Breaking tools to get off spindle / hub

[SpeeddemonRobb]

OK ~

So the dealer told me that I have a wheel bearing going bad as well as the axel carrier bearing. $850 for them to do it, hell to the no. So I order my parts and pop her up onto the jack stands and start removing parts to get to the goods.

Drivers side did not give me any problems at all. That being said, the passenger side is a different story.

First off, the 32mm nut. Got the socket, and attached it to a 2 foot breaker bar. Wouldnt budge even with me stanging on the bar. So I got the jack handle to add another 4 feet to the bar... Snapped the breaker bar @ the connection to the socket. Tried again, with another breaker bar, same result. Went to Home Depot and "rented" (bought and returned) a 25 gallon 200PSI air compressor ~ that did the trick with the nut!

Onto pulling the hub / spindle off the axel... Borrowed a gear puller from Autozone, and it worked just fine on the drivers side, but again, with the passenger side! I now own a broken gear puller. I went to Checker auto parts and borrowed one from them too, and although I didn't break the tool, the end that snugs up against the axel shaft now has a deep impression where the tool was resting against it.

I have heated it, and used PB Blaster, liquid wrench and all that as well, and the axel splines refuse to let go of the hub.

Frustrated?!?!? YOU BET!! That $850 is starting to look like it would have been money well spent, but I cant take the parts back, and I would still have to put all this s*** back together. I dont want to give up.

Have any suggestions?!?

Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi... You're my only hope!

Robb
2003 Pro5

 

[tweety2300]

Did you try a bfh?(big ******* hammer) or if ur scared of breaking stuff rubber mallet.

 

[HKPRO5]

Yup BFH. Rent one. the one with the sand in it.

 

[MazdaSpeeder]

Try an axle pusher...this worked well for me. Autozone has one.

I know the feeling...my bearings took me three days to get done. Don't get discouraged...you'll be able to get the job done.

 

[thecrash91]

would said bearing sound like a ticking coming from the rear drivers side wheel?

 

[tweety2300]

would said bearing sound like a ticking coming from the rear drivers side wheel?

A wheel bearing can cause all sorts of funny noises from a hum to sounding like u got mud tires(mine) so I would say it could be a wheel bearing but the rear ones should be way easier

 

[MazdaSpeeder]

^rears are way easier, but sometimes the bearing comes apart when you pull off the hub and you have to use a puller to remove the inner race. I've never had a wheel bearing change easily on this car!

 

[tweety2300]

The shop that I took mine to only charged me 125 for labor and I picked my wheel bearing up for 25 from autozone 150 total the axel bearing shouldn't have been a whole lot sounds like they were gona make a pretty penny off u

 

[SpeeddemonRobb]

What I was getting prior to taking to the dealer to see what the problem was, is a LOUD humming coming from the front end, changing pitch as I speed up or slow down. Doesn’t matter if the clutch was engaged or car was in gear ~ if it was rolling, there was a loud sound. I decided to take it to the dealer to figure out, and he told me my problem was the Drivers side wheel bearing AND the axel carrier bearing. They said they used a stethoscope to find the problems. I have looked for a how to on removing the axel carrier bearing, but didn't see anything. I was FINALLY able to remove the passenger side spindle after getting an axel pusher like Mazdaspeeder had suggested (thank you) that in combination with the BFH suggested by tweety2300 (Thanks) I was finally able to free the beast from the axel.

I have removed the bolts holding the carrier bearing support to the engine, and nothing moved. I am sure that the axel is lodged pretty firmly in the transmission, and would need to be kept fairly straight in order to come out. There is not much room to move around under the car, so I am not sure how the axel gets extracted from the transmission. I have the BFH close by, but dome want to start wailing away at the wrong area of the parts.

Has anyone removed the axel carrier bearing before? I guess you would need to in order to replace the passenger side CV axel. I looked in the HOW TO section, but I guess noone has done a how to on replacing the CV axels? Maybe I am looking in the wrong section for that, but if anyone has any bright ideas, I am open to listening, and trying...

