Photo Essay - Ba/bf Front Bearing Hub Replacement

[PhilMeUp]

Symptoms: a growling sound coming from the front of the car. The sound will also decrease as the car swerves or turns to one side.

This job was done on a car that will hopefully become a taxi in the near future (if/when I can find a plate to lease), so it will cover standard BA/BF Falcon stuff instead of my usual Brembo brake setup.

To remove the bearing hub nut requires a 36mm socket. If you’re going to buy one then make sure that you get one as short as possible. Why? Because that nut is done up extremely tight, and the force required to undo it/do it back up again is so much that the leverage forces the socket to slide off the nut.



I use an Arcan trolley jack for jobs like this. By jacking up the car at the front chassis crossmember I can get both front wheels off the ground at the same time. If you’re in Melbourne then you can buy them from Aldi for $164. Everyone else (me included) can look on eBay or Gumtree, where you’ll find plenty of people that buy them from Aldi and then resell them with a profit margin added on. I paid $250 for mine, including postage to Perth.



I loosen the wheel nuts before getting the wheels off the ground. I use an extendable wheel brace and ratchet adaptor to make it quick and easy.
Extendable wheel brace: http://www.supercheapauto.com.au/online-store/products/Super-Works-Wheel-Brace-Wrench-Extension-530mm.aspx?pid=2816#Cross
(Supercheap Auto item 2816)
Ratchet adaptor: http://www.supercheapauto.com.au/online-store/products/SCA-Torque-Wrench-Adaptor-Ratchet-1-2-Dr.aspx?pid=215995#Cross
(Supercheap Auto item 215995)



Having both wheels off the ground at the same time makes it easy to rotate the wheel hub back and forth as required, to improve access to various brake caliper bolts.



I started by removing the brake caliper. This requires a 12mm spanner or socket to loosen the bolt, plus an 18mm spanner to stop the guide rod from rotating. In this photo I have used a ratchet spanner, but a ratchet and six-sided socket would be a better choice. The six-sided socket would also ensure that the bolt head would not get rounded off.



Once the caliper is off (and hanging out of the way via a pot plant hook) it is time to remove the caliper mounting bracket. This is easily done by removing two 15mm head bolts. These are done up fairly tight and getting a ratchet and socket in there can be tricky. These days I am using a Sealey AK631915 extra long spanner, which gives me the leverage to loosen and re-fit these bolts easily. There is a plastic grommet that holds the brake line in place, so I had to rotate the caliper and brake line to turn the grommet to the point where it slides out of the bracket.



Once the mounting bracket is off then the disc rotor slides off easily. It’s important to keep the various surfaces clear of corrosion so that it all goes back together as Ford intended. I use a cordless drill and wire brush to clean the surfaces.



The next step is to remove the dust cap that covers the hub nut. This is rough, but I’ve used a set of multi-grip pliers to loosen the cap enough to get a flat blade screwdriver in to lever it off.



Here I am using a flat blade screwdriver to lever the dust cap off. Once I went around the outside of the entire cap then it was loose enough to come out.



Here is the hub nut.



Now it’s time to get the hub nut off. This thing is done up extremely tight, so the usual ratchet will not do the job. I used my extendable wheel brace to get enough leverage with the 36mm socket. I used one hand to push the end of the wheel brace and the other hand to push the socket over the nut to ensure that it won’t slide off.



Once the nut has been removed then it’s time to remove the bearing hub.



The hub should just slide right off, but it is possible for the inner part of the hub to stick to the shaft. If this happens then that can be removed with a hammer and chisel.



Time to put the new hub on - it just slides on over the shaft.



Once the new hub is on, use a normal ratchet with the 36mm socket to do it up hand tight.

[PhilMeUp]

When I went looking for a torque wrench a few years ago I chose a Snap-On TECH3FR250 because it has the capacity for this job. The required torque, according to the Ford service manual, is 300Nm. Again, I used one hand to ensure that the socket wouldn’t slide off the hub nut. I used my torque wrench because I’m being picky, but I’ve never seen a taxi mechanic use one. Basically, if you want to do this job at home without a torque wrench then just do the nut up very, very, very tight. But, you are most welcome to go and rent a suitable torque wrench from somewhere if you want to.



Now it’s time to put the brake caliper mount and caliper back on. The disc rotor goes on first. Here, I’ve put a wheel nut on to hold the disc in place while I put the bracket and caliper back on.



Make sure that you get the brake line grommet back into the bracket.



I bought this brake pad spreader from Radum a while ago and am finding it very useful for pushing brake pistons back in. You can also do this with a g-clamp and brake pad if you haven’t got a pad spreader. I’ve pushed the pistons back in to make it easier to get the caliper back over the brake pads.
www.radum.com.au - search for Disk Brake Piston Spreader (current link - http://radum.com.au/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=8685)



Getting the dust cap back on can be tricky - hit it with a mallet the wrong way and the cap can bend out of shape, making it even harder to push back in. I grabbed one of the rings from my G & G Technics GGT-400 Hand Press kit so that I could apply force to the outside of the cap instead of hitting it in the middle. If you are going to do this job then a trip to a hardware shop to get some pipe would be worth doing - I can’t see why even some cheap plastic PVC pipe wouldn’t do the job.



This job is very easy. I have a car that I’m about to sell, and it had a noisy bearing. I ended up putting new bearings on a car that will be a taxi in the future, and then putting the bearings from that car on the car that I’m going to sell. This meant that I did a total of four bearing hub swaps in a row. I timed myself on the second car, and had the job done in a bit under 27 minutes (ie from wheels on the ground to wheels on the ground). You could do this at retirement home pace (like I normally do) and have it done in well under an hour.

