matt167 Posted January 22, 2016 Share Posted January 22, 2016 I just had a rear wheel bearing done on my '01 Forester. Was going to pull the knuckle, take it to Napa and have them press it and do everything else myself but I just didn't have the time and I've also never done one, so I took it to my buddies shop.. When I picked it up, he billed me for 2.5 hours extra because he had trouble with the long knuckle bolt and that's the time it took. I didn't even think about that bolt, but I've read about cutting it in half and knocking the halves out backwards due to this issue.. I may have to do the other side. What is that bolt called? I figure I'll just buy one and it will be less than 2.5 hrs labor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fairtax4me Posted January 22, 2016 Share Posted January 22, 2016 Those bolts are a pain sometimes. Not sure what it's called. Subaru just calls it a bolt. Post in the classifieds for the Big damn bolt for the rear knuckle and everybody will know what you're talking about. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Numbchux Posted January 22, 2016 Share Posted January 22, 2016 It's just a bolt. I almost guarantee your local dealership stocks it, I know we sell a couple a month, and it's the same bolt for all non-multilink Subaru rear. 20540aa001, list price is $22.93. It can be a huge pain. Sometimes it can be seized into the bushings in the lateral links (probably about 50% of the time someone buys that bolt, they get the bushings as well). You can sort of access the center of the bolt in the knuckle, but it's difficult to cut it in half without damaging the knuckle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idosubaru Posted January 22, 2016 Share Posted January 22, 2016 what they just said - it's not as simple as "cut it and install a new one". they can still be seriously seized in the bushings/knuckle regardless of cutting...which can also damaged the knuckle housing. a shop is going to be less inclined to hack away and damage a knuckle - even if it's only cosmetic a customer seeing a banged up knuckle on their car woudl not be happy - a liabilty most shops don't want - so they're unlikely to hack away like one might do at home. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
987687 Posted January 23, 2016 Share Posted January 23, 2016 (edited) Ugh, those things are miserable. Sometimes you have to cut it at both ends, replace the bushings, and the middle of the bolt is STILL stuck in the damn knuckle. Then you have to take the torch and heat it and hammer the stupid thing out of there. 2.5 hours seems a bit steep for a shop to get one out, but I've certainly wasted 1.5 messing around with those. Royal pain, don't take it on yourself unless you're prepared to sawzall the bolt up, torch it out of the knuckle, and replace the bushings. Sometimes you get lucky and don't have to do all of that, you never know. The other method is to use one of those screw type presses for doing wheelbearings on the car. You have to drop the diff or unbolt the inner ends of the lateral links to get the axle out, then you can do the bearing in car. It kinda sucks to do that way and definitely takes longer, chose your poison. Edited January 23, 2016 by 987687 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ocei77 Posted January 23, 2016 Share Posted January 23, 2016 Air ratchet or impact gun with a continuous use of WD-40 and it will zip right out. Did one by myself and experienced this issue.(The threads are rusted some inside the bushing). When I had to do the other side, I was at a friends shop and once he realized that most of the threads were exposed, he had me spray it. A little back and forth and it came right out (using impact gun). O. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matt167 Posted January 25, 2016 Author Share Posted January 25, 2016 Hopefully the other bearing holds out. for a while. I just had to put tires on it. Got 4 of the Douglas Xtra Trac II's from work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
golucky66 Posted January 25, 2016 Share Posted January 25, 2016 Air ratchet or impact gun with a continuous use of WD-40 and it will zip right out. Did one by myself and experienced this issue.(The threads are rusted some inside the bushing). When I had to do the other side, I was at a friends shop and once he realized that most of the threads were exposed, he had me spray it. A little back and forth and it came right out (using impact gun). O. While that should be the case, when I did the wheel bearings on my 97 impreza, it was so frozen that an impact gun was spinning the rubber. The bolt was frozen to the rubber and the rubber was literally spinning in the housing or whatever you wanna call it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fairtax4me Posted January 25, 2016 Share Posted January 25, 2016 I've seen a few instances where the rubber section breaks and the center core just spins around with the bolt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idosubaru Posted January 25, 2016 Share Posted January 25, 2016 rust varies wildly. there's quite a few levels of rust. some definitely will not come out without something failing - a bushing or bolt shearing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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