Had roaring noise, sounded like coming from drivers side front. Ordered up a new bearing/hub assembly ($60+ on ebay). The Factory Service Manual says to use all new bolts for everything. There is some speculation on whether this is really neccesary. I used new bolts for the three that hold the hub/bearing assembly to the vehicle and a new spindle/axle nut (large 30mm).
The three bolts are grade 10.9 which is hard to find. I got them from the dealer, they are $12/each! The dealer had a very hard time locating the part so here is the magic part number... W705696-S436. The spindle nut was $10. The new spindle nut has some nylon material on the threads and you must torque it immediately after installing it so it will set.
This job was hard, primarily because EVERYTHING was rusty and didn't want to come apart. You must seperate the sway bar, ball joint, and tie rod from the knuckle. You must also use a push/pull tool to push the axle out of the old hub (mine was really hard, I made a push tool to assist, see pic below).
I broke a bolt on my ABS sensor and had to extract the broken part and put a new bolt. The hub is supposed to come off easily, I had to beat it out with a hammer. The brake rotor was stuck to the hub, I had to use a hydraulic press to remove it after it was off the vehicle.
Re-assembly was very simple, it was taking it apart that was hard. I used the old spindle nut and an impact wrench to "pull" the axle into the new hub then I removed the old nut and put on the new one as my LAST step. (I put all the brakes and everything else back on first). I immediately put the wheel on, dropped it vehicle, and torqued it to 180+ ft/lbs as specified.
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02-20-2008, 12:30 PM
