Q on front wheel bearings...

[muleskinner]

Are the front wheel bearings on the 89' Festiva LX pressed in to where you need a special machine to press them in & out or can I just replace them myself with the tools I have?

I replaced the back ones with no problem with a screw driver & hammer.

[FestYboy]

the fronts are a little more involved. if you're going to do it with hand tools, i'll step you through it. you'll need a few things though.

tools:
a Hammer (a BIG one)
a socket large enough to fit the inner race of the bearing (where the cage is attached) at the thickest part. 27mm impact should do it.
a 24mm impact socket (needs to slip inside the ID of the bearing)
a 1/2" extention (acts as a handle)
a 14mm socket and matching wratchet (the longer the better)
a cold chisel
a vice (firmly mounted)
a block of wood 2x or 4x4
a race driver (for the races that must be firmly seated in the knuckle) I like the aluminum set from HarborFreight
and if you have it (life will be easier) a cut-off wheel (or angle grinder with a cutting wheel)

now the instructions:
Remove the knuckle from the car (3 bolts, 1 nut, 1 tierod) after removing the caliper of course
Knock off any loose debris
Place the knuckle (upside down) in the vice and clamp the strut mount leaving enough clearance to allow the rotor to spin freely * i find it easiest to have it clamped on the sides that the bolts DO NOT pass through
Attach the 24mm socket to the extention and proceed to beat the hub out of the knuckle from the back side. shouldn't take too much effort and if you're good, you'll be able to tap on the rotor the last few mm to pop it off and NOT loose the spacer ring (it can fly sometimes)
Now that the hub and knuckle are seperated you can remove the inner bearing, the CV seal, both races and clean the knuckle.
Take the hub and remove the 4 14mm bolts to remove the rotor (replace bolts and rotor if nessisary)
Now take the hub and place it in the vice (clamping the rotor mount)
With cold chisel in hand, walk off the outer bearing from the hub (or if you're so inclined: remove the bearing cage and with cut-off wheel in hand, make 1 cut at about 60* from perpendicular, just deep enough to touch the hub surface. from that cut, you can take the cold chisel and crack the bearing and walk it off nearly by hand)
Remove the outer wheel seal from the hubYou now have all the pieces seperated (yay!)

From here, the hub (cleaned)wheel seal and a new bearing (packed with grease), place the hub facing up, install the wheel seal and place the bearing on the hub and block of wood on the bearing, knock the bearing flush.
You can take the bearing you just cut and use it to continue to seat the new bearing onto the hub.
Mount the rotor to the hub
Place the spacer on the hub
Install the races in the knuckle
Place the knuckle on the hub (still facing up)
Take your other new bearing (packed) and put it in the back of the knuckle and with the larger socket, knock it into place untill the bearing stops moving into the knuckle.
Install the CV seal.

you're done

[drddan]

^ What he said....


....but I find it a LOT easier to remove the knuckle assembly, and take to a shop and have them do the bearings.

....oh, dont forget the "spacer" in between the bearings is specific to each hub, and CANNOT be switched!!!!
If you do take it to a shop, be sure they know this!!!! Important!

[Bert]

^ What he said....
....but I find it a LOT easier to remove the knuckle assembly, and take to a shop and have them do the bearings.
....oh, dont forget the "spacer" in between the bearings is specific to each hub, and CANNOT be switched!!!!
If you do take it to a shop, be sure they know this!!!! Important!

It is so easy to burr or lightly damage a bearing that I have resorted to drdan's method too. My local garage has the proper equipment and knowledge for doing this stuff and in exchange for a 6 pack of beer I go home much more confident about longevity of front hubs. I had a 'home job' let go on me quite a few years ago and that sufficiently spooked me into seeking folks with better suited equipment. WmWatt on this forum site does have an illustrated and detailed page on how to do this at home if that really is something you want to tangle with and there is also a forum member that specializes in rebuilding Festy and Aspire hubs for members.

[htchbck]

I will just add that I've found it best to use Timken bearings, they are worth the extra $5 or $6 each over the store brand ones. I have never had an issue with Timkens.

