help on removing front hub assembely.

[darnellracing]

i broke a lug off in the front hub. dam cold weather. i was wondering if anyone has taken a hub off and has any advise. step dad tried drilling out so easy out is out of question. o i almost forgot. i have a 90 festy so any advise is greatly welcomed.
Thanks, Cody

[Safety Guy]

Do you have another front hub of that same side to replace this with?

If not, do you have a machine shop that could get this broken lug bolt out for you?

Is the machine shop close enough so you could carefully and slowly drive there and put the car up on a jackstand so they could get the piece out?

Have you gotten a Haynes or Ford shop manual yet?

I'm sending you a PM.

Karl

[Pu241]

I'm sure SafetyGuy has you covered, but do you want to remove the hub or disassemble the hub to remove the broken bolt?
Disassembly of the hub calls for a press (it can be done without one) and to reassemble it, the press is absolutely required.

[Safety Guy]

Cody, here is a link to today's ebay page on "Ford Festiva shop manual." There are six of them from $11 to $14.25 in price (shipped!!), including two for model year 1990:

http://shop.ebay.com/i.html?_nkw=ford+festiva+shop+manual&_sacat=0&_sop=15&_dmpt=Motors_Manuals_Literature&_odkw=mazda+323+shop+manual&_osacat=0&_trksid=p3286.c0.m270.l1313

Be sure to check condition (better to pay an extra dollar for a cleaner manual) and seller rating. Also beware of getting the Electrical or other specialty manuals which you may not want right away. You want the "Shop Manual."

If you need actual step by step instructions on removing your hub, post again if you can't find it online. If I were you I'd order a shop manual or at least a Haynes ASAP! The link above has them for five to ten dollars less than the average price I paid for the half-dozen I own! Plus, if you get out of Festivas, you can probably get most of your manual money back by selling it right here, because someone will be wanting one. So do it!!

Good luck!

Karl

[sketchman]

....to reassemble it, the press is absolutely required.

Did my front rotors in my yard. Off and on. Went for thousands of miles now and no issues. You can do it if you're careful and patient enough.

Big socket, and small sledge.

Though certainly safer to do it "properly", I agree.

[Pu241]

^^^
Yes, it can be done without one, but if you do it wrong, you ruin a set of bearings in short order.

[darnellracing]

safety guy i do have a hub to replace it with. and i also have an 89 shop manual that the guy that sold me the car had. i was looking to just replace the hub probly. i was wondering cause in the manual it says i have to take the tie rod off and the a arm(what i call an a arm) and i also have to take the 2 bolts by the strut off, is all of this true?

[Safety Guy]

If you are wanting to replace the whole knuckle, then yes, it is true. Follow the instructions in "Front Wheel Bearings and Hubs" for the process.

Some hints:

When disconnecting the tie rod end from the knuckle and the end won't come out, hit the SIDE of the knuckle arm instead of trying to hit the bottom of the tie rod end. This comes from Arty (Festyboy).

(I'd use a two pound or preferably, three pound hand sledge for this.)

Soak everything in PB Blaster as long as you can before starting, and it should be easier.

It's usually my preference to loosen the wheel nut (to the CV shaft end) before jacking the car up. Take off the wheel center if you have one, and use some small screwdriver(s) or chisel(s) to bend back the deformable nut flange from the CV end groove. It doesn't have to be perfect, but get most of that out of the way. Then use a 1 and 1/8" socket and a breaker bar (with pipe extension if necessary) to loosen the nut. (You could also do this with someone holding the brake to keep the wheel from turning if you prefer to jack it up first.)

The "a arm" is usually referred to as the "lower control arm," but since there is no "upper control arm" I call it the "control arm" or just "ball joint arm" since that's where the ball joint is.

After the CV axle nut is off, the knuckle is held on at three points:

-tie rod end stud and castle nut
-control arm ball joint stud (by a pinch bolt)
-two strut bolts

I have had problems with the tie rod end stud and the ball joint stud not wanting to come out. When I have to use a ball joint or tie rod separator, I usually destroy the rubber grease seal and put a lot of strain on the joint. I then replace the control arm assembly.

Only one time did I have a lot of trouble getting a strut bolt out. It took over a week of PBB, a lot of impact wrench, cussing and breaker bars to get that one bolt off of Aqua's original front strut to knuckle bolt!

When reassembling, I'd use a little anti-seize on the pinch bolt stud as it fits up into the knuckle to make disassembly easier some day when you take it back off.

Make sure you check your ball joint before you do this! If it is bad, you may as well replace it while the knuckle is off. Check the other side ball joint, too!

Good luck.

Karl

[Pu241]

Safety Guy, pretty much covered it!

The only thing I might add is that the CV nut's vary in their socket sizing, due to use of aftermarket axles, from 28mm up to 32mm. Check both sides to make sure you have a proper fitting sock before starting work. If possible use impact sockets, so you wont round off the nuts, and an impact wrench if one is available. These will also work wonders on the strut bolts Karl spoke of.
I will reiterate the use of BP blaster and anti-seize.
These two items alone can save you much pain and suffering from a snapped bolt!
Let us know how things went and if you run into trouble.

[GenevaDirt]

safety guy i do have a hub to replace it with. and i also have an 89 shop manual that the guy that sold me the car had. i was looking to just replace the hub probly. i was wondering cause in the manual it says i have to take the tie rod off and the a arm(what i call an a arm) and i also have to take the 2 bolts by the strut off, is all of this true?

15 - 20 minute job, provided all the bolts are not caked in rust. As safety guy said....hit the knuckle on the side where the tie rod goes into it and it WILL pop out. 2 or 3 good hits should do it. Pretty neat little trick and you do not ruin your tie rod.

Good luck.

[WmWatt]

Spread the pinch bolt seat by driving a cold chisel into the slot and the pinch bolt comes out easier. Tap the bolt out gently with a punch or large nail so it can be cleaned up and re-used.

[scitzz]

The tie rod separator I "borrowed" from Autozone and never returned has not let me down yet.....EASY!

[darnellracing]

we have decided on just making a stud work for the one. i couldnt get the pintch bolt out and mom siad we would just put studs in. thanks for all the advise tho. im just gonna get the studs and put a 65mm in the one that i have to drill out and jbweld the nut on the back side of it. so it doesnt spin when i put a lug on. then the others im puting 40mm in and just lock titeing them in. thanks so much, Cody