hohieu

Will give it another wack tomorrow, perhaps with the pickel fork as suggested. My mechanic took a look at it during state inspection but said those things can get really seized on there. I'll let you what happens.

It doesn't go through the strut, which also attaches directly the knuckle (wheel bearing housing). It's a single bolt that runs along the bottom side of the knuckle with a nut on the end and sandwiches the transverse linkages onto the corresponding ends. The nut came off, but the bolt is stuck inside the bushing collar on the threaded end, which points toward the front of the car.

okay, tried overtorquing it to get the bolt to slide inside the bushing collar, but nothing... then some more wacking with the 3-lb. hammer but still .... nothing. I need to take the car in for an inspection and will see if my mechanic can bust this thing loose.

One question -- is the end of the knuckle closest to the threaded end of the bolt also threaded? If not, I'm just going to keep wacking away at it until it moves. Tried hitting the bolt with turning force on the head of the bolt -- put a breaker bar on it with a jack under the breaker bar -- nothing! This is turning out to be a real PITA. I'll let you know when it moves -- at this point, the bolt will turn, but the threaded end is stuck inside the collar, where the rubber bushing itself is turning.

Still soaking with with PB Blaster and wacking away with my 3-lb. hammer ... That bolt is really seized in there.

Thanks for the suggestions. I picked up a Hub Tamer set.

I'm beginning a rear wheel bearing job on my 99 Forester, and am having a heck of a time getting the lateral link bolt off - managed to get the nut off, but the bolt won't budge. The threaded end seems to be stuck inside the bushing collar. I've doused it with PB Blaster and have banged away on the threaded end with a 3-lb. hammer and punch but it won't budge. Would appreciate any ideas.

I did it without removing the the half shaft from the front hub. This is very easy especially if you're just replacing the inner boot. I would also leave the ball joint alone unless you're replacing that as well. the cinch bolt on the knuckle was impossible to remove in my case. Instead: Quote: Originally Posted by avk With the control arm method, you only need to remove one, front mount bolt (17 mm head and nut), plus the sway bar link bolt. There is enough play in the other bushing for the inner joint to clear the stub shaft. The caveats are that re-tightening must be performed with wheels on the ground, or at least on low ramps, and the nut is officially not reusable (mine is OK with blue Loctite). But same things already apply for the sway bar bushing bolt. I would recommend buying OEM grease for the outside joints because the BJ side does not disassemble, making it nearly impossible to get all the old grease out even if you pull the cv axle shaft out of the hub. My original outside boot was still good so I just reused the old grease and slid the new boot on for the time being. OEM front outside boots are made of plastic, which is why they must be discarded if ever removed. I used aftermarket EMPI boot kits for both joints which were neoprene rubber. The plastic ones probably withstand the radical steering angles of the BJ much better, but neoprene is much easier to seal. Plastic boots also require heavier duty clamps. Scribe all the alignment marks on the SFJ (inside -- differential side) as you disassemble things, making sure to avoid contact surfaces. My permanent marker was useless as all the marks wiped away as I cleaned the old grease off the joint and outer race. Maybe there's a better way. 3/16" punch knocked the spring pin out with no problem -- this can be done from below on the driver's side. I used zipties to secure the boots, but will attach the cv boot clamps when I have time to pick up the necessary tool. For those who care, there was quite a bit of lateral play on the differential stub, where the axle shaft goes into the front differential (manual trans.).

I zoomed in on a picture of the bearing in MSA5TT0201, which is an NTN bearing. I guess I'll experiment with the Koyo bearing and see what happens. This way, I'll just repack them with some Mobil 1 synthetic. I hope it lasts longer this time.

Is it piston slap?

I've never had a rear wheel bearing job on my car so can't say for sure who makes these bearings, but I do know that Koyo makes the upper right t-belt smooth idler, the one with black grease seals. Thanks for the great link, jamal.

I believe the answer is Koyo for my 99 forester. Rock auto has both Koyo and NTN rear wheel bearings, the latter of which costs a bit more. I know that NTN makes the cv half shafts and the throwout bearing for my car, and because these parts have not given me any problems, I am considering going with NTN for the wheel bearings as well. Thoughts anyone?

The right rear wheel bearing on my 99 Forester has made noise for the past 3 years/40K miles. When it started, the noise was barely audible. I have 116K on the odm.

You should feel some vibration on the suspension coil spring as you rotate the wheel. It may not be your wheel bearing. If not, it could be a bad rear differential, bent brake backing plate, something impeding the movement of your rear cv shafts, or if you're lucky, tire noise. Could try rotating your tires to eliminate one of the possible causes. Good luck!

Hey Porcupine, I scored the hub tamer on ebay for just under $190 including shipping, which was about $100 bucks less than the best price I could find online. I'm sure you could do better on ebay, but I was satisfied with the total cost. The seller was kind enough to charge actual flat rate shipping, which was around $19. Frag, I've heard this, too, on this board and from a trustworthy private Subaru mechanic in Vermont. But my 1999 Forester had the notoriously bad ball bearings installed from the factory and once more at around 35K miles before having the updated roller bearings installed at 59K miles, each time with new seals all around. Also, we get some but not too much salt on the roads in Philadelphia. This would lead me to believe that the half shaft polished surfaces are probably fine, but I won't really know until I take things apart.

