working on 97 Impreza WGN - drum brakes - OK - I bought a wheel housing at a yard - 98 Forester, Good bearing, (pax side) pressed out hub, pressed off outside race, disassembled Impreza, swapped backing plates. When I put the hub in, it seems "tight" right now. It didn't seem to press in any farther than the forester was. What's the worst that can happen - burn up the bearing? It was well greased

 

How much interference was designed into these? Anybody know?

 

Up on the jack stands - Separate manual turning pax rear turns driver side, but turning driver side doesn't turn pax wheel. I bought a new bearing if I need it so I have it

 

Still don't know if the bearing noise will still be there (might be worse with it this tight).

I thought the forester had different sized bearings??

No, same size, we checked that first.

 

Note: these aren't the 'new' roller bearings, but the original OEM ball bearings.

You may have the hub pressed in to tight, If you can turn it by hand it may be O.K. I replaced one with a new bearing and it was a little tight but it would turn by hand so I put it on and had no problems with it.

Push the hub back just a bit and see if it free's it.

working on 97 Impreza WGN - drum brakes - OK - I bought a wheel housing at a yard - 98 Forester, Good bearing, (pax side) pressed out hub, pressed off outside race, disassembled Impreza, swapped backing plates. When I put the hub in, it seems "tight" right now. It didn't seem to press in any farther than the forester was. What's the worst that can happen - burn up the bearing? It was well greased

 

How much interference was designed into these? Anybody know?

 

Up on the jack stands - Separate manual turning pax rear turns driver side, but turning driver side doesn't turn pax wheel. I bought a new bearing if I need it so I have it

 

Still don't know if the bearing noise will still be there (might be worse with it this tight).

drove it a few miles and it loosened up to the same as the driver's side (it wasn't that "tight" to start with)

 

The NOISE IS GONE!!

 

Support the inner race on the inside of the housing and press the hub in while supporting the inner race. Apparently the trick is to push the hub to within about 1/4 inch of the housing, put in the axle outer seal then install the housing and pull the unit the rest of the way in with the axle nut (seemed to work anyway) since the depth of the bearing is fixed by the shoulder plus the snap ring and the problem was with the inner races. (I had the entire housing/hub unit off the car because I had to swap the backing plate and hub into the junkyard replacement housing)