on a lift. Really a very easy job if your hub is not fused to the knuckle.

Hope these instructions are easy to follow for those brave enough to handle this DIY!

 

Those small speed sensor dust covers have absolutely nothing to do with the wheel bearing hub. I was asking about whether I could get away with not using the Brake Dust covers. My opinion was about the Speed sensor covers which are not the same as the brake dust covers. I bought the car without the small speed sensor dust covers, and have never had any problems with the speed sensors with those covers missing. So, yes, IMO those small speed sensor covers are not needed! As for the brake dust shields, I decided to just reuse the very rusty ones. Got my new wheel bearing hub installed and all is well!

 

OK, after changing out the driver (left) side bearing hub assembly, which I provided the directions for above, and tasking it for a ride, still sounded like a wheel bearing problem. As it turns out, my problem was the passenger side wheel bearing that was bad. So, using the same directions above basically, I replaced that bearing hub assembly. For whatever reason this seemed to take less time. My only problem was getting the hub assembly out. I had replaced it a couple of years ago and used anti-seize, but apparently not enough. Had to use a thin chisel to loosen it. Took about 5 minutes chiseling and hitting it with a small hammer, but thank goodness it came loose in one piece. The brake dust shield on that side was really rusty, but cheap lazy me used a wire drill brush to remove as much rust and crap as possible, and tried bending it back in shape. Putting it all back together based on my above directions was a breeze. Then took the car out for a test drive and no more wheel bearing noise. But hey, now I have two brand new wheel bearing hubs which I hope will last for awhile!

So, this past month I have accomplished a lot under the car. Have installed:
Monroe Quick struts,
sway bar links,
both front wheel hubs,
both inner and outer tie-rods,
a new driver side CV drive shaft and drive shaft seal
rear drum brakes (I know--not suspension)

The only suspension parts I haven't replaced so far are the lower control arms and ball joints, passenger side CV drive shaft, and Sway bar bushings. Also have not yet replaced the rear shocks.