skelly Posted September 24, 2008 Share Posted September 24, 2008 Herb Gordon of Silver Spring gave me a quote of $570.00, including tax, to replace the rear wheel bearing (and hub) of my 1997 Impreza. Is this price reasonable? I was told it was priced at nearly 3 hours of labor. How urgent is this repair? I was told there was possibly a crack in the bearing. What are the usual causes - ie, going too fast over a speed bump with a back load, ie, some guy over-tightening the lug nuts during a tire change-over ... Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unibrook Posted September 24, 2008 Share Posted September 24, 2008 I paid $580 recently for both rear wheel bearings to be replaced. Independent shop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aircraft engineer Posted September 24, 2008 Share Posted September 24, 2008 Depending - if you have the older ball bearings, the likely cause was distortion in the housing during installation. it's why they went to "roller bearings" on the newer models. the bearing itself is about $60 or so, seals about $25 or so and it does take a bit of time - if drum brakes. You might be able to find a good used unit and install it, but most anything good will be DISC so you would need to press out the hub, swap the backing plates and reassemble with new seals. it's not exactly difficult, just time consuming - and pulling the disc units will need to have the disc themselves pulled as well to get off the E-brake cables Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
svxpert Posted September 24, 2008 Share Posted September 24, 2008 <<Herb Gordon of Silver Spring gave me a quote of $570.00, including tax, to replace the rear wheel bearing (and hub) of my 1997 Impreza. Is this price reasonable? I was told it was priced at nearly 3 hours of labor. How urgent is this repair? I was told there was possibly a crack in the bearing. What are the usual causes - ie, going too fast over a speed bump with a back load, ie, some guy over-tightening the lug nuts during a tire change-over ... Thanks>> why do they want to replace the hub also? have they taken it apart and confirmed the issue? no, overtightning lug nuts wont damage your bearing, overtightning your axel nut will though... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idosubaru Posted September 25, 2008 Share Posted September 25, 2008 a cheaper option is to just swap in a used hub and don't bother with a complete bearing job. they don't fail all that often and when they do they typically give you ample warning (like yours is now) so it's a reasonable option if you have time to find one and a shop to install the hub. i did this for a friend over the summer - $40 for a used hub and he's good to go. swapping a hub is wwaaaaay easier than doing a bearing replacement. and he saved hundreds of dollars. it's a rather intense job and often will encounter rust in your area (where i'm from too!). that price doesn't surprise me, particularly for the rockville area, that's not exactly a place to get smoking deals...and if you did you might have to worry!? you could probably get it a bit cheaper, but parts alone are $100 just for the bearings and seals. really? overtightening the axle nut is bad for bearings? i've always tightened XT6 axles nuts as tight as i can get them with a long pipe. maybe i'm destroying my EJ bearings by doing this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
svxpert Posted September 25, 2008 Share Posted September 25, 2008 <<really? overtightening the axle nut is bad for bearings? i've always tightened XT6 axles nuts as tight as i can get them with a long pipe. maybe i'm destroying my EJ bearings by doing this?>> i'm talking about tightning them with a airgun and cranking them down. the axle nut is in line with the wheel bearing components, the lug nuts crank against the lug studs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unibrook Posted December 2, 2008 Share Posted December 2, 2008 (edited) That was Dec 2007 I had both rear bearings replaced. Now it is Dec 2008 (< 5k miles later) and they are both howling like a banshee again. @#%&%$$^ I think I will take Gary's advice and try to just replace the whole hub assembly myself instead of paying another shop to screw it up for me. Any junkyards for Subies around Boston? Edited December 10, 2008 by unibrook Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hohieu Posted December 2, 2008 Share Posted December 2, 2008 (edited) Skelly, that seems like like an average dealer estimate for that job, especially if it includes the housing, also referred to as the knuckle. There's usually no reason to replace the hub, which presses into the housing inside the inner races of the bearing. Depending on how the bearing sounds, you could go for some time without replacing it, especially if you're already planning on replacing the housing, which I think the dealer recommends in order to avoid comebacks. They're not very easy to measure for roundness in order to ensure the dimensions are within tolerances. However, if the bearing fails catastrophically, this could pose a real danger to you and your passengers, not to mention to others on the rode. If there's play in the wheel, then it needs to be replaced immediately. That said, my rear right bearing, which was replaced with the revised tapered roller bearings at a dealer by the previous owner, made the ominous "wump, wump, wump" noise 10K miles after replacement. I let it go for about 45K miles as the noise got progressively worse, but there was never any play. When I finally replaced it, I inspected the old bearing and realized that it probably could have gone at least another 45K miles without posing any real risk of failure. The other rear tapered roller bearing, which was replaced at the same time, is still smooth as silk after 80K miles/5 years of service. It's a relatively simple job after you remove the lateral link bolt -- yep, the one that tends to seize inside of the