1G 1g front wheel bearing removal for non abs car

This is a step by step walk thru for the removal of the wheel bearing in a non abs equipped car. There are several reasons for the need to remove a wheel bearing. The most common is a failure of the bearing which will produce a loud whirring noise as you drive. I am doing this because I noticed a large amount of grease coating the back side of the rotor mounting flange and this is a sign of a outer seal failure which can lead to a bearing failure.

Im going to skip the steps leading up to the hub removal as they can be found in other tech how tos listed in this same section.

I will post step by step how I did this work and suggest other tools or ideas for people that might not have the same tools available to them.

Step 0 (optional) I put this in here because I did this but its really up to you. If your seals or bearings have failed and puked grease everywhere you might want to degrease the hub before working on it just to make things less messy. I have a large parts washer that I used but if you dont have access to one I would suggest getting a can of engine degreaser from autozone and soak the hub down with it and let it sit for about 10 minutes then scrub it with a brush and rinse it off to remove the grease. once you do this move to the next step.


Step 1.
The first step is the removal of the axle spindle from the hub. I used a small shop press to do this. I used a press punch to drive the spindle out of the hub from the inside edge. If your doing this make sure the punch is large enough that it will not slip inside the spindle and damage the splines that the axle uses.

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With relatively low pressure it should force the spindle out and you will now have this.

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If you don't have a press another method that will work is a large c clamp to press the spindle out. You may have to make some kind of brace so that the clamp is not pressing the top and bottom of the spindle at the same time.

Step 2
With the two pieces separated you will be able to remove the first bearing from the hub. It is from the outside of the hub where the spindle came out of. You should only have to pull up on it lightly to have it come out of the hub.

Remove this bearing and set it aside for now.

Step 3
Take the hub and with it on a flat working surface you will need to remove the inner seal in order to continue to disassemble the wheel bearing. The easiest way to remove this is with a seal puller. If you don't have access to a seal puller a small claw hammer like you would find in a grocery store tool section works perfect or you can use a large Flathead screw driver, Be careful when prying as the bearing is directly under this seal.

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Step 4
In order to remove the other bearing there is a large C clip under the seal that holds the bearing race and bearing in the hub. I used a pair of large C clip pliers to remove the clip but i did one using a pair of regular needle nose pliers to see how hard it would be. This method can be dangerous so be careful if you are going to use it.

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When using the needle nose pliers I had to stick a small flat head screwdriver behind it as I squeezed the clip so that I could work it loose. This is where it becomes dangerous because as you try to pry this clip out it will normally pop out of the hub with a good amount of force and since your watching the clip to try and get it out it will normally shoot out and get you in the face.

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Set the clip aside as you will need it when you reinstall the bearing later.

Step 5
With the clip now out you can remove the race for the inner bearing and the bearing also. This is the same as the other where it should take very little effort to pull the bearing out.

So at this point we should have the following pieces
the hub that looks like this

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the spindle that looks like this

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the two removed bearings

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and the clip and one race

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Step 6
set the empty hub aside and pick up the spindle. The next step is to remove the outer bearing race from the spindle so we can replace the outer seal. For this you will need a bearing / gear puller. I have a 3 arm puller but if you don't have one you can borrow them from autozone or other auto parts stores. You will need the puller and a 1 1/8 inch socket to remove the race. Place the puller around the race and with the socket on the spindle and slowly start to apply pressure. I usually spray the spindle with pb blaster just to help the race to move once the puller starts to work.

socket on the spindle

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puller attached to the race

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a note about the puller is depending on how thick the arms are you may have to flaten the seals outer lip in order for it to fit under the race. Here is how i flattened it using a screwdriver.

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Step 7
With the race off the spindle you can now slide the outer seal off and your ready to begin inspecting parts.

With everything now apart you should totally degrease everything to give it a good inspection.

The bearings. When you degrease the ball bearings should be tight in the plastic housing and be consistent in the coloration and round. If they appear shaded/discolored or not perfectly round the bearing is worn and should be discarded. Obviously if the ball bearings are loose or falling out they should again discarded.

The Race When cleaned this should be smooth and consistent in shape. If they have any rough spots or wear in the bearing groove they should be discarded. Unfortunately the races are included with the bearings but if the race is bad so is the bearing. Remember when checking the races there are still 2 of them installed in the hub as we only removed the inner races to allow the bearings to be removed. The same 3 jaw puller can remove the other race if its necessary to remove it.

the seals Are designed to be replaced and are non reusable.

One not before you move on to the reassembly is to repack the bearings with a good quality grease so that when you put the race on the bearings the gap between them is solid with grease.

Reassembly should be as follows.

Step 1 repack and install inner bearing and race.
Step 2 reinstall c clip
Step 3 flip hub over
Step 4 repack and install outer bearing and race.
Step 5 Install outer seal onto spindle
Step 6 press spindle back thru the hub
Step 7 install inner seal
Step 8 swear your never doing this again and drink a bear then grab the other hub and start over.

If you lay out your tools and are prepared for this job it will take about 30 minutes per hub.