'00 Forester Rear Wheel Bearing

[rusty1]

Hi all,

 

At 150,000 miles time for another set. First replaced at 43k, and got Subaru to foot part of the $700 bill at dealer. This time considering a couple of options:

 

Salvage yard has complete assy with 8k miles, but original type bearings.

 

DIY with reference to earlier threads, remove the assembly and take to machine shop.

 

Have local mechanic remove assembly, send to machine shop or do it himself.

 

Dealer.

 

Question is there a "better" bearing out there, in terms of manufacturer? I am aware of the type difference.

 

TIA

[Skip]

You will need or the mechanic will need

a "hub tamer"

 

This allows a fix on the car.

 

The part you want is the rear wheel bearing

from a same year Legacy

 

 

This is a very common problem with the Imps and Toasters

of that vintage.

 

Had three sets go bad myself.

[hohieu]

I had three sets go bad on my 99 Forester over the span of 117,000 miles.

The Hub Tamer is a simple tool that works well. I picked a set up on ebay for $190.

 

As you're in the rust belt, the most difficult part will be removing the lateral link bolt, which tends to get corrosion welded to the bushing collars. I had to ultimately cut the bolt off and replace the lateral link bushings.

 

I installed Beck/Arnley seals and Koyo bearings from RockAuto and used Mobil 1 Red Grease. Cost was around $115 inlcuding shipping for all seals and bearings for both rear wheels. I would recommend Koyo bearings as an alternative to OEM, which are made by NTN.

 

10K miles of trouble free service on the new bearing to this point, and the last time I checked, the newer bearing, not surprisingly, felt smoother than the other three corners.

[sea#3]

There is an updated bearing for your model that goes from a roller bearing style to a tapered roller style bearing

There are a couple of thing you have to watch out for

1) Rust on the seal surface of the outer c/v, if it's got rust pits in the seal surface it will allow water to get into the bearing and cause it to fail

2) Roundness of the spindle bore, must be true/round so that it doesn't deform the outer part of the bearing

3) Replacing the bearing with a good wheel bearing grease (like hohieu said) is very necessary, the factory grease sucks

 

SEA#3

[hohieu]

Also, make sure to press against the outer race when installing the new bearing. You can use the old outer race to seat the new bearing.

 

The previous owner had two sets of rear bearings installed by two different dealerships, with the revised bearings installed the second time at 59Km miles. 70K miles later the rear left bearing is still fine. The right rear side, however, had been making noise since I purchased the car at around 72K miles.

 

My old bearing showed no visible damage with the old grease still in decent shape, but the rollers on the outboard (hub side) row of rollers had heat discoloration, while the inboard rollers appeared perfect.

 

I am guessing that they must have pressed on the inner race when the installing the problem bearing, which caused some slight deformation of the contact surfaces.