redkneck Posted December 31, 2010 Report Share Posted December 31, 2010 My project today (since the weather is awful and I aint hunting) is to replace the rear wheel bearing on the bmw. Gotta love this high-priced import crap. Didnt replace a bearing on my chevy until 250K in a lifetime that was filled with deep water and lots of mud, mud, mud. Maybe gm could send some folks over and teach them something, lol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shaun_300 Posted December 31, 2010 Report Share Posted December 31, 2010 Told you not to buy that thing. J/K Have fun with that! Can't be too complicated of a job though, let us know how you made out. Before I even hear about it let me guess, you probably needed some stupid inverted torx sockets to get the stupid thing out. That's the way most imported cars are. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redkneck Posted January 1, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 1, 2011 (edited) haha! I didnt buy it! I think (hope) it will be the last bmr parked at this residence. btw... the mechanic told me all I would need was an e14. Wrong, I need a hub puller for starters, then hopefully I'll get the job done. Edited January 1, 2011 by redkneck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redkneck Posted January 1, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 1, 2011 Took no less than a thousand hits with the slide hammer to pull the hub off. Then lots of knuckle beating to pull the other half of the hub with the 4 hard to get to, heavily loc-tited, inverted torx bolts. If this don't fix the noise, I'm going to be ticked. The bearing is a one-shot thing, you destroy it to pull it off again. This job sux. BMW sux. :hammer1: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shaun_300 Posted January 2, 2011 Report Share Posted January 2, 2011 As long as you sanded up the spindle before you put the new one on it should fall out if you had to replace it again in the near future. I hate working on imports. Just had to put a transmission in a Pontiac Vibe, which is a Toyota Matrix. What a pain in the rear end compared to GM vehicles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VermontHunter Posted January 2, 2011 Report Share Posted January 2, 2011 Sounds like a real pain in the butt job .. I gave up on being a back yard mechanic ,, for the time and the money both of our vehicles go to the dealership, where the pros have the know how and the specialty tools required these days ... Thats just me to .. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redkneck Posted January 3, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 3, 2011 Sounds like a real pain in the butt job .. I gave up on being a back yard mechanic ,, for the time and the money both of our vehicles go to the dealership, where the pros have the know how and the specialty tools required these days ... Thats just me to .. Would love to do the same Luke, but it's a $500 dealer job, and I only paid $70 for the part. I'll put in a few hours for that. Sometimes I come out on the losing end, but usually save myself a lot of $. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VermontHunter Posted January 3, 2011 Report Share Posted January 3, 2011 Would love to do the same Luke, but it's a $500 dealer job, and I only paid $70 for the part. I'll put in a few hours for that. Sometimes I come out on the losing end, but usually save myself a lot of $. I hear ya my friend on saving some money ,, but with me it usually ends upcosting me twice .. My temper can get the best of my .. lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redkneck Posted January 4, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 4, 2011 Well so far I'm going in the hole! Put it back together and no improvement at all. Got the spare out and put it on both back positions with a test drive after each and no change. Possibly the other wheel bearing transmitting noise across the alloy frame, I don't know. Pretty disheartening, but not the first time I have had an exercise in futility. I just hope it's not the rear diff, dang sure shouldn't be, but this noise is bothering me. Not terrible, but sure as heck noticeable at highway speeds, sounds like a truck with mud grips almost. Maybe the rear CV's. Guess I'll bite the bullet tomorrow and get it to the import shop of the dreaded BMW dealer. :bat: I'm just distrustful of most mechanics! lol I don't think their inheirently evil, they just don't treat my money like it was thiers lol. :helpsmilie: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redkneck Posted January 7, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 7, 2011 So the mechanic calls this morning to tell me the other wheel bearing is bad. Now I will owe him as much for diagnostics as the bearing will cost. Bad part is, that if I would have let the first guy do it, he would have stuck me for $300 for the first bearing, then drove it to find out the other was bad, then I would have been stuck for $600 and told "well we found out both bearings needed replaceing" rather than just being honest and eating the first one he misdiagnosed..... or so I would imagine. B - buy M - more W - warranty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LETMGROW Posted January 8, 2011 Report Share Posted January 8, 2011 I really hate to see a mechanic get a bad rap. Just maybe the mechanic would have been a little more thourough and diagnosed it correctly the first time. A good road test, raising the car on a hoist, checking the wheels for play and a feeling of roughness. Often we run the vehicle hoisted and use equipment to isolate the problem bearing. Then we replace the bad part and send you out happy. The majority of shops are honest. The few which are not , unfortunately give us all a bad reputation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shaun_300 Posted January 8, 2011 Report Share Posted January 8, 2011 I really hate to see a mechanic get a bad rap. Just maybe the mechanic would have been a little more thourough and diagnosed it correctly the first time. A good road test, raising the car on a hoist, checking the wheels for play and a feeling of roughness. Often we run the vehicle hoisted and use equipment to isolate the problem bearing. Then we replace the bad part and send you out happy. The majority of shops are honest. The few which are not , unfortunately give us all a bad reputation. Ditto. We just wouldn't drive it and say yep it's the left rear wheel bearing without doing some tests. I have various tricks to diagnose wheel bearings that I've learned from myself and fellow techs over the past 6 years. Not too often I change the wrong one. And If I do I wouldn't say you need another one if you didn't need to. There's been a few times where I changed the wrong side. I take the time to take the new one out and put it on the other side and put the good one back in. If it didn't get destroyed taking it out. There's often cases where we believe both are noisy and we always tell the customer that before we change the first one, that we'll change the one that feels/sounds the worst and go from there. Sometimes it's worth the labor to take it to the dealer or a shop where people work on these things for a living