Hey gang, I am driving a 2005 Outback Wagon 2.5i, 5sp manual. I believe my wheel bearings are bad on the front left wheel. Loud humming/vibrating at speeds over ~20 mph when going straight and louder when turning left, smooth and quiet when going right.

 

With the 2005 it looks like Subaru switched to a hub assembly instead of having to press the bearings. The local shop here quoted me the same price Subaru sells for, $150, plus labor. I can buy online for $130 roughly. Since it is an assembly, I figure I can likely do this myself, I hope.

 

Does anyone have any tips or tricks for doing this project?

you will need some sort of press or special tool to press out the old wheel bearing.

 

aside form that, you can remove the knuckle yourself, and pay for only the labor required to press the bearing, and reinstall the knuckle yourself.

 

trickiest part will be the ball joint. you can undo the pinch bolt, or you can use a ball joint separator.

 

you may want to get an alignment afterward. if you mark the location of the strut cs the knuckle(make a shadow with spray paint) you can come very close if not exact with the alignment.

if you 05 outback has less than 100k miles on it, Subaru has extended the factory warranty on the bearings to 100,000 miles do to a TSB bulletin.

They will fix and replace for free if you have less than 100k, and they are in fact bad.

 

Miles-NO. They are a hub unit, not just a bearing. the whole unit has to be replaced, there is no "just press out the bearing" press in the new. The whole thing has to be replaced. Subaru is going downhill.

Read this:

 

http://www.subaruoutback.org/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=13316&highlight=wheel+bearing

thanks Mike, that was the link i was trying to find. and i think the warranty is just for the rears.

Hey gang, I am driving a 2005 Outback Wagon 2.5i, 5sp manual. I believe my wheel bearings are bad on the front left wheel. Loud humming/vibrating at speeds over ~20 mph when going straight and louder when turning left, smooth and quiet when going right.

 

With the 2005 it looks like Subaru switched to a hub assembly instead of having to press the bearings. The local shop here quoted me the same price Subaru sells for, $150, plus labor. I can buy online for $130 roughly. Since it is an assembly, I figure I can likely do this myself, I hope.

 

Does anyone have any tips or tricks for doing this project?

 

Confirming which side by how the noise changes while turning can be tricky.

 

Usually when you turn to put more weight on the bearing, the bearing gets louder, and when you unweight the bearing, it gets quieter. That is, a bad left bearing gets louder in a right turn.

 

My '03 was the opposite, the more weight on the bearing, the quieter it got. The left was bad and it made less noise in right turns.

 

The only way I was able to diagnose it 100% was to jack up both fronts, put it in N, and spin each front while holding the strut spring- the spring magnified the vibrations.

 

Dave

thanks Mike, that was the link i was trying to find. and i think the warranty is just for the rears.

 

You are correct, only for rears!

old trick to determine which bearing is bad, but instead of holding the spring, place a stethoscope probe on the spring coil, you will know which one is bad when rotating the tire.

Back to the OPs original question "is the from hub/bearing Assy a DIY project?

 

Only major issue will be getting the axle nut off (150 ft lbs +/- Torque) and getting the hub/bearing assy off of the knuckle/axle).

 

Compared to the 95-99 fronts and rear wheel bearings this should be a comparatively easy job, but rusty bolts, etc can make it more difficult. You will need a large socket (1 1/4 or 32 or so MM) a breaker bar/pipe, and maybe a slide hammer to get the hub/bearing assy off of the knuckle. You can buy/return that at Advanced Auto Parts and I think Auto Zone too.

 

Replace the axle nut too.

 

I haven't been able to find any DIY threads on this or a link to a FSM procedure.

 

Good luck!

Thanks Mike104. Great info, will help a lot.

 

I had looked up the recall a few weeks ago actually, and it is rear only, thanks for suggesting it though. I wish I could be that lucky.