TeamSwift

I should just mention I wouldnt replace one side, do them both at the same time.

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1991 Swift GT Build G10 +25 psi + other goodies
1996 Metro Build QR25de swap, still undecided where to take it
the lolcar family

yes he's really straight up... I got some bushings and real easy to deal with.. shipped and arrived in like 3 days.. good prices too... i'd recommend him...

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MOST people don't know what they're doing
and some of them are REALLY good at it!


1992 GEO Metro Vert
1988 Sprint Turbo 5sp ready for restoration
1995 GEO Metro 2dr auto
1995 Toyota T-100 SR5 4X4

myplasticegg wrote:
A press helps a whole bunch when putting the hub in. I had it in the freezer for 5 hours and it still wouldn't go over the bearing, no matter how hard i hit it. Put it in the press on my lunch break and 3 minutes later it was set!

That really confuses me. He is implying that he had the hub in the freezer which would shrink it!! So, of course it wouldn't fit over the bearing.

I was taught to put the hub in the oven (wait 'till the wife is out) and the bearing in the freezer. Bearing shrinks, hub expands and after a few hours the bearing can be easily pressed in.

Anyone else use this method?

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http://pontiacfirefly.com
My E'vert http://pontiacfirefly.com/ecarGallery/

... or use compressed CO2 to chill the bearing much faster and colder. Try fogging it in a small, deep corrugated cardboard box with the appropriate fire extinguisher.

I just tore into my newly purchased 91 hatchback front whl. assemblies. some joker put in the hub without an outer spacer. not the same as the inner spacer given attention in this post. Make sure your hub has a spacer pressed on to its shaft. I think one of the pictures shows the hub with the spacer on it. it rides between the outer bearing and the hub. if u don't have one, watch out, I thought the wheel was falling off!! yikes.........

I can't seem to get one from the chevy dealer, guy says their no longer available. any seasoned veterans here know of a source other than the yard?

Anyone know what wheel bearing seals an 89 Turbo Sprint uses? Partsource says that they don't have any, but they just say whatever their computer tells them to say.

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::::1989 Turbo Sprint::::

Oh and how many will you need to do all 4 wheels?

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::::1989 Turbo Sprint::::

Tip that worked for me:
I took a sheet off a roll of the Kimberly Clark paper shop towel, folded it until I had a strip about 1 to 1.5 inches wide, rolled it up tight like a sleeping bag and shoved it down in the opening so it sat between the side of spacer ring and the end of the C-clamp. This way it protected the the spacer from the clamp and pushed the ring off to one side without having to get the C-clamp in at an odd angle.

Time for a little update.
Suppose you are driving "Little Red Riding Hood" and you hear a roar in the back seat area which seems to go away at a stop sign; chances are it's a bad rear wheel bearing.

Let's swap it out.
First, we lift it up, put all the safety nets up, and pull the wheel and tire:

...there we are.
Now, let's tackle that pesky dust cover.

A thin flat head screwdriver seems to be made for the job.
We give the screwdriver a few firm taps with a small hammer, and poof:

...you've got it half way there.
Now, rotate the hub 180 degrees, and pop that dust cover off!
Once that's done, we can see the 'staked nut'

which we want to unstake.
Grab a flat chisel, because most of the time when you use those long thin screwdrivers, their tips will break off.
Here's one about to break:

If you tap on the end of the screwdriver, you might be OK, but if you try to pry, instant failure of that screwdriver tip.
So now, we head to the 'unstaked nut' with a breaker bar and an appropriate socket:

Once that nut and the washer behind it are off, the hub should pull right off.
Here's where it gets tricky: sometimes it's stuck on and you have to use a slide hammer, or maybe you can get by with a simple trick: put the wheel back on the hub, and use the additional moment arm to pop that hub right off.

Now that the hub is off, we need to go high tech.
Here is the hub

surrounded by our super high tech wheel bearing removal tools.
You elevate the hub a bit

again we are using some mismatched pieces of wood to lift the hub.
Then you take that long rod, and put it into the lower bearing inner race and give it a few wacks.
Turn it 180 degrees and do it again.
Then, you should have your bearing out.

Here you can see the old bearing has been removed and a new one is almost ready to go into its place:

First we wipe all the excess grease off the hub where the outer race of the new bearing will be going.
Then we flip that packed (greased) bearing over, so the dust shield is facing out.
Here's what you should have:


If so, good.
Now, grab that old bearing, wipe it off, and place it on top of the new bearing. Then grab a hammer and carefully tap the old bearing while holding it firmly on top of the new one.



In this case, the new bearing will bottom out before the old bearing gets stuck, so you are done.

That's about all there is to changing the inner bearing on your rears without any special tools.

Make sure you take the time to add grease to the new bearing if it doesn't have a dust shield.

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DIY Broken Bolt Removal: viewtopic.php?f=22&t=41042
DIY Clutch Adjustment: viewtopic.php?f=9&t=48281
DIY Wheel Bearings: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=29003
DIY Shocks: viewtopic.php?f=10&t=45483
DIY Wheel Align: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=42479
Once you get the cars dialed-in (compression, leaks, bearings, alignment, brakes) swap in new rubber and glass, you've got something which should last for years!

