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Forester Rear Wheel Bearings


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:cornfuzz:

 

I have a 2000 Forester. Does the rear wheel bearing problem apply to this year too ? If so what would be the replacement ? The rear bearing from a 2000 Legacy wagon?

 

Should I use preventative maintance and have them changed at my next service ?

 

 

~Howard

:banana:

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Originally posted by howards11

:cornfuzz:

 

I have a 2000 Forester. Does the rear wheel bearing problem apply to this year too ? If so what would be the replacement ? The rear bearing from a 2000 Legacy wagon?

 

Should I use preventative maintance and have them changed at my next service ?

 

 

~Howard

:banana:

 

All Forester's use the terrible ball bearing. When the bearing goes have the Legacy type roller bearing installed, it is a direct replacement.

 

No preventative maintainence is required, ... or even possible.

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I think the preventative maintanence mentioned would be to replace the bearings with tapered roller bearings before the ball bearings fail.

 

I am going to do the rear bearings on our 99 outback as soon as the rest of my parts arrive. They are now squealing at around 150k miles, they started grinding at about 130k. I didn't actually get a quote from the local dealer, but I have read numbers around $300-$400 per side. Considering that the Subaru literature says that both sides can be done in 1.5 hours, and the parts are around $200, I would think that they should do both sides for around $300. If you can get them done for that go for it. Otherwise I would wait until they start to make some noise. When you have the wheels in the air give them a wiggle to check for play.

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Originally posted by 99obw

I think the preventative maintanence mentioned would be to replace the bearings with tapered roller bearings before the ball bearings fail.

 

I am going to do the rear bearings on our 99 outback as soon as the rest of my parts arrive. They are now squealing at around 150k miles, they started grinding at about 130k. I didn't actually get a quote from the local dealer, but I have read numbers around $300-$400 per side. Considering that the Subaru literature says that both sides can be done in 1.5 hours, and the parts are around $200, I would think that they should do both sides for around $300. If you can get them done for that go for it. Otherwise I would wait until they start to make some noise. When you have the wheels in the air give them a wiggle to check for play.

 

I don't think any preventative maintainance would even be suggested, just replace when they fail. When bearings go they will rumble and whine, but not strand you on the side of the road if that is your concern. You should be able to get a couple hundred miles out of them without problem, but it is still recommended that you fix them as quickly as possible. Roller bearings can be noisy for a long time before the wheel feels "loose", mind you I did see one Subaru toss a whole wheel/hub assembly because of a bearing failure (I am fairly sure that this was a very rare isolated case).

 

Subaru will not change the bearing until it has failed, on some occasions they will change the bearing under warranty if it recently expired.

 

One of the issues is that replacement bearings often fail shortly after being installed, it is important that the proper installation tools be used and that the replacement bearing be cleaned of the grease that it is shipped with and be repacked with a good quality bearing grease.

 

Subaru recommends that the bearings be repacked and new seals installed at 60,000 miles, but as far as I know this is just a few steps short of what is required to change the whole bearing, so why bother? Does Subaru have a method of repacking the wheel bearings in a quick and easy fashion that we don't know about? The 60,000 mile service is listed at 7.5 hrs and $800 (with timing belt) here in Canada, so I think this bearing service is quite time consuming. Of course Subaru lists the timing belt at about 3 hrs while I can usually do it in 40 to 90 minutes, so perhaps their estimates are the worst case scenario.

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Originally posted by alias20035

You should be able to get a couple hundred miles out of them without problem, but it is still recommended that you fix them as quickly as possible.

 

How about 20k miles? Oops!

 

I think I ran my 86 tercel wagon longer. :eek:

 

Obviously I don't practice preventative maintanence on bearings, though I am a firm believer in preemptive strikes on things like water pumps and timing components.

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Originally posted by 99obw

How about 20k miles? Oops!

 

I think I ran my 86 tercel wagon longer. :eek:

 

Obviously I don't practice preventative maintanence on bearings, though I am a firm believer in preemptive strikes on things like water pumps and timing components.

 

I ran my Legacy about 40,000km or more on a rumbling rear wheel roller bearing, it was over one winter and once the bearing warmed up it quieted down a lot. But the ball bearing type would probably not last as long. From experience in my 85 GL, the ball bearings go from minor rumble to major in very short order.

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