Thnaks again!

 

[CheeseHelmet]

Removing the joint shaft (the thing that contains the bearing carrier) isn't all that hard. Remove the 3 bolts holding it to the block, then use a piece of wood and a hammer to knock it out of the tranny (see the service manual for more details).

Be sure to drain the transaxle first otherwise you'll be in for a pleasant surprise when you yank out the joint shaft

 

[tweety2300]

It honestly sounds like it was just the wheel bearing but I'm probly wrong but seriously how do you use a stehtoscope to find out if a bearings bad? I'm not saying its not possible I just wana know how out of curiosity

 

[CheeseHelmet]

It honestly sounds like it was just the wheel bearing but I'm probly wrong but seriously how do you use a stehtoscope to find out if a bearings bad? I'm not saying its not possible I just wana know how out of curiosity

They would have had to turn the axle with the car on the lift while pressing the stethoscope to the bearing carrier. I'm not sure if you'd be able to hear anything at low speed though...

If I were in the OP's place I'd just do the wheel bearings. If the joint shaft bearing is making noise it's not too much work to change it later.

 

[SpeeddemonRobb]

I have considered NOT doing the axle bearing, but decided to press on with it anyway, since I have the part in hand...

http://picasaweb.google.com/Robbthe...key=Gv1sRgCJbdkvzQlMflwAE#5561530508611268706

As you can see in the picture above, I have called out a few things. Using all the available access to intel as I have, I see that things on this are just a bit different from what I actually have. The SPRING that I called out, was removed from the other side of the dust cover, and nestled up close the the housing in a rubber like gasket groove.

http://picasaweb.google.com/Robbthe...key=Gv1sRgCJbdkvzQlMflwAE#5561530518403720434

Here is the intel I found showing the way this all is supposed to come together (or apart in my case) However, I am "missing" the dust seal on the transmission side ~ unless it is pressed into the housing as well.

http://picasaweb.google.com/Robbthe...key=Gv1sRgCJbdkvzQlMflwAE#5561533341918873058

This final picture shows a bit more, it includes everything in the previos picture, but you can now see the knuckle housing (green in the first picture) as part of the assembly. Item #25-421 is identified as a "CLIP". All I can see in that area is the spring i mentioned, and it doesn't have an open end like the picture shows. I went as far to remove the clamp holding the boot covering the knuckle assemply to see if there was a clip in there, but no luck.

How do you guys get this stuff done?!?! Do you all pay a shop to do it? This is really frustrating, since it really seems like it would be (or should be) a fairly straight forward proposition for someone mechanically inclined.

I have "dug" around where I took out that spring to see if I could feel any kind of clip, I also pushed back the silver colored metal dust seal to see if there was anyhting up under it, but there was not. So it comes down to this mystry clip, that I cannot find.

DAMN!!!!

 

[CheeseHelmet]

That clip is part of the axle, see page 03-13-11 of the service manual for more info. You really don't need to replace it unless yours is mangled, the part is about $1.50 from Mazda.

I've never changed any bearings on my car. The only reason I can answer your questions is because I had to remove the axles to remove my transaxle.

 

[tweety2300]

I haven't done a bearing on this car I've done one on an eclipse.sometimes it is just best to take it to a shop I did simply because I didn't feel like doing it plus I didn't have the tool to press the bearing in and out. Most things are pretty simple just time consuming with these cars like the clutch master cylinder for instance 2 bolts took me 4 hours total to do. Maybe your car is just stubborn like mine? Kick it a few times and sit it in the corner for while itl learn. Also threatin to sell or scrap it we went car shopping the other day my idle finally smoothed out and it got 30 mpg I'm really starting to wonder just how good the learning ecu is...

 

[SpeeddemonRobb]

OK ~ Thanks to all who have contributed to the end result - All the bearings have been changed, and the car has been put back together successfully!

