Front Wheel Bearing/Hub 03 Expl

[wingsauce]

I Need to change the L/R front wheel bearings and hub assys on my 03 explorer, V6 4x4. Anyone have tips, special tooling, torque specs?

[91xltlariat]

WARNING
If equipped, always turn off the Automatic Ride Control (ARC) service switch before lifting the vehicle off of the ground. Failure to do so could damage the ARC system components.

1. Before servicing the vehicle, refer to the Precautions section.

2. Remove or disconnect the following:
WARNING
Never reuse the wheel hub nut and washer. This nut is a torque prevailing design and cannot be reused.


NOTE
The hub shaft is a slip fit into the wheel hub and bearing; a press is not normally required.



Negative battery cable

Front wheels

Front disc brake caliper, bracket and rotor

Brake rotor splash shield

Antilock Brake System (ABS) sensor and wire harness from the steering knuckle, if equipped

Front wheel hub nut and washer

Wheel hub/bearing to steering knuckle retaining bolts

Hub and bearing assembly




Click image to see an enlarged view

Fig. Exploded view of the wheel bearing and automatic locking hub assembly

3. Ensure that the wheel hub shaft can be pushed inwards. If not, assemble a press to the front wheel studs and press the wheel hub shaft inwards slightly to break it loose.



To install:

1. Install or connect the following:

ABS sensor to the wheel hub then position the hub to the front axle shaft and steering knuckle

Retaining bolts. Torque the bolts to 74-96 ft. lbs. (100-130 Nm).

Position the hub on the driveshaft and into the steering knuckle. Torque the bolts to 89 inch lbs. (10 Nm).

Brake rotor splash shield

ABS sensor. Torque the bolt to 89 inch lbs. (10 Nm).

Hub washer and nut and tighten to 157-213 ft. lbs. (212-288 Nm)

Front brake rotor, bracket and caliper

Front wheels

Negative battery cable


WARNING
If equipped, always turn off the Automatic Ride Control (ARC) service switch before lifting the vehicle off of the ground. Failure to do so could damage the ARC system components.

1. Before servicing the vehicle, refer to the Precautions section.

2. Remove or disconnect the following:
WARNING
Never reuse the wheel hub nut and washer. This nut is a torque prevailing design and cannot be reused.


NOTE
The hub shaft is a slip fit into the wheel hub and bearing; a press is not normally required.



Negative battery cable

Front wheels

Front disc brake caliper, bracket and rotor

Brake rotor splash shield

Antilock Brake System (ABS) sensor and wire harness from the steering knuckle, if equipped

Front wheel hub nut and washer

Wheel hub/bearing to steering knuckle retaining bolts

Hub and bearing assembly




Click image to see an enlarged view

Fig. Exploded view of the wheel bearing and automatic locking hub assembly

3. Ensure that the wheel hub shaft can be pushed inwards. If not, assemble a press to the front wheel studs and press the wheel hub shaft inwards slightly to break it loose.



To install:

1. Install or connect the following:

ABS sensor to the wheel hub then position the hub to the front axle shaft and steering knuckle

Retaining bolts. Torque the bolts to 74-96 ft. lbs. (100-130 Nm).

Position the hub on the driveshaft and into the steering knuckle. Torque the bolts to 89 inch lbs. (10 Nm).

Brake rotor splash shield

ABS sensor. Torque the bolt to 89 inch lbs. (10 Nm).

Hub washer and nut and tighten to 157-213 ft. lbs. (212-288 Nm)

Front brake rotor, bracket and caliper

Front wheels

Negative battery cable

[wingsauce]

The written directions sound great, but looking at the IPL you attached, I am not sure it is the correct drawing. The one attached is different. mine seems easier to change due to the fact there is really only one piece. Hub has bearings pressed into it and sealed. (way more expensive though). do you have the drawing and torque for this?

[91xltlariat]

This may help.

Tools: - Can of PB blaster to loosen the bolts - 1/2 in drive breaker bar (or called a flex head handle)

Bungee cord or piece of rope.

3/8 and 1/2 drive socket sets.

1/2 in-to-3/8-in drive converter (or called an adapter). A universal will also do.

Slide hammer **May Not Be Neccessary**(you can rent this from Autozone.

1/2 drive torque wrench (you can rent this from Autozone.

Before starting the job, spray all bolts with PB blaster to help loosen them. Before elevating the truck, you need to loosen the hub nut (32 mm) and the lug nuts (19 mm). It is best to do this with a 1/2 inch breaker bar. Then lift the truck and pull off the tire.