Yup. It's not an awful noise, though I recently (in the last 10K miles or so) noticed some slight vibration at the gas pedal. The previous owner had both rear wheel bearings replaced twice in the first 59K miles at two different dealerships, the second time with the updated roller bearings. I was hoping the second set would last awhile but started noticing the slight, rhythmic noise at highway speeds at around 75K miles. I went through the who ordeal of having the tires balanced, which caused a slow leak in one tire because one of the wheel weights was inserted too far under the bead, and more recently feared point feared that it might be a bad rear differential. All the while, there has been no play in the rear wheel. Last week, I put all four corners up on jack stands and could feel some notchiness in the bearing and vibration on the suspesion coil as I roated the wheel.

Thanks for the great tips and link. I'm glad to know that this box of tools will do it all. I've been dealing with the same rhythmic noise for the past 40K miles (64K km) or so and at first attributed it to road noise as well. However, it has gotten progressively worse, and I can now feel a bit of vibration in the pedals. I thought about going with the harbor freight tools but pulled the trigger on the hub tamer because having everything I need in one simple tool set was irresistible. I didn't feel like running around looking for additional tools that I might need for the job or having the harbor freight tools fail midway through. The price was justifiable as I imagine this will be the first of many wheel bearing jobs I do on this car.

That's great news! I wish that it were such an easy fix with my car.

There have been a rash of wheel bearing issues lately on this wonderful forum, and I recently verified (after 40K miles of anguish) that I have another bad rear right wheel bearing. I am awaiting shipment of a "Master" Hub Tamer set (#6490). I believe that the updated "Elite" Hub Tamer (#6537) has a redesigned puller weldment adaptor and some other tidbits for Ford appliciations that should not come into play with our Subes. For those out there who have experience with this tool, is there anything else I need for this job (slide hammer and adaptor for hub removal)? Put another way, can I remove the hub and the inner race from the hub with the Hub Tamer? I've read through some other posts, but could not find a definitive write-up. It would be great to get any advice from those who have experience using this tool.

I thought that was the case as well, Porcupine, but read somewhere that it's the revised (verically positioned) tensioner used on newer Subes that accounts for the higher tooth counts. The older numbers (40.5,44) apply to the older horizontally positioned tensioner. It's pretty silly that even the factory service manuals, didn't upadate this info. BTW, Dennis, if you're not replacing the t-belt idlers, it's possible to regrease them by removing the seals.

I have a 99 Forester with 116K miles that suffers from a bad right rear wheel bearing. It's been making noise for the past 40K miles or so -- very faint at first and getting noisier. At first, I thought it might be tire noise , then more recently feared it might be the rear differential. I've been dealing with the same intermittent grinding/scraping noise from the rear right wheel for the past 10K miles or so. I've taken the rear disc brakes apart and regreased the parking brake, thinking (hoping) that it might be something other than the bearing causing the noise. I have no play in the wheel, but do feel some vibration in the rear suspension coil spring as I rotate the wheel. This confirmed it for me. You'll need to have all four wheels off the ground to check this. If you find that everything else is in order -- that your disc back plate is straight and that nothing else is impeding the rotation of the half shaft -- I would suspect that it's your wheel bearing. I'll be doing mine next summer. It really sucks with these cars. The person from whom I purchased this car had both rear wheel bearings done twice in the first 59K miles at two different dealerships. At 59K, they used the updated roller bearings. I'm thinking that poor workmanship may have caused the most recent failure but sure wish Subaru would/could fix this issue. I've never experienced or hear of wheel bearing failures at this rate.

Tooth count is 43.5 and 47. Spark plug gap is 1-1.1 mm, .039-.043 in. Most people suggest sticking with NGK (BKR6E-11) copper plugs. I imagine you're also replacing all the seals while the engine is out. Good luck.

I am currently away from home and won't be back until the end of this month, but I can certainly send you some pictures via email at that point -- don't know how to attach pictures to my posts. I will say that I was surprised to see how easily they come out and by the appearance of the seal itself. I expected a seal more similar to the cam or crank seals, but it's just a thin, rubber-coated metal disc with a small lip along the inside circumference. I replaced the cogged idler when I performed the timing belt service, and it all made much more sense to me after I removed the seal from the old one. Yes, the seals are just pressed on -- but you could apply some silcone to the outer circumference of the seal for added security.

It's easier to remove the seal -- I found that using a needle would tear the inner sealing lip and allow more grease to leak out. You can remove the seal entirely by prying lightly and evenly around the edge of the outside circumference of the seal with a small standard screwdriver -- the inside rubber lip is left intact. Be careful not to bend seal in the process as it is a very thin rubber coated metal disc. You can use your hand to to reinstall the seal or an appropriate socket -- then with rubber gloves on, use your thubmnail to work the inside lip of the seal around the fulcrum of the idler pulley. I agree that these pulleys fail only when they run out of grease so this is a worthwhile thing to do.

You can also gain access to the O2 sensor through the front right wheel well.