How to Replace a Front Wheel Bearing Without a Press or Bridge

[xintersecty]

Great pictures and writeup. I am convinced if you are going to be a home mechanic then have your will need a home press. Found some cheap ones for 250 at Harbor Freight and Northern. Yes that's expensive and it will allow quick turn around.

[hustler]

If anyone needs a pair, I have a set of SKF manufactured WKH593 wheel bearings (front wheel bearings for an 04 Aveo) here in my parts box for sale. My wife since bought a new car, and with no Aveos handy I don't need them.

PM me if you're interested. I can ship.

[Jefarm1]

Hey Whitefish, how did you support the inner race from the back? The knuckle would support the outer race. I see the bearing adapter is in place but do you have another spacer between that and the bearing?

[whitefish]

Hey Jetfarm - sorry it took so long to respond. I suspect you figured this out by now . I think used an adapter from the bearing puller kit that is small enough to touch the rear of the bearing, supporting the races. I may have also used something else like several large washers. The hole in the middle has to be large enough so that the puller bolt can pass through and be threaded.

[Merlins_Holden]

I did this job with the good old Harbour Freight press when I extended my lug nuts to fit some spacers and BBS rims. I kinda wish I had one of those bearing puller sets, but I hear they can be a pain too.

[weirdo_kohutek]

Thank you very much Whitefish for taking the time to post this detailed write-up. I just bought an '08 Aveo at an auction, knew nothing about it, and found out bringing it home the driver's side ft wheel bearing was toast. I checked out your post closely and followed along. I 'rented' a bearing press kit from Advance Auto (I'm in VT) as well as a ball joint press. I also had to score and crack the inner race off the hub, as you detailed. The job went well and I was happy with the result. Thanks much!!

[whitefish]

So I've come full circle on this one......


I just replaced the same front bearing that started this post. Unfortunately, I can no longer rent the tool (at least not locally) I used to complete the bearing repair with the hub on the car. And I wasn't planning on paying $160 for a tool I would only use a few times. So I had to resort to pulling the hub off and pressing the old bearing out and replacing (that 12 ton hydraulic press I bought on sale gets used more often than I thought!).

The downside to this process is trying to get the tie rod and ball joints off the hub. Sometimes they are so seized that the only way to get them out is using heat and a tool that ends up destroying them. I just replaced both so it wasn't too bad. And then you have to diconnect the strut. All this combined definately impacted the alignment on the car, so I have to do that as well now. The upside is having the hub free to work on. This really came in handy when I had to get the rusted in circlip out before I could press the bearing out of the hub.

The car is jugging along at almost 200,000 miles so not bad so far

[avguy]

.....The downside to this process is trying to get the tie rod and ball joints off the hub. Sometimes they are so seized that the only way to get them out is using heat and a tool that ends up destroying them. ....

I've had very good luck popping them off undamaged using this tool.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/New-Univers...EAAOSw3GtZwdw0

Although it might not be beefy enough for a larger vehicle, it's more than strong enough for our Aveos. I pulled the knuckles off to do the bearings on mine, and the job went so fast and so well that I wouldn't consider doing it any other way. And yes, I do live in the rust belt.

Glad to read that your Aveo is still on the road!

[whitefish]

I've had very good luck popping them off undamaged using this tool.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/New-Univers...EAAOSw3GtZwdw0

Although it might not be beefy enough for a larger vehicle, it's more than strong enough for our Aveos. I pulled the knuckles off to do the bearings on mine, and the job went so fast and so well that I wouldn't consider doing it any other way. And yes, I do live in the rust belt.

Glad to read that your Aveo is still on the road!

Yup, I have a ball joint tool like that. Didn't need it this time, but when I have used them I still had to heat the knuckle at least 75% of the time to loosen it up.

As I mentioned, the other big pain is the need to do an alignment if you remove the hub.

[MetroMPG]

whitefish - you should do a garage entry for your Aveo....

Garage empty: add car