rather than throwing parts at it until it's fixed. Oh and a $70 wheel bearing? Holy smokes that's cheap, that's about the cost of a wheel bearing for an Aveo which is just a pressed in bearing, not a hub assembly. Some 2006/2007 classic GM trucks have front wheel bearings that are $750 just for the bearing. And there's no aftermarket available for that particular bearing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Washi Posted January 8, 2011 Report Share Posted January 8, 2011 Hijack. What are some of these tricks? I think I have a front wheel bearing going bad on my 1999 Ranger 4x4. According to the local parts store it's going to cost $285 (almost half my monthly income) (plus tax) for a new one so I need to make sure I get the correct one done. I'm just hoping my dad and brother can do it because if I have to pay a mechanic to do it I may not be able to drive for a few months. My luck both are going bad at the same time. These look like the ones I need. What do you think the chances are they would be decent quality? http://www.1aauto.com/1A/wheel-bearing-hub-front/Ford/Ranger/1ASHS00039/315938?utm_source=google_base&utm_medium=comparisonshopping&utm_campaign=gb_api_nobr&utm_content=SHS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LETMGROW Posted January 8, 2011 Report Share Posted January 8, 2011 I clicked onto the site and those bearings appear to be selling for $ 205 as a pair. Certainly cheap enough. Quality? No way to tell just by looking. Would I use them? Probably not. Even though they have a 1 year warranty, if one failed I would have to wait for a replacement unless I stocked them. My customer might be a little upset while waiting for the replacement. I am commited to buying locally for that reason. The bearings I use have a lifetime warranty on most part numbers. In your case, if you have the vacuum hubs you had better plan on replacing the inner seal and outer O rings. Otherwise there is a good chance the hub won't engage when put the truck into 4 wd. Removing the outer plastic cap is a little tricky. The tabs get brittle and tend to break when prying on them. IMHO this system was designed by an idiot. If you can't feel play in the bearing with the front wheels jacked up off the ground you can turn the wheel and put your hand on the frame or bumper while turning to see if you feel any roughness. If you have trouble turning the wheel you may have to remove the wheel, remove the brake caliper, tie it back out of the way. [ Don't let it hang by the brake hose ] reinstall the wheel using 1 wheel stud and nut and try spinning the wheel again feeling for any roughness or noise. You will probably have to do this to both sides to be sure you are finding the culprit bearing. This is a good time to service the brakes as you are going to have them apart anyway. Quite often you can't feel anything if the bearing is just starting to get bad as there has to be weight on the wheels to hear a noise. This is where it really gets tricky. Usually we can determine the bad side on a road test only because we develop an ear for this over time. Yep, we do get it wrong once in a while. That is why we warn the customer we may have to replace both bearings to correct a problem. We make every attempt to isolate the bad part but sometimes it is nearly impossible. Something to keep in mind is both bearings probably have the same mileage on them anyway. It will be just a matter of time and the other will be bad anyway. Trying to save a bearing to reinstall is not likely. Especially in our salted and sanded road environment. These things don't generally just fall out. More often than not we have to use a torch, air chisel and a 24 oz hammer to get the bearing out or apart. After bearing removal it is mandatory to clean the housing well to remove any debris to facilitate seal changes and proper fit of the new bearing. Want to ruin a new bearing? When you tighten the axle to hub nut, give it all you can with a high power impact wrench. There is a torque spec. for every bearing out there. Find it and use it. A while back I was in the local NAPA store when a customer brought a bearing in he claimed was defective. The inner race was cracked in three places. [ sure wasn't built this way ] I asked the customer how he tightened the axle nut and he replied he used a 3/4" breaker bar and a long piece of pipe. He wanted to be sure the nut was tight because it went on hard all the way. Duh! I wondered why he didn't clean the threads or rethread the axle but didn't ask him. I instead advised the counterman to show him the torque spec. sheet provided with the bearing and made reference to my observations. Lynn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Washi Posted January 9, 2011 Report Share Posted January 9, 2011 Yes I have vacuum hubs. About the inner seal and outer O-rings. Since the bearing and hub comes as one piece (I think part of the reason it is expensive), are they part of the of the package or are they separate parts I have to buy and replace? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LETMGROW Posted January 9, 2011 Report Share Posted January 9, 2011 The seals are seperate of the bearing. You would do well to replace the seals while the bearing is out. They can be ruined while wiggling the bearing etc. to get it out. Also, there is a small metal tube on the top of the spindle where the vacuum line connects. Be careful to not hit or disturb the tube if you can. Maybe not in MO, but up here these get rusted and break easily. I do have a fix for this but hope you don't need to. Be sure the cv shaft where the inner seal rides is clean, as well as the surfaces the seal sits against in the housing. The smallest of vacuum leaks will keep the hub from being fully engaged in 4wd. Awhile back we had a Ford come in with a complaint of the check engine light coming on when the driver put it into 4wd. When the 4wd was shut off, the check engine light would go off after a couple minutes. We scanned the computer system and there were two lean codes stored in the history. A road test revealed the fuel trims would go to the max added fuel when the truck was put into 4 wd. We found a bad seal at a front wheel letting vacuum escape. Strangely, the 4 wd would engage but it would slip some. The customer hadn't noticed this. We replaced the seals, road tested and all was good. Lynn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redkneck Posted January 10, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 10, 2011 Thanks for the advice guys! Lynn, this is the BMW, not the z71. Had to make a plate and used jack screws to pull the dang hub off the drive shaft. Good thing I got friends with machine shops or that job would have bit me in the rear. Also good to have a small ice storm so I had the day off to boot! She purrs down the highway again....... for now... :bat: Still get P0306 after it sets for a couple of days. My guess is the boot (plug wire) is in need of replacing. It clears after idling for a while, I'm thiking it gets dried out. Will have to look at it one day, but man at the crap that has to be removed from the engine just to even see the plugs!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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