Bearing Replacement With Video

[pb4ugotobed]

Yeah it was pricey... But i got a good deal on it. I bought a 1/2" snap-on years ago that broke. Our wonderful snap-on guy wouldn't fix it. He mysteriously "kept forgetting to order the parts" so after a month of waiting I traded it in on the Matco truck and paid about $80 cash. To be honest I think I only paid $50 for the snap-on one from ebay. It still worked but the selector lever fell off and you had to use a pocket screwdriver to reverse the direction.

I will say the Matco one I got is FAR superior though. it is an 88 tooth ratchet, so very fine tooth and don't need much of a swing arc to make it ratchet. It ratchets very easy... almost like a 1/4" ratchet. It is actually easier than some of the (expensive) 3/8" ratchets I own. it is flex head so i can angle it however i need. At first i was concerned about the fine-tooth design because usually finer teeth = less strength. However after owning this thing for close to 10 years now and putting it through some SERIOUS abuse, it's never failed once. I don't even own a breaker bar, don't need it. Ive even used this with a 3 foot piece of pipe on the end of it (cheater bar) and it didn't even flinch. That was on a bus and the guy I was helping broke his 1/2" snap-on breaker bar on that particular bolt. he was one of those "snap-on rules all" type of people too. He still hasn't lived that down lol

 

[pcb]

Oops... I missed the "flex head" part about the Matco tool,.. So yea.. That would work for me.

... it is an 88 tooth ratchet, so very fine tooth and don't need much of a swing arc to make it ratchet. It ratchets very easy... almost like a 1/4" ratchet...

That makes sense... My ratchets have probably 20 teeth with about 10 ft. lbs. of torque for the ratchet mechanism, so I'm always having to pull the handle off and turn the socket by hand..

Maybe I can find something used... In the $50 range ???

 

[pb4ugotobed]

just checked and there's one like mine on ebay cfr248 for $100 buy it now on ebay. The others like it are around the 150-200 range, it will probably sell pretty quick

 

[pcb]

This one still works out to over $200 Canadian...



I'd probably be better off buying the Irwin bolt grips then saving up for a trip outside of this salty s*** to buy a rustless P5..

I hope I can stay in Canada because crossing the border with an American car can be a PITA... (duty, taxes, lack of daytime running lights, getting it over that big f√kin fence Trump put up, etc...)

 

[pb4ugotobed]

This one still works out to over $200 Canadian...

getting it over that big f√kin fence Trump put up, etc...)

At least he got mexico to pay for it. Gotta keep those backwards canucks where they belong...


And this is the one I had found
https://www.ebay.com (commissions earned)


and I am pretty sure snap-on doesn't make this, many of their tools are just branded snap-on but made by other companies. but this is worth its weight in gold for bolts that won't give way either. the harder you pull on this joker the harder it grabs. I know they come in different sizes as well but for you rust guys it's another "must". https://store.snapon.com/Pliers-Wrenches-21-1-2-Plier-Wrench-P647061.aspx

 

[pcb]

They are both quite expensive considering how often I'd use them. (and the Matco doesn't ship to Canada)
And I already have cheap versions of similar tools.

I will get myself a set of Bolt Grips though... That's a justifiable expense for me.

 

[pb4ugotobed]

Can't say I can argue that point

I did get a bum bearing from amazon... It was *really* stiff when i tried to rotate it by hand (I could barely spin the inside race) before I installed it but figured the old one is already out and in pieces, and it would probably loosen up once I got it installed. Wrong... after about 5 miles started making some noise so figured I would return it (i love amazon) and get a replacement before it got worse. It showed up yesterday afternoon and I put that in last night. Only took me about 45 minutes this time to swap out the 1 side (not even enough time to finish my drink) and no more noise at all now. My car is happy again.


Probably could have just done it once if I didn't opt for the $14 bearings and instead bought the $30 Koyo ones but i'm a cheap ass and as long as the car "works" that's good enough for me lol

 

[pcb]

Speaking of that,...
My bearings have been fine for more than 4 1/2 years. I was worried about the bearings after I discovered they only had dust caps and weren't sealed. But they haven't rusted out yet.

