Rear wheel bearing replacement question

[onkauai]

I got a quote to have the passenger side rear wheel bearing replaced for $1500 - $95/hour charge with I think $972 in parts and $500 in labor. They are telling me that I should replace both the wheel bearing and the axle when I replace the bearing. Seems odd that the axle itself needs replacing. Does anyone have any thoughts on this? Looking at the Bentley manual, it looks like a big job if I do this myself.

[Spinnaker]

Find a new shop, there is no reason to change the axle unless the CV joints are bad. You might change the CV boots if they are older, since you will have the axle out anyhow, and they do split and crack a lot. I am on my third set.

[psquared39]

Not considering, I'll assume your location is going to cost you a premium, but - bearings are $40-50, CV joint kits are $80-90. Even if the shop had to replace both joints, including labor they should be able to rebuild the entire axle for about $300. I've done this job on my 02, replacing the inner CV joint and bearing. With the proper tools, its a 4-5hr DIY project.

[oldboxster]

i just did this job myself, bearing was about $50, took 4-5 hrs, and the time to make a puller die not included, this is a doable job but not for a rookie without lots of tools, for example the nut on the axle takes a 3/4 drive socket with a cheater bar to loosen, and this is just to get started

i ended up doing both, so make sure you have the other side checked. I suppose an axle could be bad but it seems unlikely, good luck

[Eric G]

Originally Posted by onkauai

I got a quote to have the passenger side rear wheel bearing replaced for $1500 - $95/hour charge with I think $972 in parts and $500 in labor. They are telling me that I should replace both the wheel bearing and the axle when I replace the bearing. Seems odd that the axle itself needs replacing. Does anyone have any thoughts on this? Looking at the Bentley manual, it looks like a big job if I do this myself.

Well, as I begin my project rebuild on my 98' 986. I sent my parts list around to a number of companies looking for bids on supplying all the parts I needed and in the end Pelican came through with shinning numbers. Sure there are a couple of pieces I found elsewhere that I could not pass up the pricing but in the end, I was able to get 98% of all my parts at the best price from Wayne. Additionally, I have the full version of the UK Boxster manual, Bentley manual and Wayne’s 101 Projects book along with about 3 gigs of data from Mike, Pedro, threads from here and across the web. No such thing as having too much information and if I had to ask a question, I wanted to at least be able to discover the answer on my own. With that said, I am sure there will be a few questions somewhere down the line.

OK, so in deciding where to start I chose the wheel bearings. The wheels came off and I pulled the tires off and got the rims over to the powder coater. The rotors and pads were changed last December so that put me next at the wheel bearings.

Realizing that a number of folks have posted up wheel bearing threads and there are some novel approaches by others to speed the process of replacement, I spent quite a bit of time on the phone and emails with many people and uncovered an aeronautical company specializing in lubrication of aircraft engines and whose owner is a Boxster owner

He has taken his engineering abilities and passion for the Porsche and produced several tools specifically designed for the 986 and some of its issues. Casper Labs casperlabs.com has a new design that allows the replacement of a wheel bearing in ~1 hour/wheel wherein you do not have to remove the suspension the eccentric, nor do you need a hydraulic press for removal nor insertion of the bearings. The tool is fully functional for all four wheels.

I would love to show you how the tool works, but I have been asked not to as he is still building his business market. I will say this is somewhat of a bummer but I will honor my word and not show anything more than what he shows in his marketing pictures. In his defense I bought the first tool off the production line. Hey, I can respect a request…but I can show what it looks like with a bearing out. In the end it did take about 1 hr wheel and in the end I am stoked with how easy the whole process went.

Total cost for this project: Tools, wheel bearings and 5 hours time just under $500.00

Ease of project (using Wayne's format) two wrenches

I was even able to let my wife do one wheel as she is really into this project and at 5'4" and 105lbs she was able to do one complete wheel!

Here are some shots below:

Give Bill a call and ask him about the wheel bearing tool:

Bill Ryan
Casper Labs, Inc.
tel. 561-575-3157

[onkauai]

I started this thread some time ago, which resulted from a quote of $US1,400 to replace a rear wheel bearing. The mechanic stated that I needed to replace both the bearing and the axle, that this was standard practice.

To make a long story short, it turns out the mechanic was wrong on all counts. The problem was with both rear tires, not with the bearing.

By the way, I know there are quite a few who have changed a bearing or two. The 32mm nut requires 340 foot pounds of torque! The biggest torque wrench I've found handles only 250 foot-lbls. How do you guys do that without spending a ton of money on a torque wrench suitable for a 40,000 lb fire engine?

[Jager]

Originally Posted by onkauai

I started this thread some time ago, which resulted from a quote of $US1,400 to replace a rear wheel bearing. The mechanic stated that I needed to replace both the bearing and the axle, that this was standard practice.

To make a long story short, it turns out the mechanic was wrong on all counts. The problem was with both rear tires, not with the bearing.

By the way, I know there are quite a few who have changed a bearing or two. The 32mm nut requires 340 foot pounds of torque! The biggest torque wrench I've found handles only 250 foot-lbls. How do you guys do that without spending a ton of money on a torque wrench suitable for a 40,000 lb fire engine?

Yes, you will need 3/4" drive tools. The Breaker Bar might have to handle 600lbs of torque!!

[mikesz]

is there a link for casper labs and the bearing tool?

[stateofidleness]

*subscribed*

Interested in this tool.

[Eric G]

Originally Posted by mikesz

is there a link for casper labs and the bearing tool?

No link for Casper Labs, but give him a call as he is down in Florida and a gem of a person to work with. I found him through our Regional Porsche club here in the PNW. He is friends with one of our members and when I told him about my rebuild he said to give him a call.

[Gilles]

Eric, I sent you a PM
Thanks!

[Eric G]

Back at you sir!

[Frodo]

Originally Posted by onkauai

By the way, I know there are quite a few who have changed a bearing or two. The 32mm nut requires 340 foot pounds of torque! The biggest torque wrench I've found handles only 250 foot-lbls. How do you guys do that without spending a ton of money on a torque wrench suitable for a 40,000 lb fire engine?

In case anyone still wonders how to do this..

When I did mine, I went back to basic physics:

Torque = Force (in lb) X Distance (in feet)

Rearrange the equation and pop in the numbers you know (specified torque and your weight). I weigh about 195 lb, so for me:

Distance = Torque/Force

=340 ft-lb/195 lb
=1.74 ft, or about 21 inches

So I used a breaker bar and used my entire weight applied about 21" out from the nut to tighten it. When using this technique, try to do the final tightening with the breaker bar parallel to the ground, and apply your weight in a straight downward direction.

[Gilles]

after replacing the wheel bearing, do you push the hub until bottoms out?

Or do you have to leave some clearance for the bearing cover bolts?

It's my first time replacing the rear bearings and was going to measure the passenger side before removing it (but honestly, I am not looking forward to do it.. since the driver side was a bear to remove).

Thanks in advance.