Front Wheel Bearing Replacement Procedure

FRONT BEARING REPLACEMENT PROCEDURE

Changed the front left wheel bearing on my 2002 Jetta TDI, 5M. I used the B90 tool from Sir Tools. Here it is:

1. Remove the lug nut cover from the rim.
2. Loosen the 12-point socket shouldered nut using a 30 mm, 12-point socket and a BIG breaker bar.
3. Raise the car and support.
4. Remove the tire.
5. Tie a piece of wire to the coil spring. This will be used to hang the caliper from.
6. Remove the brake pad sensing wire from the bracket.
7. Disconnect the pad sensing wire connector.
8. Remove the two plastic caps that protect the caliper guide pins.
9. Loosen the two caliper guide pins using a 7mm allen head on a 3/8 drive.
10. Suspend the caliper from the wire.
11. Remove the phillips head bolt from the brake rotor.
12. Remove the rotor.
13. Remove the drive axle nut that you previously loosened.
14. Remove the 18mm nut from the torsion link arm. Watch it, this is under tension.
15. Remove the 19mm nut from the tie rod arm.
16. Remove the three 13mm bolts that hold the ball joint to the lower arm (save the 3 point clip)
17. Use a three-jaw puller to push the drive axle in through the hub and bearing housing. (The semi circle device that comes with the B90 could not perform this task due to the ABS sensor)
18. Pull the bearing hub / strut out and rotate the hub assembly away from the drive axle. Support and protect the drive axle.
19. Use a slide hammer with a hub puller attachment / lug nuts and remove the hub. It cam off with the first whack, no problem. Hub goes to the bench. (The semi circle device that comes with the B90 could not perform this task due to the ABS sensor).
20. Remove the snap ring that holds the bearing in the housing. Mine was frozen. Penetrating oil and banging with a chisel did not help. I ended up using a hook tool (from my pick set) and inserted the hook into one of the holes in the snap ring and yanked it out. no problem.
21. Remove the bearing from the housing. I used the B90 for this. Use B90 pieces #4, 5, 7, 10 the long threaded bolt and the nut (all part of the B90 kit). The #7 piece goes on the backside of the bearing, while #4, 5, and 10 go on the front side of the housing. You will need a 27mm wrench to hold the nut and a 24mm socket to spin the long bolt on the B90. You just turn the long bolt and it pulls out the bearing. The #7 piece is critical. There are a few sizes that seem to fit, but trust me, this is the one and only.
22. Clean up the bearing housing and apply some grease.
23. To the bench. Remove the inner bearing race from the hub. I read horror stories about this but my removal was quite simple. I used the same three-jaw puller that I used to push the drive axle out of the hub. I put the three jaws around the bearing race and had to put something over the hole in the hub to push on. I used one of the disks from a bearing driver set that I had. Tighten the puller and it came right off. No heating. Clean the hub and apply some grease.
24. Now insert the new bearing into the bearing housing that is on the car. Use B90 pieces #4, 5, 8A, 8, 10 the long threaded bolt and the nut (all part of the B90 kit). The #8A piece goes on the backside of the bearing housing, while #4, 5, 8 and 10 go on the front side of the housing. You will need a 27mm wrench to hold the nut and a 24mm socket to spin the long bolt on the B90. You just turn the long bolt and it pushes in the bearing. The #8A and 8 pieces are critical. The 8A catches the backside of the bearing housing just right and the #8 is the exact size of the outer race of the bearing. If you use any other size than the #8 to push the bearing in, you will damage it
25. Install the new snap ring.
26. Now you press the hub into the bearing. Use B90 pieces #4, 5, 7, 8, 10 the long threaded bolt and the nut (all part of the B90 kit). The #7 piece goes on the backside of the bearing, not the bearing housing! While #4, 5, 8 and 10 go on the front side of the hub. You will need a 27mm wrench to hold the nut and a 24mm socket to spin the long bolt on the B90. You just turn the long bolt and it pushes the hub onto the bearing.
27. Now insert the drive axle into the hub.
28. Replace the nut on the tie rod end and tighten to 33 ft lbs.
29. Replace the three 13mm bolts that hold the ball joint. Reuse the three-way clip.
30. Use a jack to align the bolt for the lower torsion link arm. Install bolt and nut.
31. In stall new drive axle nut hand tight.
32. Install the brake rotor and Phillips head bolt.
33. Install the brake caliper and the caliper sensing wire. . Tighten the guide pins to 21 ft lbs
34. Tighten the drive axle nut while someone is on the brake pedal. (The procedure in my Bentley was incorrect (version 2). From what I understand version 4 has it correctly.) Tighten drive axle nut to 148 ft lbs. Then loosen ½ turn. Spin the hub. Retighten to 37 ft lbs. Tighten nut an additional 60* (use a punch or marker as described in Bentley). Again you will need a BIG breaker bar for this. Bentley recommends to put the tire on and lower the car when doing this. I did not. Make sure you keep your eye on the jack stand, that last 60* is a lot of torque.