You now need to remove the brake assembly. There are two short bolts behind the caliper. Remove these and pull the caliper off.

The caliper comes off best when the rotor is flush with the bearing hub assembly. You can force the rotor to be flush by using one of the 19 mm lug nuts. Tighten the lug nut on the stud opposite the caliper. This will keep the rotor in one place. Once the caliper is off, you should suspend it to the frame someplace with a bungee cord. Do not suspend it by the pressurized brake line.

The pads simply pull out from the caliper support frame. Then you need to remove the caliper support frame. This is attached via 2-14 mm bolts (that are usually rusted pretty good). Once the caliper support has been removed, the rotor simply slides out. Also, it might be a good idea to remove the "rotor shield" on the right side of the hub assembly. Once the rotor is off, the bolts for the shield are exposed. The shield is held in place by three small bolts. A 1/4 inch drive and metric socket can easily remove these.

Now it's time to remove the 3-14 mm bolts that hold the bearing hub. A 14 mm 1/2 inch drive socket will do the trick.

However, a 1/2 inch breaker bar (or ratchet head) is too large to fit in the space, as is. This is because the CV boot is in the way (for all 3 bolts). If you use a 1/2-drive to 3/8-drive adapter with a 3/8 inch breaker bar, you can fit the socket in the space. If you have a universal adapter, you could probably use the 1/2 breaker bar. The only problem is, there is not enough leverage (using the 3/8 breaker bar) to loosen the bolts. you can make the 3/8-drive breaker bar longer with a short piece of pipe

Once the 3-14 mm bolts are off, you need to pull the bearing off the spline. This can be done using a "slide hammer" or many times it will come right off without much work and without the puller.

Mount the slide hammer plate to the bearing hub studs. Then simply pull the bearing straight out and off the spline

Now you just need to install the new bearing over the spline. You can draw the spline through the bearing by using the hub nut. Do not over tighten the hub nut just yet. First, you should install the 3-14 mm bolts that hold the new hub in place.

These should be torqued to about 125 lb-ft. Then the entire re-assembly is done in reverse order. The hub nut should be fully tighten last (to about 175 lb-ft) with the truck tire on and truck off the jack. It is extremely important that this nut is not overtightened. Using an impact wrench to tighten this nut is the main cause of pre-mature bearing failure. It is strongly recommended that you tighten this with a calibrated torque wrench!!!!!!

REMEBER: DO NOT OVERTORQUE. DO NOT TIGHTEN WITH AN IMPACT WRENCH/GUN!!!!!!!!

[wingsauce]

Just a follow-up. This job took about 1.5 hrs per side. Not much to it, but the three bolts that hold the hub flange to the frame were slightly difficult to remove. Before starting I used a penetrant on all bolts. Luckily I live in a dry environment so rust was not an issue.

REMOVAL

1. loosen lug nuts

2. loosen hub spindle nut (30 mm socket)

3. jack up and support vehicle

4. remove wheel

5. remove brake caliper (2 15mm bolts) and support or hang with wire.

6. remove caliper housing (2 18mm bolts)

7. remove brake rotor

8. disconnect and pull the ABS wiring from the chassis

9. remove spindle nut and soak spindle with penetrant

10. remove the 3 14mm hub flange bolts. I was able to loosen them and start to remove them with a socket and ratchet, but had to finish the removal with an open end wrench.

11. Using a "Flange Type Axle Puller" that I got as a loaner tool from AutoZone, position the puller over the lugs, secure with the lug nuts and crank the middle bolt of the puller to separate the hub from the spindle.

12. I cleaned up the spindle with wire brush and solvent. I also cleaned the surface that the hub flange mounts of old form-a-gasket material.

INSTALLATION

13. lube spindle with clean axle grease.

14. run a bead of Form-a-gasket around mating flange.

15. Line up new hub and slide onto spindle, indexed correctly to install the 3 14mm flange bolts.

16. tighten the three flange bolts. I ran mine all the way down and torqued them before pulling the spindle all the way into the hub (easy to use a socket for the entire bolt istallation this way).

17. tighten the spindle bolt to pull the CV spindle into the hub

18. route and reconnect the wiring and plug for the ABS

19. install rotor (hold in place with a lugnut or the lug clips)

20. install brake caliper housing.

21. install caliper

22. install wheel and tighten lugnuts.

23. slowly lower vehicle until tire touches floor and tighten lugnuts

24. torque spindle nut (150-175 ft/lbs)