need advice on toyota wheel bearings.

[cOoTeR]

So the wheel bearings on the front of my prius are going out. I went to a shop and they quoted me $967 to replace them. I'm broke so I can't afford that. I went and ordered the parts for $267 and bought a repair manual because my friend at advanced auto said that it was just a matter of removing bolts and bolting the new one in. It appears to be an enclosed system so I don't need to press them out of the hub. He pulled up the diagram and it looked easy. Now I'm looking at the steps in the book and the section for the wheel bearings says its hard to do take it to a shop. Has anyone changed the wheel bearings on an 04 prius? Any advice?

[Casper]

Talk to cbrjess.

[max power]

Prius' have wheels? I thought they floated on clouds.

[Monstrosity]

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/WMR-W89725/?rtype=10

You will probabbly need a slide hammer to remove it. I'm not familiar with a Prius but this is my guess. You will use one of the attachements that goes on your lug studs. You will use 2 or 3 lug nuts to hold it in place (depending if you have 4 or 5 lug applications. Since the bearing got hot it will probabbly take some force to get out. Once you've hooked everything up to the slide hammer get ready to go to town! The last one I did on a Cobalt took a lot of force. Oh one more thing you will probbabbly need to replace the lugs you used, or buy some cheap open ended ones for the job. Make sure you clean up the knucle that holds the bearing assembly with scotch brite and smear a bunch of anti sieze in it.

[Steve Butters]

http://www.automd.com/answers/instructions-how-replace-front-wheel-bearing-hub_q34865/

[TSB67]

The fact that your only understanding of the scope of the job comes from some second-rate manual saying "its hard to do take it to a shop" makes me think you should take it to a shop.

[ReconRat]

Never one to be stopped by technology, I tap them out with a brass or mild steel drift.

This takes a long time, but is very cost effective. (cheap)

Use a puller, it's much faster. AutoZone or similar probably has one they will rent or loan out. Some things never budge. Take those to a shop, and be prepared for the news that they can't budge them either. Then go to the junk yard and start over.

edit: btw, a full set of bearings and seals for a cheby is probably only 25% the cost. About 60-70 bucks.

Edited December 21, 2010 by ReconRat

[Beegreenstrings]

I have done a 4x4 ranger before. twice... takes about 20-30 minutes a side.

technical data on that ranger is that it had 4x4, front drive units.

wheel off, brake caliper off, brake rotor off, speed controller sensor out, three bolts in the back - out, pull the hub and bearings. replace in opposite order.

I know its not the same type of vehicle, but most vehicles with the sealed bearings follow the same type of proces.

[ducati guy]

From looking at pictures online, the best and easiest solution will be to remove the wheel, brake rotor, move caliper out of the way, either drop the control from the frame, or pop the outter tie rod from the knuckle so you can swing the knuckle. Then knock the axle out of the hub. ( just like if you were doing an axle boot ). Then simply unbolt the wheelbearing hub assembly and it will probly come out w/ a simple tap of a hammer.

The toyota prius if fwd right? The reason people use pullers is bc they do not remove the axle from the hub, thus the axle n hub r siezed together..( they are doing it the harder way)

Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

If you want, shoot me a PM and I can do it for you at a cheaper rate then the shop quoted you

[jporter12]

What year Prius is this? It looks like 2004 is a change year. The 2003 and older has 4 lug wheels, and a press-in front wheel bearing. The 2004-newer has 5 lug wheels, and bolt in bearing assemblies. The labor does not make sense to me. It's showing almost twice the labor for the hub and bearing assembly, as for the press-in type. The hub and bearing assy, which is bolt-in, SHOULD be much easier, and most are about 1.2 hours per side. I'm wondering if the labor guide is only reflecting to swap the knuckle, since the instructions show taking the entire thing off, when it SHOULD come out without pulling the knuckle. Very confusing to me, to say the least.

