I have a 1998 Subaru Forester. I had a bad wheel bearing on the left rear wheel. I brought the knuckle to the machinre shop, they pressed in a new bearing. I put everything back together now the tire rubs against the strut. I have checked everything multiple times and can not find any adjustments that can be made . I compared everything with the right side of the car and everthing seems fine. Don't know what else to do. Please help,

Edited March 8, 201016 yr by Justbri
spelling errors

I honestly have no clue. There's no adjustment for camber on the rear without using cam bolts. If your car has those then that could be why, but there really isn't any reason a car should need those unless it's been modified (lowered/lifted) or wrecked.

There are no apparent modifications to the car. I have now had 3 different mechanics look at it and nobody can figure it out. Have not brought it to dealer yet because i'm not a millionaire but it may come to that.

I have shimmed the wheel with washers so i can drive it hopefully it is safe enough until i figure it out.

That's surprising, you have original size tires or not? Maybe the bearing was pressed in with an offset, just a guess. Compare with the other side knuckle?

bent strut?

 

or the Machine shop did something wrong with the bearing

bearing too thin?

sounds likely. need a thicker collared. just a thought and my guess.

I would have thought they compared the old bearing with the new bearing. maybe a mistake, maybe a bent strut thats all i can think of, were the shocks removed at all during the surgery?

you put the brake rotor back on rite?

Edited March 8, 201016 yr by bheinen74

bearing too thin?

sounds likely. need a thicker collared.

 

Wouldn't the shaft of the CV axle be sticking out further than normal? Too much and it may run out of threads while still not "tight"

 

It's worth looking at a bit more.....I guess.......weird one.

Thanks for all the help and ideas guys.

The struts were not removed, I did put the rotor back on, the axle nut screws on to the same spot it did before repairs and it is the same as the other side, The tires are the recommended size and there were no problems for 200,000 miles until the bearing was changed.

At this point the only logical explanation i can come up with is the the wrong bearing was pressed in. I am going to take the knuckle off again and bring it back to the machine shop/parts store and see if we can figure it out.

I will keep you updated.

Allright I found the problem. Lets back up to the beginning this all started with a bad wheel bearing. When i took the knuckle off I could not get the Axle out of the knuckle so I brought it to the machine shop and he used 23,000 lbs of force to separate them. In doing so he bent the knuckle where it attaches to the strut thus causing the tire to rub.

That would do it.

 

I've heard of that a few times with these, but only with the front knuckle, and they usually break or crack. Subaru says you have to use their "special tool" when pressing bearings in or out to avoid damage to the knuckle.

Here is a homemade version of the Subaru tool (actually made by Kent Moore Tools).

Page 8

 

http://www.designlabx.com/subaru/abs/wheelbearing.pdf

 

Some have said they used this HF tool to do the job:

 

 

and this one to put the seals in:

 

 

The Subaru Endwrench article talks about "excessive" forces from hydraulic presses during bearing removal/installation and thats why the new tool was developed. http://endwrench.com/images/pdfs/WheelBearing.pdf

 

Some autoparts stores will rent the tools out as well.

Edited March 11, 201016 yr by Mike104