F@ck my life!
 

Wheel bearings.

I'm not looking to fix the fucking Hubble. Just the wheel bearings on a '91 Celica,

First, trying to get a 30mm deep socket. Craftsman doesn't have them.

Home Depot doesn't have them. Lowes doesn't have them.

Had to go to fucking PepBoys, and get a special "axle nut" socket.

Whatever. Does the thing come off? No. Just laughed at my 400 ft. lb. impact gun.

Shattered my fucking Craftsman breaker bar. Kid's returning it for a new one as we speak.

Gonna hafta cut the motherfucking nut off with on oxy/acetylene torch.

WTF? I can't catch a fucking break.

:bash:

Damn I hate those projects that run off track due to one bolt/nut, etc. Hang in there dude

Liquid Wrench, Heat, liquid wrench, Heat...wash, rinse , repeat...

PB Blaster soaking on it as we speak.

Don't think I'm gonna risk another breaker bar explosion, though. Socket went flying, and hit the kid in the hand last time. I'm just gonna heat the fuck out of it with the torch. Get it a good cherry red. I'll fry the fucking seals, but I already have new ones, and called Toyota for new nuts (nobody stocks them...same as on a fucking CAMRY, the best selling car in America, and NO ONE stocks them!).

Again, FML.

EDIT: GOT THE MOTHERFUCKER!

Yes, I had to torch the bitch cherry red with the oxy/acetylene, and then even with big honkin' pipe on breaker bar, it STILL was fucking insane to get off. If breaker bar #2 had let go, I probably would have put it right through the fucking fender, I was pulling on it so hard.

Need fucking nap time now, getting fucking old.

Wow, shit dude - that sucks.

I have the same problem on the Norton. I'm putting a new clutch on it and dang but this one nut is stuck. It's been soaking in PB Blaster. I think this thing has been on since '73. And, it might be easier if there was actually a tool in existence for it - I've broken two that people are making for it, or maybe just selling for it. I think I'll just sell the bike...

The picture doesn't come out. Does the axle have a portion to smatch the axle nut into a groove? Mazda had that shit.

It's always that ONE thing that nobody freakin' carries that breaks. Always.

Trust me. FWD wheels bearings? Leave it to the pros.

Worst fucking job, ever.

Got the spindle off, bearing in 3 pcs. Inner race now stuck on the hub.

More fun with torch tomorrow.

FML...again.

Best part? Get to do it all over again on the driver's side.

Kill me.

Hell mine needs a 50mm deep deep socket. 2" will work but I can't find one deep enough. I guess I could use someone's girlfriend's meatloaf sucker.

For the record, I've rebuilt entire engines, changed manual transmissions in 17 degree weather with nothing more than a 3/8" drive Chinese socket set (in 20 minutes!), moved fucking mountains, and performed numerous mechanical miracles in my day.

NEVER have I had such a sucky fucking time doing anything as this fucking car.

I've developed a whole new vocabulary in just the past 24 hours, and for me, that's saying something.

NEVER, NEVER, NEVER again. Unless you count the other side of the car, which still lies ahead...

AAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!

It's so deep Av. I don't need one know. Could have used one 5 or so years ago when I rebuilt my front end. I did the redneck tightning. Jaw pliers, turn till tight, back off some, set nut lock washer tabs.


We got a handyman store here and the guy gets things from Cali that are damaged, missing pieces, etc. There was a HF Earthquake impact I should have gotten. He wants $75 but I'm not sure on which model. Not worth it if its the 3/8 or 1/2" model, but its the 3/4" then its WAY worth it since those new are over $200.

Not to enjoy your pain, but I am glad to know I'm not the only one with these experiences when it comes to working on my own shit. Hell the other day I had to put a power steering line on my truck. went to take off the tire and forgot I had let the little tire monkey put the shit on the truck a couple months ago. he had those things so tight it took a 3 foot cheater bar to loosen the lugs. if it would have happened on the road, no way I'd have gotten them off. I took all the tires off and properly tightened them.
we won't even talk about changing the rotors on that mother. 3 days of swinging a sledgehammer but all 4 are nice and new.

Tip: if a wheel stud breaks off before the job even gets really started, you're ROYALLY effed. Ask me how I know.

I broke a wheel stud on my wife's car the other week. All I was doing was rotating the friggin' tires...19 lugnuts back on...it was late at night...I was tired from doing other crap all day...she's heading out of town the next morning and on the 20th lugnut...SNAP...ping...ping..ping...across the garage floor...FVCK !!! :rofl:

This past Friday afternoon I'm trying to help my elderly father with a 2001 PT Cruiser. The PCM (computer) has gone bad. Chrysler wants $800 + to replace it not to mention they had already charged him an $89 diagnostic fee to read the code and tell him it was bad. All you have to do is turn the key on and off 3 times to read the code on the dash but he didn't ask me before venturing over to the dealership.:wtfru:

