Trying to put in a new wheel bearing in my '99 Legacy, got the assembly off the suspension, (easy despite the rust from Midwest road salt) but I can't get the 4 bolts that hold the wheel hub to the backing plate.

 

None of my box end wrenches are thin enough to get around them, I can't get a socket on top because of the tone ring, and the open end wrenches just round of the corners.

 

How do they come out? Is there a special tool that only the Dealerships are supposed to have? Do I have to ruin a perfectly good 14mm wench to get it to fit?

Are you sure these are the hub bolts and not the backing plate (dust shield?).

 

I was under the impression the bolt heads are on the BACK of the knuckle.

Wait, this is a 1999? You shouldn't have to unbolt the backing plate at all. Your next objective is to remove the hub - which requires a press, some bad @#$! slide hammer action or a hub puller tool.

 

Once the hub is off, then the bolts for the backing plate can be removed. Even if you got the bolts off, it is not clear to me the backing plate comes off easily if the hub is still in the knuckle. My experience with the front bearing was this would be virtually impossible without seriously bending up the plate.

 

Might want to take a look at my front wheel bearing thread to see what is going on - rear is similar (excluding the parking brake hardware).

You have to remove the whole knuckle from the car and have to press the hub and bearing out of the knuckle. Or you use a hub tamer to pull the bearing out, then press the new bearing in.

I took the whole knuckle to a shop, paid them $110 to put the new bearings and seals in, they didn't take the hub bolts out (didn't need to).

Found out that the inner seal (the one that the drive axle contacts) that every part store says fits this application (timken #710226), actually doesn't fit (too small), had to go to the dealership for the right one.