Thanks to You Tube & Harbor Freight

[dan.oneufer]

This weekend I replaced my rear wheel bearing using the Harbor Freight Front Wheel Bearing Adapter kit and some techniques I found on You Tube.

It saved much of the cost & all of the wait, for a SIR tool.

The tool did not help with pulling the hub out, but that part was really not all that hard. You Tube provided an easy solution.

The kit helped pull the bearing out without a lot of problem (1/2 inch breaker about 27" long). Pressing the frozen bearing back in required quite a bit more effort than getting the old one out. Pressing the hub into the bearing was considerably easier than pressing the bearing in.

The hardest part of the whole job is refitting the lower control arm without damaging the threads or dust cover on the ball joint...and I don't want to even discuss that little handbrake spring and it's ability to launch to the darkest and farthest recesses of the garage...grrrr.

I'm hoping the other side lasts at least until the snow starts falling. We're in prime top-down weather here.

I was a bit surprised that the bearing construction is 2 rows of balls rather than rollers spanning the width of the bearing.