I find him a refurbished PCM for $199 with a lifetime warranty and tell him I can install it obviously for free. I get the computer UPS'd to me go over there after work Friday...heat index over 100 of course...change out of my suit that I have to wear to work head out to the car and say..."pop...pull the hood release"...he does and NOTHING. :scratch: Now I'm in sort of a hurry and had planned to put this thing in fairly quickly even though you have to remove the air intake etc...just to get to the battery because it's underneath. :whatwhat:

His hood release cable had come out of the cradle and now we can't open the hood.:?:

I go in to his house and get on his SLOW internet and hit up a PT Cruiser forum and figure out how to break in to the hood without messing his car up. I go back out after about 30-45 minutes on his SLOW internet connection and after a few tries manage to get the hood open and then can finally start on what I came over there for. :rofl:

Needless to say...I'm already hot with sweat dripping in my eyes as I start on the PCM replacement. :lol:

Got it knocked out and saved him some $$ so it was all good.

This just came to mind when I saw this thread...nothing ever seems to go easy for me. :lol:

Ah, the brotherhood of wrench misery.

I tell you, I am in hell. I may take a day off before I go back to this.

Worst. Job. Ever.

the shitty wheel studs are the only complaint I have with my winter car (2007 Kia Optima). At least 1 breaks every time I switch from summer to winter tires or vice versa.

Anti-seize just may be your best friend ever.

truth. That and the fact that by the end of next year almost all of them will have been replaced with better studs anyhow :)

I've done a few wheel bearings now that I have learned why the shops usually charge a shitload in labor to get them replaced.

Any pointers on getting the stuck race off the fucking hub?

I have a hunch I'm looking at the same shit on the other side.

small cut off wheel? Die grinder/dremel size. not sure if it would work, seems I don't get real imaginative about the fix until the problem is staring me in the face.

I was gonna heat it, see if it slides off...but I gotta say, I'm not too thrilled with heating something as important as the hub. I'm kinda freaked out, in fact, that the only thing that really even keeps the wheels on the car, by design, is the press fit of the bearings.

:eek:

Dremel FTW

Don't heat the hub....go buy a 1# chunk of dry ice from the local Safeway (ours has a DI bin). Break off a chunk (same some for the other side), put it in a plastic bag and rap it with a piece of wood. Put the crushed DI in a small plastic sandwich bag and set it in the bearing housing for about 20 seconds.

Tap it with a drift and it will fall right off.

Reverse the process to put the new one in; chill the bearing, don't heat the hub; keeps from damaging the dirt shields on shielded bearings.

Well, the bearing (3/4 of it anyway) is already off (so I need not worry about hurting the plastic ball retainers). I actually bought a fancy FWD bearing press tool, with a bunch of different mandrels to remove and replace the bearing. Only one side of the inner race remains, stuck on the neck of the hub, and my intention was to heat the race (not actually the hub, which if anything, like you suggested, I was inclined to chill).

I just don't know what's worse, the cold applied to the hub, or the collateral heat from heating the race to get it off. Bottom line; temperature does shit to metal no matter what.

:idk:

Not thrilled with the fact that a press fit is all that holds the wheels on the car...but I guess that's the deal.

I hate FWD cars. What a colossal bad idea.

Dumb question time. Is this hub actually meant to be rebuildable? I know there are some hubs that the bearings are pressed in at factory and when something goes out, its all new hub time.


If you're good with a torch, you can heat a spot on the race up just enough and hit the torch lever just enough to blow away a little at a time and not screw up the hub. I did this with my rear axles. The 1" wide spacers that are pressed on where giving me hell. Using a grinder and ending up sliding and getting into the axle didn't seem good. Yes I know using a grinder to get a spacer or race off on an axle is in probably every FSM. I had no problem heating up a line and just blowing a little off at a time.

As far as I know, yes. They sell the bearings, and there are even videos on YouTube showing how to replace them.

Naturally, in the real world, things don't just go zip-zip-zip like they do in the instructionals (even with the fancy press tool).

:bash:


I've seen the hubs for sale on eBay...I think now I know why.

Considering just getting two new ones, and saying "fuck it". Getting this shit off just sucks my ass.


I'm not great with a torch, I'm not awful. I've cut up a lot of shit, but I'm a little squeamish about hurting the bearing area on the hub. I do, however, sincerely doubt I'd have the patience to cut that shit off with a whiz wheel.

I think I just need to get real good with a torch real fast.

Good idea...never used it for this but I've never broken a stud until the other week either.

You can shrink a bearing race by running a bead around the center of the race with an arc welder set on a low. Just run a bead in the circumference and it will fall out.

I need to grow the race. It's stuck on there like a cock ring.

I haven't done shit to it in over 24 hours. I'm just saving up hate, in order to attack it with fervor.

ah yes, I've used this method before. wear protection (gloves, glasses, cup) from flying articles. ask me how I know. LOL

good luck. I'm still leaning towards the cut off wheel on a dremel. Seems the sanest way to do it.

Youtube. Instantly viral guaranteed :lol:

Quoted for complete AWESOMENESS!!! Plus a side of :lol