my rear wheel bearings went out on my FWD 1996 Legacy LSi. I left the car in TN, swapped cars, and a friend is fixing it for me (he offered).

 

the new bearing failed so what do i need to replace - the hub or the housing or both?

 

i think he ordered just the hub, not the housing. but i've never actually done a rear bearing so i'm not sure how it works and what parts actually come in contact with the bearing.

I'd just get a good used hub and bolt it up. If the long bottom bolt is rusted tight you might also need it and the connecting arms going to the cross member, as the bushings in the arms sometimes get messed up trying to pull the bolt.

i already have a hub at my place and that is probably what will happen. but my friend 600 miles away was intent on replacing the bearing for me...so I'm trying to help him out and make sure we're attacking it right.

 

for future reference though - the housing is what needs replaced, it gets warped or the hub?

 

in the future - if i ever want to replace bearings i want to make sure i'm starting with a good housing....hub, or both?

Are you sure the new bearing was installed properly?

 

 

http://www.endwrench.com/current/Current6/03/WhBearRep.pdf

Are you sure the new bearing was installed properly?

no, i dropped the housing and Subaru bearings off at a shop. they do all of the machine shop work for the local Subaru dealer. there are zillions of Subaru's around here and I asked if they were familiar with them and they said they were. i mentioned packing them with appropriate grease and installing the bearings, they seemed well versed.

 

this is at least the second set that failed. they were making noise when i got the car. the new bearings i installed made noise almost immediately. i'm ready to move on, not dump more money into this housing.

 

plus i have a known good housing sitting here at my house or can buy one super cheap so the gamble isn't worth it.

Gary, I can help with this one. It is the hub that can go bad, the bearing fits inside of the race or sleeve and this goes in the housing. I replaced my right front bearing twice before I realized the hub was bad also. I have never had to replace the housing yet. There should be no movement or wear on the outer side of race or sleeve and inside of housing, or least I have never seen it on my Postal Subaru and it has 399,000 miles on it.

Edited March 27, 200917 yr by tcspeer

hhmmmm, so the housing should be fine? i'm a bit hesitant to keep it now with two bearing failures.

 

so the hub gets damaged, not the housing?

When you say housing, you are speaking of the spindle right? And not the housing sleeve or race the two bearing fit into.

 

I can not see any reason the spindle could be damaged from the bearing going bad unless it chewed through the sleeve or race. And I think the hub would wobble bad before then.

 

But remember, I could not see that axle stub in that photo here a while back until you told me it was there and I took another look.

Edited March 27, 200917 yr by tcspeer

But remember, I could not see that axle stub in that photo here a while back until you told me it was there and I took another look.

WOW, i totally forgot that!

 

i'm off Thursday to TN to go fix this thing and bring it back. trying to decide now whether to risk fixing the bearing or just swapping the entire spindle/hub assembly as a unit. since it was just off a few months ago it should be easy to remove and reinstall!?!?

If you swap it out you can bring the old one home with you, then get you a cheap press from Harbor Freight, buy the cheapest bearings you can find and get a bearing seperator for around twenty bucks.

 

You can then practice with this all you want, then you will never have to worry about spending much money for another bearing job. After you take it apart the first time it will finish destroying the old bearing that are in it but when you clean and grease it and put it back together with the new bearing you can then take it back apart easy without tearing the bearing up. I would not put this practice spindle back on any car because taking it apart and putting it together many times is sure to do some damage to the bearing.

 

If you need the steps for doing this you can find them here under How to conquer the wheel bearing. The front and the rear are the same on my 97 Legacy wagon except the rear is just a little smaller and it has one more seal in the rear. And one bearing job you do will will just about pay for your press.

Edited April 6, 200917 yr by tcspeer