I would have used better bearings with a proper seal if I would have know mine only had dust caps and how much work it was to put them in (for me anyway) but I used the cheapest bearings on the rear because they're so easy to replace.
I was too cheap to buy a big torque wrench so I made my own.

130-173 ft. lbs. So me at around 180 lbs. at 11 1/2" should be just about right...

 

[pb4ugotobed]

Interesting... no dust caps at all here. Just the axle going into the rear of the hub, nothing to seal it or prevent anything from getting in there. I'm guessing all the mud I drive through is probably what killed mine (i'll have to take them apart and see now that I think about it). They looked pretty gross at a glance though, I just had too much to drink at the time to care to look too closely at why they failed. Guess I just figured at 250k miles it was time lol

 

[pcb]

While installing the big c-clip in the hub, I slipped and put a dent in the seal on my new bearing. I decided to try to straighten it out and the whole "seal" popped off. I wasn't impressed with what I saw. The "seal" was nothing more than a dust cap. It was just a flat ring with a bead of rubber on either side. (I forgot to take a picture)

That "seal" isn't going to do squat and I'm fully expecting to have to redo my bearings again in a year or two. I decided to cake both seals with grease before installing it on the car. I know it will attract dust and dirt but I think it will help create a better water barrier.

This is a picture of the old bearings seal. It is a much better design. The metal ring is press fit to the inner race and the rubber part is seated on the outer race. The entire rubber surface rotates on the metal part and there is a stainless steel coil spring to keep the rubber seal tight on the metal ring.

The rust did invade the old bearing eventually (it lasted at least 4 years,... since I bought the car) but it didn't fail until the rust swelled the outside of the ring warping the rubber inside and breaking the seal.

This is yet another example of cheap Ebay crap that isn't up to snuff. (It has the right part number and is listed as a "premium" bearing with a 3 year warranty). I should have spent the extra $30 and bought the SKF bearings from Rockauto (it's the only one that is listed as "sealed",... I'm sure it has a proper seal in it).

This is way too big a job to skimp on parts.

 

[pcb]

Interesting... no dust caps at all here. Just the axle going into the rear of the hub, nothing to seal it or prevent anything from getting in there....

I'm talking about the ends of the bearing itself...

 

[pcb]

That's the thread I read through to learn how to do my bearings.

There is some interesting debate on that thread about the wheel seal. I think it makes better sense to leave the seal off,... I even enhanced my "drain hole".

Here's a cut/paste from the thread:

"There is no outer wheel seal. I find it interesting that the OP filled in the drain hole and installed a wheel seal, though. There is a TSB floating around for 2001 Proteges and earlier, which all had the wheel seals and the steering knuckle with no drain hole. Basically, the TSB said that this wheel seal was actually causing premature bearing failure, because it trapped water and road gunk inside the knuckle. 2002 Proteges and P5s were "fixed" by eliminating the wheel seal and installing an updated steering knuckle with a "drain" hole."

"the seal trapped water in there which caused wheel bearing corrosion and axles seizing into the hubs... mazda deleted the seal, and integrated the seal INTO the bearing itself (which WORKS) and notched a hole for water to drain
this is why ONLY OEM wheel bearings be installed on 02.5 thru 03s... aftermarket bearings DO NOT have this unique design and will FAIL... aftermarket bearings are bidirectional and do not have such a water seal on one side.... OEM bearings are unidirectional and do have the water seal"

"If this is the case, why does the TSB not cite a new bearing p/n or make mention of this new seal integrated into the bearing? Also, when i did my bearings last December I ordered the OEM bearing and there was no indication that one side was different from the other. I need the supporting documentation for this claim..."

 

[pb4ugotobed]

Gotcha. The new ones i installed had a steel "seal" in between the 2 bearing races, not really sure beyond that. They're $17 now lol but on amazon it is the "Centric 412.90002E Rear Wheel Bearing" As long as it quits making noise i'm good. As said, i've got 250k on this car, and don't plan to put any more money into it than i have to in order to keep it on the road. I can't imagine it lasting for another 5 years at the mileage i put on it lol

If these fail quickly then i'll probably get some better ones. Not a big deal to replace them if they go bad again, but for the $14 each at least it's safe to drive again. Wheel was wobbling around pretty bad with the old ones, had an awful lot of play.