Post Mortem:
· I did take some digital pictures but I haven't the foggiest idea how to post them.
· I was a little upset with the B90. No directions or manual came with it. Therefore it took some time to just figure out how this pile of pieces work together. The semi circle piece and its adapter was completely useless to me because my car has ABS. It also took some time to determine exactly which size pieces to use and for what function. However, once I figured all of this out and got the hub off with my slide hammer, the other aspects of the B90 worked great. The second time will go much smoother.
· I realize that this procedure is very detailed and hard to visualize. Once you get in there and see the pieces of the B90 that are listed above, you'll see how this works.
· I had some great help from Jon (NYTDI) and Steve from Norwalk. Once again a big help. Very much appreciated. Thank you!
· Also like to thank everyone at Fred's who posted info on bearing replacements. This site is a great resource.

Congratulations! Well done! It takes courage, committment and confidence to tackle a project like that. Zero tolerance for errors or ommissions when you disassemble and reassemble so much of the suspension.

How many miles on the old bearings and why did you change them?

Geeze D. that makes it all sound so .... involved

Gonna do a rear bearing write up?

I can name that procedure in .... oh, say six steps

Thanks for YOUR help, "shop" & tools.

I'll answer for DLV. I think he has about 80k mi. on the car. Drivers side (not both sides) replaced 'cause it was making noise.

Had to replace a front on our Golf at 110 or 120k mi. - can't recall exactly. Just did the drivers rear (at DLV's after he got his front back together) at 134k mi. Was making a whining "bad tire tread" type noise. Our front was more of a grinding or large lug tire tread type noise/feel.

What is the torque spec for the 13mm lower ball joint bolts? Also, are these stretch bolts that need replaced with new ones?

woof.

m-

I didn't see your post until today. Oops. I'll research it over the Thanksgiving break.

does someone offer a pre-assembled front wheel bearing hub assembly? Could have sworn I saw one once.

It looks like the big wholesale places only sell the same kit. This has always been a problem it seems with every VW i have had since 1978 the drivers side goes out , it does take the most abuse (at least from me ) because i like to hit the ramps and loops on the interstate pretty hard putting alot more stress on that bearing.

I don't know why I have another bad one, but I definitely do. Time for the lifetime warranty bearings.

Just saw this post after putting up a post asking about bearing life. Are these a replacement item only? How much do they cost?

I'm inclined to do both front ones if one is bad. I hate repeated service visits, and I'm not about to take this on myself, although I probably should. Maybe I'll look at the Bentley before I decide.

The parts place for all volkswagens in alburn hills mich will lend you the tool to do it without upseting the suspenision. Can be purchased for about 300-500 online. I think it is worth it if into DIY. Probably break even if done once.
Regards
CB&Stoker

I think that's how I'll go. I can replace lots of bearings at $20 a pop before I hit $200 for the tool. I Bet the dealer does this with the tool and charges the flat rate. Thanks for the lead to them.

Unfortunately buying the specialty tools is an investment. You don't make any money off of them until you use them for the second or third time. AS I state in the original post...I don't think the B90 was worth the $$ because with ABS the advantage of this tools design is useless. The one from Harbor Freight is just as capable (if you have ABS) and a lot cheaper.

what is the deal with the abs/speed sensor can it be removed or not

No. I had to work around it.

Do you think this tool work for replacing the bearings, like you did? http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=45210
I think I may need a wheel bearing replacement before too long.

I have a B90 VW only set too. The semi-circular section that doesn't fit the ABS sensor is call the Horseshoe. It is stamped "VA" and has an I.D. of 100 mm. The O.D. of the ABS sensor is 108 mm.

The B90 will pull the hub off without using the horseshoe, but it destroys the bearing. I'm still trying to get the outer race off of the hub, and the inner race is still in the spindle. arrrgh.

update; The B90-VW only kit is sufficient to do a front bearing change on cars with ABS. The horseshoe piece isn't necessary, but does help when you pull the main bearing race from the spindle. It is easiest to remove the entire spindle casting from the car (i.e. separate the casting from the strut, undo the ball-joint bolts, undo the tie-rod nut).

