How to replace your MkIV's front wheel bearings

PDJetta said:

Turbocharged798 wrote, "Well, I just successfully replaced the passenger side wheel bearing on the 99.5. Bought the Harbor Freight 12ton press and had a 20% off coupon so the whole thing only cost me ~$100."

I have the same press. What did you use to interface between the press rod and bearing? I'd like to work this out ahead of time and have whatever press pieces I need on hand.

Do you push out the old bearing and the inner hub (the thing the ABS ring is on) at the same time? Also, How do you get the old inner race off the inner hub so you can use the hub over?

Thanks.

--Nate

Click to expand...

4x4, 2x4, some and pipe couplings. First I put the knuckle in the press, hub side down. Used a 2x4 and a 4x4 on each side. Pushed the hub out with ease. Then I removed the circlip put the two press plates that were included in the press, stacked them, and put the knuckle right on them. Then I pressed the bearing race until it stopped because it hits the place. This allows maximum pressure as no wood in involved. Once the bearing race breaks free, it needs a bit less pressure so I go back to the wood and continue to press and push the rest of the race out. Pushing the new bearing is pretty much the same deal, getting creative with wood placement.

Ghastly said:

Canadians might not know that some Canadian Tire stores have a tool rental program. I rented a bearing kit, a 6" gear puller, and a slide hammer from them.

Click to expand...

Ghastly said:

The Canadian Tire bearing kit had nothing that was the right size to put on the backside of the slide hammer when you need to rip the guts of the bearing. So I used the old axle nut, it was a perfect fit.

Click to expand...

What kind of bearing kit did you get from CT? I can't seem to find anything either online or talking to service directly that is comparable to the HF Bearing puller/adapter set.
I'm looking to do it one of these coming weekends and it seems that without a comparable set, both pulling the outer ring from the steering knuckle and pressing the new one in is near impossible.
Thanks in advance!

turbocharged798 said:

4x4, 2x4, some and pipe couplings. First I put the knuckle in the press, hub side down. Used a 2x4 and a 4x4 on each side. Pushed the hub out with ease. Then I removed the circlip put the two press plates that were included in the press, stacked them, and put the knuckle right on them. Then I pressed the bearing race until it stopped because it hits the place. This allows maximum pressure as no wood in involved. Once the bearing race breaks free, it needs a bit less pressure so I go back to the wood and continue to press and push the rest of the race out. Pushing the new bearing is pretty much the same deal, getting creative with wood placement.

Click to expand...

Thanks!

--Nate

basilv said:

What kind of bearing kit did you get from CT? I can't seem to find anything either online or talking to service directly that is comparable to the HF Bearing puller/adapter set.

Click to expand...

To answer my own question, I went to another CT last night and managed to get things sorted out with a much more helpful rep. Hopefully anyone else in Canada can benefit.

The free tool rental isn't such a rental as it is a 3 day return policy. You rent it, you pay full retail, and if you don't return it on time, you keep it. Period. Rented tools do not apply to the standard 30 day policy. Apparently most stores have 1-3 of most tools and they have a very detailed chart of whats available at the service desk. There are no reservations, first come first serve.

I'll try it out this weekend but as per the guy last night you'd need:
Part 25-6149 Slide Hammer Puller set $119.99
Part 25-6319 FWD Bearing rem/ins kit $199.99

They even have big socket sets for rent but I didn't look at those as I think I have the sizes needed.

If I get to it this weekend, I'll post an update about these tools from CT.

MOGolf said:

Growler brought over a car and this time I paid attention to the pieces used.

-07 = use on the back of the bearing when pulling out the bearing and when installing the hub into the new bearing. Full flat side against the bearing during hub install.

-12 = use on the bearing when installing into the housing. This is just the right diameter to press across the face of the bearing and the outer race.

-13 = use on the bearing housing (axle shaft side) when installing the new bearing into the housing. Full flat side towards the bearing.

Click to expand...

Thanks scurvy for the how-to and Glenn for adding important clarifications. The kit numbers above were the key for me getting this done with relative ease. My original front left bearing was howling loud at 236k miles, probably should have replaced it at least 5k ago though.

volmaniac said:

Thanks scurvy for the how-to and Glenn for adding important clarifications. The kit numbers above were the key for me getting this done with relative ease. My original front left bearing was howling loud at 236k miles, probably should have replaced it at least 5k ago though.

Click to expand...