[cOoTeR]

Thanks for the advice guys I removed the knuckle as per the shitty repair manual. Then took the whole thing to the local napa to have the hub assembly pressed out. Removing it wasn't too hard. The first one took about 3 hours because I had no clue. I cranked the second off in about 1/2 an hour. Took them to the napa shop just before they closed and they are going to press them out first thing in the am. The guy said they need pressed out due to heating up and all the road gunk. The 4 bolts then seat the new one place. I marked where the struts meet the knuckle in an attempt to not screw up the alignment. Wasn't too hard once I quit doubting myself. Hopefully getting them back on isn't too bad. The car is an 04.

[jporter12]

Thanks for the advice guys I removed the knuckle as per the shitty repair manual. Then took the whole thing to the local napa to have the hub assembly pressed out. Removing it wasn't too hard. The first one took about 3 hours because I had no clue. I cranked the second off in about 1/2 an hour. Took them to the napa shop just before they closed and they are going to press them out first thing in the am. The guy said they need pressed out due to heating up and all the road gunk. The 4 bolts then seat the new one place. I marked where the struts meet the knuckle in an attempt to not screw up the alignment. Wasn't too hard once I quit doubting myself. Hopefully getting them back on isn't too bad. The car is an 04.

A hammer will pop them out, most of the time. If a hammer won't do it, they'll have to be pressed so hard that the knuckle will probably be damaged. There is a deflector that's part of the seal or something, that needs to be removed and re-installed that "requires" a special tool. We make stuff for such instances.

The big plus is that you're saving yourself money here, and learning in the process! Neither is a bad thing!

[Lost1888]

If the Toyota's are anything like the three Honda's I've replaced in the past and the Subaru I had to do Monday, they are press in. If you don't have a big socket or cone of some sort to beat them out with a sledge your screwed. Not to mention putting them back in is a much more precise job. Making sure you have something to press on the inner and outer races to insure your not putting too much stress on the bearing during install. Unless you want to do it again.? I used a 60 ton press to install the bearings but beat them out with the sledge and cone method. If you don't have the tools maybe you can take it off, have a parts store with a press or someone here to help remove the bearing and install the new one. Then go home and put it all back together.

Also you might have a cambered bolt mounting the spindle to the strut mount. Mark it's position on the nut and strut before loosening so you can keep the alignment as close right as possible. Also keep an eye out for the snap ring retaining the bearing. Don't want to loose that.

Have fun and good luck.

Edited December 23, 2010 by Lost1888

[Lost1888]

oops little late to the party. Oh well

[cOoTeR]

Thanks again guys got it done learned a lot. Got about 100 miles on the new bearings and all is well.

[Steve Butters]

good to hear man...always nice to try something and figure it out....gotta learn somewhere!

hate when people just say "take it to a shop" when someone comes around asking for advice on how to do something...nothing feels better than trying something youre unsure about and completing it... a person should never be done learning, theres always more to know

[cOoTeR]

good to hear man...always nice to try something and figure it out....gotta learn somewhere!

hate when people just say "take it to a shop" when someone comes around asking for advice on how to do something...nothing feels better than trying something youre unsure about and completing it... a person should never be done learning, theres always more to know

Yeah I just hate paying someone a lot of money to have something fixed. Especially when that mechanic doing the work is getting a small fraction of the cost as payment and the shop takes the larger cut. If I think I can figure it out with a little guidance and advice I'm going to try to do it.

[chevysoldier]

Should have used an air hammer and torch.

[jporter12]

Yeah I just hate paying someone a lot of money to have something fixed. Especially when that mechanic doing the work is getting a small fraction of the cost as payment and the shop takes the larger cut. If I think I can figure it out with a little guidance and advice I'm going to try to do it.

Thanks for taking food off the table of a hard working, blue collar worker.

It does suck that we only get a portion of the shop's labor rate, but I'm not going to get into that here.

Should have used an air hammer and torch.

You've been watching how I work again, haven't you?

[cOoTeR]

I am also a blue collar worker and I need to keep food on my table sorry guys.

[BuckeyeRider86]

It is fun to try to do yourself, just make sure you know what you're doing in general before you give it a try. For these kind of car repair questions you can read up a bit. Then you'll be confident when you step into the garage.

[YSR_Racer_99]

....

Edited August 20, 2012 by YSR_Racer_99