Choose your B90 disks carefully, and make sure the disks are seated against things that actually move. It's easy to mis-read how to remove all of the bearing segments. The C-clip is a P.i.t.a. also.

The other essential tool is a 4" 3-jaw gear puller. I got a loaner from the parts store. In my situation, when I pulled the hub off, which separated the old bearing , I needed the 3-jaw puller to remove the outer-most race from the inside of the hub.

any body just use a hydraulic press for the bearing swap?..thats how we used to do them at teh shop i worked t aremove spindel..press out out bearing ..take air hammer / chisel buzz the inner race off the hub..if it was tough to remove slice the race with a torch and it ome right off....hummn i need to do my bearing on my golf soon..i plan on removing the spindles and haveing teh shop press em in..etc.. any tips?
thanks
Deo

On an arbor press - ought to be slicker 'n deer guts on a door knob. Only thing is that if you remove the carrier from the car to do this you need a front end alignment when you're done. Otherwise there's no guarantee the alignment is still within specs.

I did mine a couple of months ago. Latent damage from a front end tweak. It developed into a rough spot that would flat spot the tire. It took me quite a while to finally figure out that it was the bearing and not tires, or shocks or out of round something or other.

Does anyone know the answer to John's question? Will the Harbor Freight tool do the job for wheel bearing replacement??? Thanks.

Just to chime in here. I've had to have a bearing done on my 01 golf 3 years in a row now, every spring one side or the other starts howling like a buzz saw.

Does anyone have any ideas what could be causing this?

Thanks

Skid

I don't know if the TDI's have more delicate bearings than the previous models (I'll be needing at least 1 front and probably at least 1 rear bearing very soon... ), but in my A2's I noticed that longevity seemed to depend on who installed it and how well it was done... some lasted a very long time, others less than a year...

I'm trying to figure out how long I can nurse the singing bearing... as I don't know in what location I should have the work done... (I'm now in Springfield, MA... will be going to Montreal on Sunday... to Toronto Monday...)

Yuri.

Dave

What does the Harbor Freight tool look like? I haven't seen it in my local store!

Saw the link on yahoo. Thanks!

Re: Saabguru question on Harbor Freight Wheel bearing tool.
I have found that my local Harbor Freight outlet does not inventory such a tool on site. Catalog description left me uncomfortable in my selection. John Kuhn's question (back in thread) was never answered. I declined to order an unknown from Harbor Freight. Still living with the bad bearing and waiting for an answer. Dave.

Adding a superb write up from VW Vortex

http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=1722551

A post about the B90 tool: http://forums.tdiclub.com/showflat.php?C...true#Post753213

http://forums.tdiclub.com/showflat.php?C...true#Post675246

Additional links on front wb replacement:

http://forums.tdiclub.com/showflat.php?C...true#Post629219

http://forums.tdiclub.com/showflat.php?C...rev=#Post575477

2-Harbor Freight bearing tools

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=4876
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=45210

Yes you can use the Harbor Freight Tool front bearing puller. I did mine last week and it went smoothly. When pulling the hub from the bearing you will need the two supplied ¾ washers from the Harbor Freight kit and a slide hammer (three pulls and I separated the old bearing). Pull from the hub and not the bearing race to split the bearing. After that just follow the posted directions. Make sure that you use the proper adapter when pressing in the hub into the new bearing. Place the correct adapter flatly on the inner race of the new bearing when pulling in the hub. If you pull in the hub from the bearing housing you will split the new bearing. Pulling the old bearing race off of the hub was not hard if you have the right size puller. It also helps to use spring compressors to take the load off the ball joint. While you’re at it you might want to replace your ball joints. Also review the above Vortex post.


Ball Joint Replacement

Tools for changing front wheel bearings on A3's and A4's

Clatterman said:

update; The B90-VW only kit is sufficient to do a front bearing change on cars with ABS. The horseshoe piece isn't necessary, but does help when you pull the main bearing race from the spindle. It is easiest to remove the entire spindle casting from the car (i.e. separate the casting from the strut, undo the ball-joint bolts, undo the tie-rod nut).

Click to expand...

Just to double check, is the B90-VW all I need to change front wheel bearings on both A3/B4's and A4's?

Are any other tools required?

I'm looking at getting this kit and just want to be sure I'm covered.

-J