No problem. Glad it worked out well.

I wouldn't trust the numbers provided by MOGolf unless you actually check which ones came with your kit. There are at least two versions of the kit out there, possibly more.

Had my car in to the muffler/brake place, they replaced the drivers side front wheel bearing. Parts, $60 (Timken), labor, $90. Not too bad it seems. Also got new front pads and rotors, rotors were warped. Now the car is nice and quiet and stops smoothly too!

Wksg said:

Had my car in to the muffler/brake place, they replaced the drivers side front wheel bearing. Parts, $60 (Timken), labor, $90. Not too bad it seems. Also got new front pads and rotors, rotors were warped. Now the car is nice and quiet and stops smoothly too!

Click to expand...

$150 is a fantastic deal and I would take that in a second. I was quoted $330 at a local shop and $400 at the dealer. You may also have saved a little bit by combining labor with the brake job too.

I just did my driver's side on this weekend and it went really well overall.
I did the free loan-a-tool program at Canadian Tire and got:
Part 25-6149 Slide Hammer Puller set $119.99
Part 25-6319 FWD Bearing rem/ins kit $199.99
as well as a 30mm-36mm axle nut socket set (only 6 point, used to drive bearing kit)
I also had to buy the axle nut socket, Princess auto had this for $5.

I found the job itself to be very straightforward following Scurvy's guide. 10 good whacks with the slide hammer and the bearing was ripped out using the old axle nut on the back side. To take the inner race off the hub assembly, I bought this kit, but it wasn't quite big enough to fit, so I had to remove the 2 bottom tightening bolts and fit a clamp over the whole assembly to keep it on. I didn't have any hardened washers larger than the inside of the hub but smaller than the inner race but the axle nut again worked it's wonders. Here's how it worked:


The only snag I really came to was removing the circlip... I managed to completely bend my biggest snap ring pliers. They were pretty cheap ones and a quick trip to Lordco and $25 later, a pair that looked the exact same did the job without fuss.

Retrospective thoughts on this is that you really have to make sure you mark the location of the ball joint bolts on the lower control arm well. I just circle them in pencil and thought it would be good enough, but they really didn't suffice when I was putting it back together. Thankfully, when taking apart I noticed they were all the way on one side making it pretty easy. I would almost recommend just hitting them with a bit of spray paint the night before to make sure you know 100%.

I was wondering about the bearing kit however... I didn't use one, just the bearing and got an axle nut to go with it. All the pictures I find of this kit however have the axle nut as well as 3 other nuts... is this just a bad pic or should I have replace 3 other nuts as well? When I looked at everything I removed, there were no other self locking vinyl nuts other than the axle. Are the pics just wrong??

You'll see in the pic above that the bearing actually looks quite good... on that side. The inner side didn't look as good and felt like it was grinding a bit when I turned it without a load. When I put a bit of pressure on it and turned it that way, it actually felt a bit better. What I suppose must have been happening is that when I turned right, it unloaded the inner ring of bearings giving them some play and that's when I heard them. This only give more argument that you can't figure out which side it is with the left/right turn theory.

Anyways, a big thanks to scurvy for this guide and all the other helpful contributions!!

Just from looking at the new bearing with the nuts, pictured in your link, obvious is the axle nut. I am almost positive two of the other nuts pictured are the tie rod ball joint stud nut and the suspension ball joint stud nut. The must be replaced, according to the Bentley manual, if removed. The third nut may be for the sway bar end link to the control arm (or to the sway bar?), not sure. I have the plastic end links on mine, so I would not use that nut (The plastic end link is bolted to the control arm). You are also supposed to replace the three ball joint bolts that hold the joint to the control arm, if you release the ball joint that way (then you would not need the ball joint stud nut, since the ball joint would stay mounted in the control arm via its stud).

--Nate

PDJetta said:

I am almost positive two of the other nuts pictured are the tie rod ball joint stud nut and the suspension ball joint stud nut. The must be replaced, according to the Bentley manual, if removed. The third nut may be for the sway bar end link to the control arm (or to the sway bar?), not sure.
[...]
You are also supposed to replace the three ball joint bolts that hold the joint to the control arm, if you release the ball joint that way (then you would not need the ball joint stud nut, since the ball joint would stay mounted in the control arm via its stud).

Click to expand...

