Replaced rear wheel bearing

[nelsonvette]

Just wanted to post this now while it was still fresh in my mind. Replacing a rear wheel bearing is not that bad of a job. I read some post before I did mine that made me believe it may be a lot tougher than it really was. Mine is a 95 coupe.

The day before I did the job I jacked it up and took the wheel off. Sprayed WD40 on the Spindle Hub bolt and on the threads of the 3 torx bolts, you can see them behind the hub, I put a drip pan under the wheel and used a lot of WD40.

Tools I used for the job were a craftsman 1\2" breaker bar with a 36MM socket for the spindle nut. 10" 3/8 extension. 3/8 universal. 3' and 1' section of iron 1" pipe. 10MM and 18MM socket. T55 Torx. Flashlight.

I used a 3 foot section of 1" pipe to extend the breaker bar, (got an offcut of pipe at Home Depot for 78 cents. It was 4 foot when I bought it but I had to cut off 1 foot to use on the rachet under the car for the torx bolts), a 10" long 3/8" extension with a universal and a #T55 Torx, 10MM socket for the Speed sensor and 18MM for the brake caliper.

Removed it as follows.

I removed the cotter pin and spindle nut retainer cap. I had my wife get in the car and start it up then apply the brakes. I used the breaker bar with the 36MM socket and the 3 foot pipe and the spindle nut came loose with one good tug.

I then turned the car off and blocked the front tires and jacked the other side of the car so both rear wheels were off the ground. Used jack stands to support. Put the car in neutral. Removed the brake caliper and the rotor. Removed the speed sensor (1 10MM bolt). Got under the car with a flashlight and removed the 3 torx bolts. This was the most difficult part.

The 10" extension with the universal and a 12" pipe extender on your rachet is a must have. You will need to turn the wheel to move the half shaft to gain access to the torx bolts thats why both wheels are off the ground and car is in neutral. Once you get the 3 torx out you can pry the hub off with a flathead screwdriver.

When I put the new hub back on I used a dead blow mallet to tap on the new hub. Getting the first torx in is challenging to get it lined up but I was able to do it by myself, Tighten everything up to specs. 66 ft lbs on the torx and about 170ft lbs on the spindle nut.

 

[sxyvet]

hi nelsonvette,
welcome to corvette action center!
also great write up on replacing rear wheel bearing!
well done and thanks!
cheers
glen
sxyvet
Australia

 

[tigmaned]

yours is a 95 and needed wheel bearings all ready. how much play did you have in them? i have 86 and up in the air i can feel a little play in mine but if i pull on each side at the same time the play feels the same? so i am not sure if i need them? can you feel a diff driving your vette with the new ones now.

 

[nelsonvette]

There should be no play in the wheel. If you can rock it a tiny bit then chances are the bearing is bad and yes I did feel a difference. Before changing the bearing at 60 to 70mph I got a vibration. Had the tires balanced and it was still there. After the new bearing the vibration stopped.

 

[garycr14]

Thanks for the insight. I haven't reached that point as of yet, but I am sure that day will come. I have found reading this forum is a great source of information, and has been very helpful on many occasions, but sometimes you need to check things out yourself before you get into a panic. There are a lot of experienced people out htere with great advice, but sometimes, as you have seen, some folks make a bigger deal aabout a project then it really is. Some would make you believe it takes all day to change your sparkplugs, but the reality is it can be done in 11/2 hours, and maybe even less. My advice is before you start a project read this forum first, you'll usually save yourself a bunch of time & headaches. Welcome to the action center.

 

[davec0_17]

click

with 36,000 on my 94, I had a click from the rear when I pulled out. It was just one click, and you could only hear it with the window down. Turned out to be a spline noise in the wheel bearing hub. The half shaft spline was fine. Its not that bad of a job, takes a couple hours. Good time to do the U joint bearings while your doing the wheel bearing.

 

[Robertwav1]

Great posts there. Saved them for future reference.

 

[Achilles]

Don't always assume the wheel movement is a result of worn wheel bearings. While having other work done on my car, I had a mechanic tell me my wheel bearings were shot. I checked the wheels for movement and sure enough they did rock back and forth. I changed out the wheel bearings myself to only find out afterwards that I still had movement in the wheels. Closer inspection showed the bushings in the control arms were worn out. Once those were replaced, everything is fine.

 

[speedmaster4]

good write-up...one slight add: use ''blue'' loctite on the torx bolts , lots of it...stop the bolts from backing out now and keeps water from going in so the next guy (could be me!) can remove em someday

p.s.--don't tell the craftsman tool guy about the pipe

 

[nelsonvette]

When checking for wheel movement I was told to rock the wheel from top to bottom to check for wheel bearing and front to back for control arm. This held true in my case. There should be no movement either way. If anyone can verify this please do.

 

[davec0_17]

specs

.005 inch of movement is the maximum factory spec, measured with the rotor held in place with 2 lug nuts, and the dial indicator is held in place on the center of the brake rotor. Wobble the rotor from the bottom and check the reading. Installing bigger rear wheels and tires usually accelerates bearing wear.

 

[tigmaned]

what do you mean by bigger wheel, diameter or width? i have a 1986 which should have had 16" and now has 17" off a 1990 vette.
i will check my control arm bushing also before i shell out for the bearing hubs! what brand did you go with, Ac-Deco

 

[nelsonvette]

I got the bearing from Ecklers. It was not AC delco. Delco was $264.00 and these were $149.00. I run less than 5,000 miles a year and do not race. Ecklers will tell you its pretty much the same thing ,you just aren't paying for the name however others will say the off brand is cheaper quality and will wear out much sooner. I agree that you usually get what you pay for but you have to decide what your needs really are. In my case the cheaper one will perform fine.

 

[Achilles]

When checking for wheel movement I was told to rock the wheel from top to bottom to check for wheel bearing and front to back for control arm. This held true in my case. There should be no movement either way. If anyone can verify this please do.

That is correct. Me being inexperienced at the time with this issue just assumed my mechanic knew what he was talking about and I replaced the wheel hubs. My control arm bushings were so worn that the wheel rocked in all directions. I chose to go with the AC/Delco pieces just because this is a auto-cross and track car that I didn't want any reliability issues. I'm sure the aftermarket brands are fine also & especially just for street use.

 

[speedmaster4]

no chinese bearings for me...i'll skip lunch for a couple days and go first class on something that critical

 

[Achilles]

no chinese bearings for me...i'll skip lunch for a couple days and go first class on something that critical

Like-wise

 

[davec0_17]

I bought an Advanced Auto bearing. I thought if I only got 36 thousand miles out of the factory hub, I wasnt going to buy the same kind. I expect hubs to last longer than that. It may have had something wrong with it, by the previous owner, and thus not the hubs fault. Eather way, it should have been engineered to take the abuse. By over size wheel/tire, I'm taking about the 315 series. ZR1 size.

 

[tigmaned]

funny how the rear wheel bearing are still a weak point in the C-4's, since it was in the C-3's too. my 74 you had to keep track of the bearings and keep them greased!! buddy of mine had 76 and one froze up on him and did alot of damage under his vette. one good thing with our D-4's there easier to change out?? but why they don't last longer??????????

 

[davec0_17]

I've read 50,000 is what to expect of rear wheel bearing life. The price of performance? Like you said, they are not that big a deal to replace.

 

[tigmaned]

would re-torqueing the 36mm nuts help any ?