Here are the final thoughts:

1. Awful noise coming from the front of the car, getting worse and louder with each mile driven.
2. Took to Mazda dealer to discover source of noise and gather solution information. ($107)
3. Declined dealer recommendation to have work performed there ($815 to remove and replace drivers wheel bearing and axle carrier bearing)
4. Ordered parts from www.dealerdirectparts.com (2 front wheel bearings, 2 dust seals, 1 axle carrier bearing) ($148)
5. Broke all kinds of tools to complete job (3 breaker bars, 1/2" ratchet, small vice)
6. Borrowed tools from local AutoZone (Hub puller, gear puller and 34mm socket) ($0)
7. Decided to replace tie rod ends as well (2 @ 24.99 ea. (AutoZone))
8. Opened up one of the CV boots, needed special grease and clamp to replace ($5)
9 Paid machine shop to press out and in new bearings NOT including axle carrier bearing ($70)

So including the $ spent to have the problem diagnosed (which would have been rolled into the cost of the dealers job) I spent a total of about $380 and did more then the dealer would have done. Although I got really frustrated, I think that with what I know now, I could EASILY do it again.

Here are the IMPORTANT TIPS for anyone going to attempt to do this on their own. These tips WILL make it much easier to complete the job:

1. UNPINCH the pinch point on the spindle nut before trying to remove.
2. Use something like a block of wood to tap out the tie rod end from the spindle, or plan on replacing after beating the hell out of the threads.
3. There are THREE bolts holding with axle carrier support to the engine block.
4. Once out, the passenger side axle set (intermediate axle and CV axle) will separate between the axle housing and the green colored knuckle housing. (just put the intermediate shaft into a LARGE & QUALITY vice, use a block of wood to tap downward on the green knuckle housing, and the two shafts will separate pretty easily.
5. Knowing what I know now, this EASILY could have been a one day job IF - IF - IF:
a - If you have the tools you need (nice compressor and air tools would help)
b - If you have a local machine shop that can get the job done in about an hour or so
c - If you have all the information you need BEFORE getting started.

I really wish there was someone local to me that needed to have this done, I think it would be great to do a HOW-TO on CV axle replacement as well as addressing the axle carrier bearing with it too.

Pictures are worth 1000 words...

Thanks all!

 

[tweety2300]

Ur axel carrier bearings they wouldn't happen to make a popping like noise would they? I've been trying to figure out what this is

 

[SpeeddemonRobb]

Well, since I had a wheel bearing going at the same time, I think they were both making a similar sound - a loud constant humming that changes intensity with speed. I cannot imagine that the axle carrier bearing would or could make a popping sound. When do you get this sound? does it change with speed? happen more during turns?

 

[CheeseHelmet]

Well, since I had a wheel bearing going at the same time, I think they were both making a similar sound - a loud constant humming that changes intensity with speed. I cannot imagine that the axle carrier bearing would or could make a popping sound. When do you get this sound? does it change with speed? happen more during turns?

Thanks for the write-up and I'm glad everything went well for you. I suspect I'll be changing my wheel bearings in the future (read: when it warms up).

So the humming in your case was constant? I have this weird noise that's intermittent coming from one of my wheels. It's not loud enough for most people to hear but I notice it and it drives me insane (some would argue that I'm already insane)...

 

[MazdaSpeeder]

Cheesehelmet, normally you can tell a wheel bearing because it will change pitch or go away all together when you turn to the right or the left at speed. Also, spinning your wheel by hand will often reveal a bad bearing, and you can use the shop test to determine (grab the top and bottom of the wheel and see if it moves) but I had a bad bearing but the wheel didn't seem to move when I did that.

Speeddemon, way to stick with it on a tough repair. I thought several times during my bearing replacement that maybe I should just give up and go to the shop...but in the end, I'm glad I did it myself. Happy to hear it all turned out well.