changing the front wheel bearings

8/9/2019 Changing the Front Wheel Bearings

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Guide to Changing the Front Wheel Bearings

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Changing the Front Wheel Bearings

A guide to changing the Front Wheel Bearings.

If you have read the guide to Changing Your KingPin Bearings then this will be

familiar to you. Off-roading is hard on the front axle and the wheel bearingsseem to be prone to wearing.

So what are the symptoms of worn wheel bearings:

1. Steering Shimmy2. Oil/Grease leaking from Swivel Joint3. Vertical and Horizontal play in the front wheel (with the car jacked up

grip the wheel left and right and rock it, there will be movement ofthey are worn)

4.

Grating/grinding as you rotate a jacked up wheel

This job has the reputation of being difficult, I must have been very lucky as itwas easier than I had been warned – you may not be so lucky. So how do youchange them.

PLEASE NOTE YOU WILL NEED A SPECIAL TOOL TO REMOVE THE HUB NUT

First of all secure the car, release the wheel nuts and jack up the car andremove the road wheel. This then reveals the brake caliper, this is thepassenger side (nearside) caliper (UK).

Using a 12mm spanner, release the front caliper bolt (the left is the front ofthe car in this picture) and loosen the same bolt on the rear of the caliper.

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The caliper then opens up using the rear bolt as a hinge.

The pads are retained by small spring clips, a simple pull on the pads(horizontally away from the disk) should remove them (or gently prise out thepads with a small screwdriver - do not remove the spring clips)






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The caliper is held on with two bolts at the rear (see below). Release the boltsand tie the caliper to the spring to keep it out of the way.

Now the front brake disc can be removed. If you are lucky it will simply pulloff but if you have problems then there are two M8 holes in the disk hub.Simply run two bolts into these holes and the disk will push off the hub. The

picture below shows a bolt being used to push the disk off the hub.






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My disk appeared to be ok on the visible side but the rear showed some badwear so I will change them as part of this job.

Now the Freewheeling Hub needs to be removed. Suzuki have used Torx boltsto secure these so you will require an E10 socket to remove the bolts.






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With the hub removed the driveshaft is exposed. The driveshaft is retainedwith a circlip so use a pair of circlip pliers to remove it. Behind the circlip is arectangular washer that should also be removed. Note that I have alsomarked with white paint the orientation of the freewheeling hub, this is notstrictly needed.

Now for the special tool. The hub is held on by a special round nut thatrequires a special tool to release it. The outside of the nut is a smoothpolished ring which is part of the vacuum seal so it must not be damagedotherwise you will need a new nut.

In the centre of the nut, the edge is bent over into a slot to help secure it, theslot can be seen in the above photo in the “2 o’clock” position, use a blade to

bend the edge back into line.

The picture below shows the special tool.






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Make sure that the tool and the nut are completely clean as the tool will notfit. Make sure the tool is inserted into the nut correctly, you are really goingto have to swing on the nut to release it. I had to use a long breaker bar ANDa piece of scaffold tube.

With the nut removed the hub should be removeable, it might need a pullwith a slide hammer, mine just pulled off by hand.

The bearing is held in by a seal and a circlip.






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Prise out the seal and use a pair of long nose pliers to undo the clrclip.

Now comes the first bit that is supposed to be difficult. Suzuki say that thebearing needs to be removed using a press. I decided to have a go myself.Using an old piece of bearing and a steel pin I hammered out the bearing andit only took two or three swift blows.






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The picture above shows the steel pin resting on the bearing before being hit.Note the use of the brake disk to provide a holder for the hub allowing thebearing to be driven out of the bottom.

I forgot to take pictures of the new bearing before it was inserted. It is a verylarge and impressive bearing. I got mine from my local autofactors as acomplete kit – part number VKBA3969. The kit comes with the bearing, oilseal and circlip. Again, Suzuki says the new bearing needs to be pressed intoplace. I decided to try a bit of school boy physics. I coated the bearing inCopper Grease and then put it in the deep freeze overnight.

The hub was placed in the oven at 180 degrees for 30 minutes. So with an icecold bearing and a very hot hub I put the bearing in the hub, placed the oldbearing ring and the steel pin on top and tapped the bearing straight intoplace. It took two gentle hits!. Again note the use of the brake disk to holdthe hub.

ALLOW THE WHOLE ASSEMBLY TO COOL BEFORE TOUCHING OR TURNINGTHE BEARING ASSEMBLY.






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Once it is cooled put grease into the ends of the bearing.

Then insert the new circlip and the oil seal. I found that the oil seal pressed inok by hand once coated in Copper Grease. The oil seal has a protruding lip,this must be to the outside of the joint.

Grease the inside of the bearing and slide the hub back onto the driveshaft.

Grease the hub nut and tighten the nut using the special tool, torque it to220NM or 160ft lbs – ie. really tight!.

Use a punch to bend the inner lip of the nut to lock it in place.

Refit the hub thrust washer and circlip to the driveshaft.

Refit the Freewheeling hub, the bolts should be torqued to 35ft/lbs

Fit the disk and fit the caliper (Caliper bolts 61ft/lbs), disk pads and bolt thecaliper down in position (Caliper pin bolt 16/ft/lbs)

Re-fit the wheel and lower the vehicle.

Re-fit the wheel and lower the vehicle.



changing the front wheel bearings

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