However, it does require quite a range of tools. The list:
- flat blade screwdriver
- extendable wheel brace
- multi-grip pliers
- ratchet
- 12mm socket (for caliper bolts, used with ratchet or cordless drill)
- 15mm socket (for caliper bracket, used with ratchet or cordless drill)
- 12mm ratchet spanner (not required if you use a socket instead)
- 15mm ratchet spanner
- 18mm spanner
- extra long 15mm ratchet spanner
- 36mm socket
- pot plant hook
- brass ring from my G & G Technics GGT-400 Hand Press kit
- rubber mallet
- cordless electric drill
- brake pad spreader
- Snap-On TECH3FR250 torque wrench
- 21mm socket for wheel nuts



Torque specifications from the service manual (including 300Nm for the wheel bearing nut):





Part 2:
I’ve only changed front wheel bearing hubs a few times, and each time the hub has slid off the spindle shaft easily. However, there is the possibility that the inner rings of the bearing hub will rust to the spindle shaft. Then, when you remove the bearing hub, the inner ring will stay behind.

This isn’t a huge problem - as documented in ronwest’s article, it’s simply a matter of getting a hammer and chisel, and then using them to forcefully push the ring off the spindle shaft.

However, this will usually not be an option for me as I’m generally doing mechanical work late at night. Banging with a hammer will make too much noise, so although I’ve found bearing hubs to be easy to replace so far I wanted an option that would remove the inner ring quietly if required. I actually went looking for something to assist with pushing rear axle bearings off with my hydraulic press but ended up looking for a kit that would deal with bearing hubs as well.

I’ve never used a bearing separator before, but needed to buy one so that I could press off old bearings on rear axles. Then I figured that whatever I buy might also be useful for removing the inner ring if one gets stuck on.

I went to Radum and bought a bearing separator kit.
Web site: www.radum.com.au
Stock Number: VT01003

I have a spare pair of spindles at home so figured I’d sacrifice one of the bearing hubs and try out my theory.

Here’s a photo of the bearing separator kit that I bought from Radum for $56.00.



I removed the bearing hub from a spare spindle then used my hydraulic press to press out the inner ring.



Once I saw the condition of the grease inside the bearing hub I wasn’t so fussed about sacrificing it for the sake of these photos.



Here’s a close up photo of a spindle shaft. I’ve removed the ABS sensor (8mm spanner or socket) to allow the bearing separator to fit over the inner ring, which I’ve put on the spindle to simulate it being stuck on there.



Then I noticed that the inner ring had a groove in it. Oh. Goody. I’m assuming that the groove is there for applying a bearing separator to if required. This task suddenly got a lot easier.



This is how the bearing separator works. It’s basically a way of pulling something (eg a bearing) off a shaft. In this photo I’ve got the bearing separator at the base of the bearing but would normally start by tightening the separator into the groove in the inner ring.



Here’s a close-up of the bearing separator fitting into the inner ring groove.



Once the bearing starts to slide then the separator could then be applied to behind the ring if extra force is required.



If there isn’t a groove on an inner ring then the other option would be to apply the bearing separator to the base of the bearing and hope that it gets enough grip on the ring to pull it forward just a little bit, so that the separator could then be applied to behind the ring.



Conclusion: For $56.00 this kit was worth buying. As mentioned, I haven’t had any trouble with removing bearing hubs yet but if I ever have a problem late at night then this kit will help me to easily remove the inner ring if it sticks on. And do so without waking up the neighbourhood with a hammer and chisel.

There was discussion in a previous thread about different brands of bearing hub, but my current preference is to buy the genuine Ford ones, but use eBay to get cheaper pricing. Do a search on eBay for the part number - AU22B663B - and you’ll be very surprised about how much cheaper than normal retail you can get these parts for.

[k31th]

Although I didn't actually use this guide to do the job on my car, big thanks to Phil for supplying the full details, as usual

 

Had the symptoms when driving straight and would get worse when turning left and would go away when turning right haha. Yep, it was in bad condition... did about a third of the recent snowies cruise with this symptom getting slowly worse. This clearly meant the drivers side was cactus, but as usual, replaced both to be sure

 

Old vs new on the passenger side, which came off and on fairly simply with a little bit of treatment with some sandpaper.

 

Then the drivers side... the inner bearing ring was basically welded to the spindle shaft... fail... had to cut it with a grinder to get it off in the end. You can see how bad of a condition the bearing back was in on this side, which is why it was making all of that noise

 

Then I cleaned up the spindle shaft and fitted the new one in place goes good

[Puffwagon]

Farken godamn that's some worn out stuff.

 

Good job fixing it all up.

[k31th]

yeah... countless cruises probably did it haha

[Puffwagon]

Something something old cars

[El Andrew]

That was an interesting read. I did front hubs on the EL twice (they are integral with the disc) so you have to grease the bearings, assemble it all up on the spindle and adjust the outer nut to get the right tension.

Am I reading this right that you basically just slap on a hub with the bearings pre-assembled and greased inside and then just tighten the dark out of the retaining nut?

If so, sweet. Mine are probably 160k old so might do as preventative maintenance next time I've got the calipers off.

[k31th]

Yeah, you've got two options with the B-series. You can buy the hub and bearing assembly all together and do it the way that Phil and I did it. Or you can pay less for parts and just get the bearing and pull the hub off, bearing out and grease/assemble it the way you're saying.

[El Andrew]

Haha stuff that. I'll stick with the way you guys did it.

[k31th]