Excellent write up, as usual

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Dale

1985 Chevy Sprint Mk1 G10 5 Speed Sky Blue

Does anybody know the torque spec for the rear bearings? I've read conflicting statement. Some say 125 ft lbs and others say 65 ft lbs.

I see 120 for the separate hub and drum, 74 for the more common bearings are right in the drum type. That's from a 98 FSM.

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91 Pontiac Firefly Turbo
10 Suzuki Kizashi


Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms
Should be the name of a convenience store, not a government agency

Thanks Woodie!

A little advice for the fronts:
if your spindle looks like the one on the left -

you shouldn't reuse it.
The outside of the spindle is worn and might allow the inner race of the bearing to spin on the 'spindle'.
Your spindle should look like the one on the right; it already has the spacer on, and is ready to go.
You shouldn't grease that spindle when you put it together. The wheel bearings should fit over the spindle tightly, and you may have to pound it back together (carefully), or use a press (slow way).
If you do hammer your assembly back together make sure your spacer is on correctly and don't hammer on the bearing. Try to use an old bearing as a flat surface to pound on, saving your new bearing from damage.

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DIY Broken Bolt Removal: viewtopic.php?f=22&t=41042
DIY Clutch Adjustment: viewtopic.php?f=9&t=48281
DIY Wheel Bearings: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=29003
DIY Shocks: viewtopic.php?f=10&t=45483
DIY Wheel Align: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=42479
Once you get the cars dialed-in (compression, leaks, bearings, alignment, brakes) swap in new rubber and glass, you've got something which should last for years!

Well, I just finished doing the rear bearings on my '96 & it was a breeze. Maybe 20-30 minutes each.

The front on the other hand is a PITA. I'm trying to do it without a press & oh the agony. Just getting the hub off was hard but doable with my vise. Though 1/3 of that 3 part bearing stayed on it & I can only assume I'll need to cut it off. The other part of the bearing remained stationary no matter how hard I pounded (5lb hammer). Just about ruined my 1 1/4" socket. Trying to decide if I wanna just get another hub & be done with it or find a machinest (not many that I'm aware of around here).

One other thing, unfortunately. Only after I did all this, did I find out that removing the bolts on the strut will require a re-alignment (which explains alot to me why I reqired an alignment after I replaced my control arms a month ago).

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What is normal anyway?

Why? Are you bolt holes elongated or the bolt a cam type bolt?

If not to either thing, you don't need to align the car when taking the knuckle in an out or unbolting it from the strut.

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1992 Geo metro, 1.0L 5spd, 511,000miles on original engine & trans
- First time engine work at 456K miles, bad headgasket. Rebuilt head, Felpro gasket installed.
- knuckles/hubs/brakes/13" wheels from a 2000 Metro, running 175 70R13
- New bearings and 1st/2nd synchros at 440.5K miles.
- MPGuino
- Averaging ~ 51MPG these days

No, they're not elongated, but my alignment certainly did go out of wack & I wasn't violent with it when I did the work on my control arms. But yeah, I'd have to search it out, but I found somewhere that this is a good possibility. Guess there's enough play in the bolts to make a +/- 1 degree difference. When I throw it back together & hope for the best though.

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What is normal anyway?

.
THANK YOU WAS wondering this my self most suzuki Sprint/geo swift are not adjustment this way ..?? set from factory

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.

A lot of cars are this way. Thinking back my Sentra SE-R, 240SX, and I'm pretty sure our PT Cruiser are all this way. You can only adjust the toe on the front and back wheels.

Just did my brake upgrade today, which included putting new front bearings in. Boy, that was a pain in the neck. Rented a 3 jaw locking puller from Autozone to pull the inner race off the front hub after getting it away from the hub with a cold chisel. Had to file the hub face to knock down the raised metal from the chisel.

I 'think' the new bearings are a little noisy. Not growly like bad bearings, just not as quiet as they could be. Might be the junkyard tires - getting 4 new 175 70/13's tomorrow and I'm hoping the noise goes away.

Bedded the brakes tonight - that was fun!

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1992 Geo metro, 1.0L 5spd, 511,000miles on original engine & trans
- First time engine work at 456K miles, bad headgasket. Rebuilt head, Felpro gasket installed.
- knuckles/hubs/brakes/13" wheels from a 2000 Metro, running 175 70R13
- New bearings and 1st/2nd synchros at 440.5K miles.
- MPGuino
- Averaging ~ 51MPG these days

I ended up saying forget it & got new hubs at the junk yard. Factory bearings are probably better than what I got anyhow.

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What is normal anyway?

Just did this today for my 1994 Geo Metro XFi. Thanks, this thread was very hepful!

ok i have followed this thread log before i registered here and it was perfect. now im doing a new pontiac firefly 4 door 3 banger manual tranny. and i changed the front bearings everything is fine, but i cannot get the hub/disc asembley to go on the drive shaft.the drivers side went on after a fairly hard hammering. which basicly destroyed a paice of wood and the flared over the oout side of the splined hole. so now im not sure the splines will come all the way thru. the passenger side splines will not go into the hole no matter what. ive done this 2 times already just like it says here and it went perfect. what am i missing this time. seriously considering putting a grind stone up and down the inside of the splines and just bolting it together.