lateral link bushing collars. If you have to cut this bolt off, you'll need to add about another hundred bucks per side for a new bolt and new bushings. Removing this bolt alone can be the most time consuming part of the job. Having Hub Tamer type tools makes the job much simpler as it allows you to do everything on-car and, more importantly, without fear of distorting the hub and/or the new bearing. The hub tamer set along with new seals and bearings for both rear corners set me back around $300. Well worth the investment if you have the time to do the work. I used Koyo bearings, which have provided 25K miles/1.5 years of trouble free service thus far. Unibrook, if your bearings are failing this soon after replacement, there are a few possible causes: distorted hubs/bearings due to improper installation or to leaving a bad bearing go for too long, inappropriate or over-greasing of the bearing, and/or contamination of the bearing. For this last issue, you may want to check the polished surfaces of the half shafts to ensure they're not pitted or marred. A less then smooth sliding surface can chew up new seals in short order and allow grease to leak out of and contaminants to leak into the bearing. According to NTN, the OEM supplier for Subaru wheel bearings and half shafts, grease should fill approximately 1/3 of the open space inside a bearing. I use Mobil 1 Red Grease because it is a decent quality grease that is readily available. No need to get to get too exotic with the greases as it is the seals that determine the life of a bearing. Edited December 4, 2008 by hohieu corrected typos Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave valiant Posted December 3, 2008 Share Posted December 3, 2008 Lug nuts on all Subarus should be torqued to 72 ft lbs max. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
subaru360 Posted December 3, 2008 Share Posted December 3, 2008 I never mess with replacing bearings. I just get a whole used assembly. It's less work and much cheaper. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unibrook Posted December 4, 2008 Share Posted December 4, 2008 Hi Grossgary and Subaru360: where do I get used hubs? Can I mail order them? Any good source you have used? Or do I need to drive down to CT to a U-Pull-It junkyard? I live in Boston. thx. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
subaru360 Posted December 4, 2008 Share Posted December 4, 2008 If you don't want to drive look on http://www.car-part.com and find a junkyard that will ship to you. It will cost more that way but save you time if you don't want to pull it yourself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idosubaru Posted December 4, 2008 Share Posted December 4, 2008 (edited) I never mess with replacing bearings. I just get a whole used assembly. It's less work and much cheaper.SHHHH!!!!! this is not the time to cut into automotive manufacturers profits!!!!! i replaced a rear bearing on my legacy this summer and it's still growling back there, not loud, but noticeable. my wife can't even tell she says something funny like "well i'm so used to all the noises your XT6 makes, this seems like outer space". so it's either the tire (never checked, but they are very low mileage) or the hub/bearing is out of whack. if it's not the tire the next step will be installing another hub or living with it. Edited December 4, 2008 by grossgary Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tcspeer Posted December 4, 2008 Share Posted December 4, 2008 (edited) Hi Grossgary and Subaru360: where do I get used hubs? Can I mail order them? Any good source you have used? Or do I need to drive down to CT to a U-Pull-It junkyard? I live in Boston. thx. Go to junkyard dog on the web, there you can sign up and post what you need it is then seen by many yards around the country, they will E- mail you and tell you what they have along with cost. Their is a couple of places that will contact you everytime saying they have your part and they want you to call them, ignore them. the good ones there, and they are many will contact you with full information and cost. Edited December 4, 2008 by tcspeer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idosubaru Posted December 4, 2008 Share Posted December 4, 2008 NOTE - this is a very old bumped thread Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hohieu Posted December 4, 2008 Share Posted December 4, 2008 i replaced a rear bearing on my legacy this summer and it's still growling back there, not loud, but noticeable. my wife can't even tell she says something funny like "well i'm so used to all the noises your XT6 makes, this seems like outer space". so it's either the tire (never checked, but they are very low mileage) or the hub/bearing is out of whack. if it's not the tire the next step will be installing another hub or living with it. Well, I had two noises going, a bad wheel bearing and noisy tires. Replacing the bad rear bearing eliminated the roar from rear and isolated a "a new" "wump, wump, wump" from the front driver's side and a slight vibration from at the accelerator and brake pedals. I thought it was the half shaft and replaced it with a good used one. Noise was still there. Then I did a complete overhaul of the front brakes as it was time. Noise was still there. The noise thankfully went away after I replaced all four tires. It's the quietest the car has been since I've owned it. All the while, my wife didn't notice any of these noises either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unibrook Posted December 4, 2008 Share Posted December 4, 2008 thanks guys, thems the leads I needs! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msmithmmx Posted December 5, 2008 Share Posted December 5, 2008 Man I am so tempted to grab a hub tamer off Ebay. Would the Knuckle make a difference if it came from a Legacy or a OBW? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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