Wheel Bearings in a Santa Fe: can I do it?

My special lady friend has a 2001 Hyndai Santa Fe with what feels like a wheel bearing going bad. Howling like mad. And of course it's the front. I've gone through the procedure, and I think I'm ok with what has to happen, up until the old bearing has to come off and the new one goes on.

Does PepVanceZone rent bearing pullers? Anything special to note when pressing in the new one? I know to only press on the inner race. Where should I get the bearing from? NAPA? Don't want to repeat this anytime soon. I do know to pack it with quality grease.

Anything else?

I did the rears on SWMBO's 350z this summer. I wound up buying new hubs & getting the bearings pressed on at NAPA, because the large HF bearing puller bent & stripped the bolt. Did the fronts on the Tahoe a couple months ago & they only came fully assembled (350z fronts appear to be the same way).

Sealed bearings usually come lubed & ready to go.If that is what you have (most modern cars are this way).

Can't you order a loaded hub from rock auto? It'll save you an impressive amount of time.

In reply to Fueled by Caffeine:

Ooooh...and this is why I ask the forum.

Looking on rockauto it looks like this is the style you can't do a loaded hub on, procedure will be something like press hub out of upright, press bearing out of upright (check for retainer clip first!), press new bearing into upright and install retainer clip if present (use the old bearing outer race with the OD lightly ground down as a driver), press hub into new bearing (press on inner race only!). Use a good brand name bearing.

Would you buy a new hub and bearing, press it out of the knuckle, and press in the newxstuff? That way you wouldn't have to fight a rusted on bearing?

BrokenYugo wrote: Looking on rockauto it looks like this is the style you can't do a loaded hub on, procedure will be something like press hub out of upright, press bearing out of upright (check for retainer clip first!), press new bearing into upright and install retainer clip if present (use the old bearing outer race with the OD lightly ground down as a driver), press hub into new bearing (press on inner race only!). Use a good brand name bearing.

That's what we wound up doing on the 02 Vue this summer, worked out pretty well. Ebay was actually cheaper than rockauto on that one, but I think that was just dumb luck.

HAte these. With a passion. If it was me, I'd buy a new beraing, knuckle and hub and put them together. Getting the old ones apart is a bitch.

Hydraulic press is a real help on things like this. You'll have to remove the knuckle, press out the hub, remove retaining clip and then press out the bearing.

PRO TIP: Keep the new bearing in the freezer overnight and it will contract just enough to make life easier pressing it in.

Yeah, there generally isn't a whole lot of fighting needed if you have a 20 ton press and a bearing splitter on hand. I'd recommend having a shop do the pressing if you don't have one.

^That^

Even with an actual close-to-twenty-ton (as opposed to "Harbor Freight Tons" which are much smaller) press, bearing splitters, wheel bearing press arbors, and an oxy-acetylene torch, sometimes it's still a colossal bitch of a job.

motomoron wrote: ^That^ Even with an actual close-to-twenty-ton (as opposed to "Harbor Freight Tons" which are much smaller) press, bearing splitters, wheel bearing press arbors, and an oxy-acetylene torch, sometimes it's still a colossal bitch of a job.

Agreed.

I've always had the local machine shop press bearings and ball joints for me and not once did I feel like I wasted my hard earned money!

Might ask a local shop what they'd charge to press out the old and press on the new.