Oh ok thanks; I suppose they are assembling the kit based on the idea that you will be removing the knuckle and pressing the bearing out. I did not remove any of those nuts, but did remove the three ball joint bolts on the control arm. Further inspection of the Bentley agrees that yes, they do need to be replaced on removal.... Easy fix and I can just do one at a time to maintain alignment.

Thanks again!

to go back a few pages..

scurvy said:

I've not looked at the mk3 front wheel bearing setup in any detail but it appears broadly similar to the mk4. Are you saying it's essentially the same?
So you didn't use the Harbor Freight wheel bearing kit and instead used a balljoint pressing tool?

Click to expand...

Apologies for the slow reply.
I found the MkIII to be very similar, main difference I noticed was that I did not have to deal with the ABS junk.
I did not but the harbor freight tool, but.. I probably should have.
I ended up driving the old race out the back with a large socket, and since the c-clamp was not deep enough I had to rotate my set up to keep the new bearing going in straight.

I'm just glad I read enough to learn not to drive the new bearing in by anything but the outer race! I used the old one, and tried to turn down the outside diameter a little with an angle grinder. I think it helped after the new bearing was seated all the way and i had to pull the old race outta the assembly.


It wasn't pretty, it wasn't clean, but i'm still driving that smoky tractor to work every day

Just did this over the last couple days, mainly due to a reluctant hub and underpowered slide hammer (I'm a noodle armed choir-boy it seems ) Press did the trick tho. My question is on the torque values for the axle nut. First page of this write-up says 200 Nm then back off etc. My Bentley for '98/'99 NB says 300 Nm then back off etc. So which is it? Anyone? In reading through the thread there seems to have been some discussion mixing in Ft/Lbs also which throws a new twist into the mix. Plus, it sounds like more is better but maybe not too much more here... Does the backing off of the nut and rotating the tire 1/2 turn and then tightening to only 50 Nm + ~1/6 turn render the difference in the initial torque value moot? I'm tempted to re-torque to 300 Nm and go through the procedure again just to be sure. Anyone care to soothe my jangled nerves?

my 99-2003 bentley says

Axle nut tightening
weight of vehicle must be on the wheels
tighten new 12 pt nut to 200 Nm and immediately loosen 1/2 turn
turn wheel 180 degrees (roll vehicle)
tighten to 50Nm plus 1/6 of a turn (60 degrees)

Alternate method
weight of vehicle must be on the wheels
tighten new 12 pt nut to 200 Nm and immediately loosen 1/2 turn
turn wheel 180 degrees (roll vehicle)
make a mark on nut point with line
make a second mark on the wheel hub two nut points away from the first (each nut point = 30 degrees)
tighten the nut until the marks line up

I was half suspecting that as I've found more than a couple misprints in my first years Mk4 Bentley. Of course the TB change interval was originally 60 K miles too with many other running changes. I was just hoping to get some clarification, thanks volmaniac! Anything to add scurvy?

MoD, volmaniac listed the same thing as in my Bentley:

Weight of the vehicle must be on its wheels.
First, tighten to 200 Nm. Immediately loosen 1/2 turn.
Roll car to turn wheel 1/2 turn.
Tighten nut to 50 Nm + 1/6 turn.

Both procedures give you the same final torque, one just lets you use the points on your nut instead of guesstimating what 1/6th of a turn looks like.

I have had one side done by this method and the other side done with a medium torque setting by an air impact (we'll SWAG it as 200 ft-lbs/270 Nm). Both sides are still tight and quiet 100k km past bearing replacement. I would pick whichever one you like best - personally I do not like tightening, loosening then retightening nylock nuts like the factory says for you to do.

MoD - glad I could help settle those nerves. Interesting that the hub was trouble for you, mine came out with one or two slide hammer hits. Maybe my bearing was really bad, it was really loud!

After re-reading the first thread posts, post #314 is basically a repeat of post #5 with the alternate method added.

Methods with pretty pictures follow, for reference.

Standard procedure for 12-point axle nut:


Alternate procedure for 12-point axle nut (applies same amount of torque):


And just for completeness' sake, procedure if you have a 6-point bolt:

what sucked the most about swapping my wheel bearings was that it didn't fix the problem I had.

p1bump said:

what sucked the most about swapping my wheel bearings was that it didn't fix the problem I had.

Click to expand...

How did you diagnose your problem as bad wheel bearings and who did the work?