Also I always replace the rotors with brand new ones, they are only $20 from AZ and it would suck to go through all the expense/trouble of rebuilding the hubs only to need rotors in another 5k miles and have to do it all over again since the hub has to be taken apart to do the rotors. I used to get them machined if they weren't too warped and there was enough meat on them, but the local shop wants $15 each to machine them, so I just pay the extra $5 for brand new.

[zoom zoom]

"I had a 'home job' let go on me quite a few years ago"

How did you manage that? They're kind of hard to mess up..

[nitrofarm]

"I had a 'home job' let go on me quite a few years ago"

How did you manage that? They're kind of hard to mess up..

Labrador comes to mind......sorry I just had to Bert :whip2:

[Movin]

the fronts are a little more involved. if you're going to do it with hand tools, i'll step you through it. you'll need a few things though.

tools:
a Hammer (a BIG one)
a socket large enough to fit the inner race of the bearing (where the cage is attached) at the thickest part. 27mm impact should do it.
a 24mm impact socket (needs to slip inside the ID of the bearing)
a 1/2" extention (acts as a handle)
a 14mm socket and matching wratchet (the longer the better)
a cold chisel
a vice (firmly mounted)
a block of wood 2x or 4x4
a race driver (for the races that must be firmly seated in the knuckle) I like the aluminum set from HarborFreight
and if you have it (life will be easier) a cut-off wheel (or angle grinder with a cutting wheel)

now the instructions:
Remove the knuckle from the car (3 bolts, 1 nut, 1 tierod) after removing the caliper of course
Knock off any loose debris
Place the knuckle (upside down) in the vice and clamp the strut mount leaving enough clearance to allow the rotor to spin freely * i find it easiest to have it clamped on the sides that the bolts DO NOT pass through
Attach the 24mm socket to the extention and proceed to beat the hub out of the knuckle from the back side. shouldn't take too much effort and if you're good, you'll be able to tap on the rotor the last few mm to pop it off and NOT loose the spacer ring (it can fly sometimes)
Now that the hub and knuckle are seperated you can remove the inner bearing, the CV seal, both races and clean the knuckle.
Take the hub and remove the 4 14mm bolts to remove the rotor (replace bolts and rotor if nessisary)
Now take the hub and place it in the vice (clamping the rotor mount)
With cold chisel in hand, walk off the outer bearing from the hub (or if you're so inclined: remove the bearing cage and with cut-off wheel in hand, make 1 cut at about 60* from perpendicular, just deep enough to touch the hub surface. from that cut, you can take the cold chisel and crack the bearing and walk it off nearly by hand)
Remove the outer wheel seal from the hubYou now have all the pieces seperated (yay!)

From here, the hub (cleaned)wheel seal and a new bearing (packed with grease), place the hub facing up, install the wheel seal and place the bearing on the hub and block of wood on the bearing, knock the bearing flush.
You can take the bearing you just cut and use it to continue to seat the new bearing onto the hub.
Mount the rotor to the hub
Place the spacer on the hub
Install the races in the knuckle
Place the knuckle on the hub (still facing up)
Take your other new bearing (packed) and put it in the back of the knuckle and with the larger socket, knock it into place untill the bearing stops moving into the knuckle.
Install the CV seal.

you're done

That was very well written! Nice clear and concise!!

[WmWatt]

photos at www.photobucket.com/Festiva-frontwheel

[muleskinner]

Thanks FestYboy! That helps alot!!

[FestYboy]

i do what i can...

[1990new]

photos at www.photobucket.com/Festiva-frontwheel

Great photo series....and thanks for showing all the mistakes and the fixes for them.

[1990new]

i do what i can...

...and we appreciate it.

[muleskinner]

Ok, now I have another Question.

I took this to a mechanic friend of mine to do brakes on this and he said he put everything back in the new rotors that came out the old ones. Now if he didn't put the spacers back in ...... what would happen eventually??

Right now I'm getting a slight thumping noise on the right side, especially when turning the steering wheel to the left it gets more noticable.
It hasn't gotten any worse..... yet!

[FestYboy]

if the spacers are NOT installed, the bearings will fail in under a week (or less).

a thumping noise: investigate the tire first.