Powell Race Parts

iTrader: (3)

one hour everything goes perfect. days if it doesnt. not trying to be a smart ass. If the bearing is corroded hard in the hub its awful to get out. TIP: You can use a bolt and nut through the caliper mounting ear on the knuckle to use as a press to drive it out perhaps... may not work if the wheel bearing is too small in diameter. I keep prepped knuckles here on exchange, swap them out to get the job done, then use a 20 ton hydraulic press to get the bearings out when Ihave more time and its slow around here.

OrngBalt

Ha, I have no intention of trying to press out the bearing. I purchased a whole new assembly so as long as I can get it off the spindle with relative ease I should be fine.

sLAsh

iTrader: (2)

Johns not talking about pressing the bearing out of the hub. He is telling you that many times it is very difficult to get the hub out if the knuckle so he keeps spare knuckles around so he can just replace the knuckle and hub together and then press the hub out of the old one when he isn't busy.

Powell Race Parts

iTrader: (3)

^^^ this.

OrngBalt

Gotcha... I changed it today. Took about about 2 hours, but that was with a 30 minute trip to the parts store to get a puller.Once I drove the spindle out I literally just beat the **** out of the old assembly to get it out of the knuckle. It was corroded in their pretty solidly.

Now I have an ABS and T/C light on. I did get the correct hub with the sensor and it is attached. You think a hard reset should do the trick?

Powell Race Parts

iTrader: (3)

use a test light or a multimeter. dont guess. unless another sensor is gone, i would suggest check your work. check the wheel bearing, its possible to get lt wheel bearings for an 08 LS/LT to fit and 06 and they are wrong. the TC is harder to screw up as the axles are different.

SummerHeat

I just did this last night to the right front of my 2007 Cobalt LT. It was the first real auto work I've ever done. Took about 3 hours because I was being careful and double checking everything.

Thanks for the step by step.

sLAsh

iTrader: (2)

Did the passenger hub along with rear cabs and end links on the weekend. Was worried about the cabs but they went smoothly. End links had to be cut off but went relatively quickly as well.
Hub was a nightmare. 2 hours of beating on it with consecutively bigger hammers. Tried everything from dead blows, rubber mallets, various ball peens and finally was able to get it out in two pieces with a sledge hammer. The axle popped out without any trouble but the hub was "glued" into the knuckle with a brown vanish like deposit. Never ran into anything like it before. Woulda just taken the knuckle somewhere to have the hub pressed out but my wife was at work with the truck and I didn't want to leave it for fathers day.

Powell Race Parts

iTrader: (3)

LOL slAsh knows!!!

sLAsh

iTrader: (2)

Tell me about it. I could barely lift my arms by the end.
John, it wasn't corrosion holding it in. It was like a brown varnish. Never seen it before. Maybe grease leaking out of the bad bearing and turning to sludge from the heat. I had to scrape it off in big flakes and then sand off what was left to make enough clearance for the new hub to go in.
Oh well, lotsa antiseize on the new one so I should never have to go through that on the front passenger side again. Only 3 other wheels to worry about

Powell Race Parts

iTrader: (3)

what it is, is galvanic corrosion from two dissimilar metals in the presence of moisture and calcium chloride from road salt - steel wheel bearing and alloy knuckle. wont be anywhere as bad at the rear, thats steel bearing and steel beam mounting plate.

ItalianJoe1

iTrader: (10)

Did my first Canadian LSJ wheel bearing today, (07, 166k KM) it wasn't too bad and still the corrosion was a pain in the butt. The hub came out and left the sensor housing in the knuckle .

I ended up using a carbide bit in a die grinder to rough out all the crud, then sandpaper to finish it back to smooth aluminum before I put the new one on.

wollis1

Anyone notice any brake noise after changing a bearing? Could be the cold weather where I'm at, but mines making noise now

Gearblock

anyone know a decent brand for the front wheel bearing assembly? while shopping online, ive seen timken, ultra, and skf... i don't want something useless, which i guess would be the $50 ones, but $200 a piece seems pretty expensive. havent seen OEM anywhere, either. thanks!

ItalianJoe1

iTrader: (10)

Timken and SKF are both huge manufacturers who produce parts for OEMs so you will be fine with those.

Powell Race Parts

iTrader: (3)

lol I do my powdercoated replacement knuckle trick. Although some how I pc'd a bent LNF knuckle which didnt work well two days ago.

the corrosion stuff gets old real fast.

so do folks not torqueing the axle nut correctly. 135 lsj 159 lnf

dedicated06

Just changed my first wheel bearing hub today. Overall wasn't difficult. Had my wife stand on the brake while I broke the 30mm axle nut loose. The three 15mm bolts are in tight spaces so I used a three and six inch extension to get to them. Used a bunch of pb blaster on the hub to help loosen some of the corroded areas. Used a dead blow hammer to whack on the backside of the hub and also used a flat screw driver to wedge between the knuckle and hub to pry it loose. Don't forget to clean up the inside of the knuckle and get all the old crud that's stuck in there out before u install the new bearings.

Viperoni

I just changed the drivers front wheel bearing on my IRL and it was a huge PITA.

I had to hit it with liquid wrench and a 10lb sledgehammer, a regular one pound hammer didn't do ****. The ABS ring separated from the bearing like another posters.

It took a bunch of work to clean out the "bore" in the spindle that the hub sat in too - there's no way I could have inserted the new hub into the spindle without cleaning it out.