Looking in the repair manuals it seems that you need a press and a couple other specality tools to replace the front wheel bearing on an 83 4wd wagon. I was wondering if these tools are completely nessacary for the job, or can you get them in and out with out pulling the whole stearing knuckle and pound them in and out with a hammer.

Thanks david

the resulting time, damage and annoyance may or may not be worth it to you. i've never done it so i shouldn't say much, but it can definetly be done. not knowing anything specific about your vehicle, but some of these 4WD soobs have clips and such that need to come out first, be sure they are removed before pounding. or you end up with dented hubs and pride like me. i started the process then dropped the hubs and bearings off to a machine shop.

pretty sure most respones will be split on the right way to do this. i didnt use any special tools outside a tap and a hammer. hardest part was putting it back together. oh yeah be a good idea to buy new seals, too.

Hammer and punch will do if you're carefull, just make sure you only drive on the outer race when putting the new ones in. If you're unsure about the proper way to do it with the hammer/punch ask for more advice or take the hubs to the shop, you dont wanna end up worse off than you were to start.

 

Good Luck

Gary

An old 3/8 socket extension is perfect for tapping. A wood block and a mallet will seat it all the way...

John

If the bearing is sounding really bad, check that it hasn't been spinning in the housing, or spinning agianst the inner race spacer. If it has, use new knuckle/spacer or use shims, otherwise the bearings won't last more than 5000kms! I found this out the hard way.

I used a brass punch to drive the old bearings out. Used a really big socket to drive the new bearings in, then a block of wood to seat the seals.

if you do it right, you can get away with just using a 3/8" 8 inch socket extention and a 36 mm socket. Use the 3/8" to punch out the old bearing. the extention should have rounded corners on it, so it wont makes burrs in the bearing sleeve. And then when you put them back in, do the inside bearing first and then the outer bearing. if changing to a new bearing, good time to change to synthetic wheel bearing grease.