AnthonyP
06-19-2006, 02:50 PM
Ok guys, sorry I haven't updated on this ... been a crazy weekend. Here's a summary of how the wheel bearing job went.
Friday afternoon:
My dad and I begin to pull the thing apart and get as far as jacking the knuckle up to get the ball joint between it and the control arm out. Well we had a piece of wood between the knuckle and the jack and when we almost had it jacked up it snapped in two. This caused the whole assembly to fall down and out, pulling the axle out of the tranny, while at the same time pulling the boot tight and twisting it. The tension and pressure build up inside the boot kept us from getting the axle back in the tranny which was a big problem since we didnt loosen that 32mm nut on the end beforehand. We ended up taking 20 mins to get the strap of death off the boot, got it back in the tranny and removed the knuckle from the axle.
At this point I head out (it's almost 9pm) with my buddy Mike, since it was his last night in town (he's active military). I thought this was the point we had things under control, but apparently I was so so wrong. The outside race was fused to the knuckle and had to be ground out, not only that but the first bearing had some issues. They tapped the bearing to get it level, but even with the press at 5000psi (not a typo :eek:) it wouldn't go in and eventually the damn thing just broke into a bunch of pieces. At this point it was 11:15 and my dad left with only a knuckle and hub.
Today (Monday):
My dad had picked up another bearing over the weekend and took it back to work to have it pressed in. This time it presses into the knuckle fine, however when they tried to press the hub into the bearing the inside bearing simply pops out. I spend most (2/3) of my lunch break running the 3rd wheel bearing to my other work (I happen to be putting a full day in at the job that doesn't have this equip) :banghead: and they are going to press it in. Hopefully the third time is a charm!
Friday afternoon:
My dad and I begin to pull the thing apart and get as far as jacking the knuckle up to get the ball joint between it and the control arm out. Well we had a piece of wood between the knuckle and the jack and when we almost had it jacked up it snapped in two. This caused the whole assembly to fall down and out, pulling the axle out of the tranny, while at the same time pulling the boot tight and twisting it. The tension and pressure build up inside the boot kept us from getting the axle back in the tranny which was a big problem since we didnt loosen that 32mm nut on the end beforehand. We ended up taking 20 mins to get the strap of death off the boot, got it back in the tranny and removed the knuckle from the axle.
At this point I head out (it's almost 9pm) with my buddy Mike, since it was his last night in town (he's active military). I thought this was the point we had things under control, but apparently I was so so wrong. The outside race was fused to the knuckle and had to be ground out, not only that but the first bearing had some issues. They tapped the bearing to get it level, but even with the press at 5000psi (not a typo :eek:) it wouldn't go in and eventually the damn thing just broke into a bunch of pieces. At this point it was 11:15 and my dad left with only a knuckle and hub.
Today (Monday):
My dad had picked up another bearing over the weekend and took it back to work to have it pressed in. This time it presses into the knuckle fine, however when they tried to press the hub into the bearing the inside bearing simply pops out. I spend most (2/3) of my lunch break running the 3rd wheel bearing to my other work (I happen to be putting a full day in at the job that doesn't have this equip) :banghead: and they are going to press it in. Hopefully the third time is a charm!