Wheel bearing

[PolishMike]

So how hard is it to change a wheel bearing on a 99 OBS?

[eage8]

front or back?

it's decently easy depending on your mechanical experience but time consuming... and you need a press or some sort of self made contraption using correctly sized sockets and a big bolt to get it out...

I use a harbor freight press and it works fine. it was like $100


it would be much cheaper to take the hub off and take it to a machine shop and have them press out/in the bearing for you.

[PolishMike]

its on the back. i go to school for automotive so i do have mechanical experience and access to to presses and just about any tool imaginable. :mrgreen:

[Jard]

Biggest pain is taking apart and putting back together the e-brake assembly if you are going to pull it off to press it in/out.

If it's been bad for a while, you might consider replacing the hub assembly too.

[PolishMike]

yea its been bad for quite a while so i guess i should just change the hub assembly. any idea about the cost of the parts? preferably i would like to get it from the dealer.

[Jard]

It's about $190 for the bearing, hub, and seals for the rear of my car ('01 Forester/RS rear uprights).

That's with the NASIOC discount from Annapolis Subaru, no shipping or tax added yet.

[speedDiet2021]

That is a good idea.. Thanks for sharing..

[rallyimprezive]

I let my bearing go to long before replacing it, and due to heat, the bearing fused to the hub and the axle. Made a big ol mess. Keep that in mind when you tackle this lil project. :)

[UP2MTNS]

yea its been bad for quite a while so i guess i should just change the hub assembly. any idea about the cost of the parts? preferably i would like to get it from the dealer.

subarugenuineparts.com

I just did the same thing on my WRX. entire hub assembly wasn't too bad, I got all the seals there too. I even replaced the hub itself (part with the lug nuts pressed in), but I got that on ebay.

the bearing assembly I just picked up from kragen (got the old one replaced with warraty for free....woot!)....however, the new one has a PLASTIC cage around the actual bearings? seems suspect. Kragen is now 'officially' O'Reiley and they said they changed vendors on a lot of things. the box had a brand name I never heard of 'National something or other', but on the box is said 'Moog Designed'....so that's good, but the actual bearing has 'Kiyo' stamped on it....which I know as well, so hopefully it'll hold up. :?

[KevinWelker]

Dude, a 99 OBS from the northeast (or Jersey) is almost certainly going to have the long bolt in the bottom of the knuckle seized to the inner portion of the lateral link bushings. That means that you will fight to get it apart, probably ruin the lateral link bushings and the long bolt. Many people in the northeast have to cut the bolt and melt out the bushings just to get it apart.

Keep that in mind and plan accordingly, aka have a spare car to drive while you pick up the other parts needed to get yours back in one piece again and don't rule out using a sawzall on the long bolt to get things apart. Anti-seize when you put it back together.

[VT900CB]

I don't understand the salt dumping we do around here. New england loves their salt, Does this affect wheel bearings? I seemed to be consuming an abnormal number of wheel bearings, could alignment affect it either?

[orderingchaos]

I just replaced my rear bearings. I pulled the hub and took it to a local shop to have them press it out. I was worried about my lateral link bushings and bolt seeing as it was from minnesota or somewhere else up north, but that thing slid out like butter with a little pb blaster. My ABS sensors was rocked up solid, broke both sides trying to get them out of the hubs. Other than that, it was pretty straight forward. The e-brake is a little tricky i played with it for a bit before i set it aside to make sure i could put it back together easily, that seemed to help alot.