I diagnosed through dsperation. That and probably a grand spent replacing parts, thus eliminating other potential sources of vibration. Everything but the engine, chassis ams transmission have been rlaced including, but not limited to; axles, wheels, tires, rebuilding the whole front end, new struts & mounts and motor mounts.

I did learn that cheap motor mounts suck, ask if you want elaboration, otherwise do not buy Anchor Industries engine mounts. I learned Black Forest Industries' rubber tranny mount insert is sucky. I learned solid axle shafts from DTS (I think it was) suck and caused noise and tq steer, and finally I found out that my bearings were fine and doing the job was a pita. Thank god I have a press.

Oh, and I learned after undoing everything I did trying to improve the car, returning her back to original state with quality parts, I still got the damned vibration. Aaauuuuuurrrrgggghhh.

I feel like Charlie Beown.

So the tranny mount was replaced with a new VW part, stock hollow shaft axles were regressed and rebooted, got a lemförder engine mount and febi rear/ lower mount inbound in hopes of quenching the issue once and for all.

All of that was chasing a vibration that began after a timing belt job where I think the pass motor mount had given its last few good miles of service coincidentally at the same time, so I replaced it with the anchor mount which set me off down an expensive and frustrating path. I regretfully thought that since the replaced mount was new it couldn't be the problem and chased other parts, all the way down to the bearings.

... and parts houses across the land lived happily ever after....

The end

2001 jetta bearing removal

I just finished replacing mine and gotta say thanks to everyone here.
The only problem I had was when pressing the old bearing out of the knuckle I grabbed for the #13 disc like the post said and snapped my Harbor Freight bolt cleen off just behind the head.
lucky they stood behind it and replaced the whole kit.
When I returned I grabbed for a much smaller disc (#11) and what a difference!
That old bearing came out smooth as silk and the other side as well.
Only thing I can figure is that I was hung up on the back side of the knuckle with that #13 disc.
This was on a 2001 Jetta TDI so it may or may not be the same as the 2006?

p1bump said:

All of that was chasing a vibration that began after a timing belt job where I think the pass motor mount had given its last few good miles of service coincidentally at the same time, so I replaced it with the anchor mount which set me off down an expensive and frustrating path.

Click to expand...

Long story short, it was the passenger side motor mount & cheap/non-OEM mounts suck.

ediesel said:

I just finished replacing mine and gotta say thanks to everyone here.
The only problem I had was when pressing the old bearing out of the knuckle I grabbed for the #13 disc like the post said and snapped my Harbor Freight bolt cleen off just behind the head.
lucky they stood behind it and replaced the whole kit.
When I returned I grabbed for a much smaller disc (#11) and what a difference!
That old bearing came out smooth as silk and the other side as well.
Only thing I can figure is that I was hung up on the back side of the knuckle with that #13 disc.
This was on a 2001 Jetta TDI so it may or may not be the same as the 2006?

Click to expand...

I haven't done a mk5 so I can't comment.

I can comment that it's good you got the wheel bearing taken care of and a gentle reminder to everyone else that there are many versions of the HF kit. You need to pay attention to the actual kit you have and the bearings/steering knuckles in front of you instead of just grabbing discs.

scurvy,

Thanks for the excellent instructions on wheel bearing replacement. They were verified on an '01 Jetta TDI.

I'll offer two items as feedback:
1. Pick the smallest backing plate that will do the job when pulling the old bearing from the knuckle. I initially used a plate I thought was small enough which nearly ground my job to a screeching halt after I broke a breaker bar once the plate got jammed in the knuckle (the instructions say these bastards are a tough nut to pull so I'll put a pipe on this here breaker bar and...crack!). Loosening the setup so I could change plates was a *****. The smaller plate made for a much easier job.

2. To pull the inner race off the hub I used a 4" Posi Lock puller with an aluminum plate from a bearing race driver kit as a platform to pull against. The Posi Lock latches on to the race and it doesn't take much force to pull it off. Total time to pull the race: approximately 3 minutes. Posi Locks are expensive (because they're an awesome piece of gear) so for those that would like to avoid the cost AutoZone has 3" Posi Locks for rent that may do the job.

Grab/twist/pull,
Jake

I have another wheel bearing failure on my passenger side. That will make the 4th bearing in 50,000 miles. I have a wagon with the TDI. I think the rear of the wagon sits up higher due to the springs, so probably more nose dive and stress on the front end during braking, plus car is a bit heavier than sedan. Final issue is Upstate New York with bad roads and lots of salt. The highway has been repaved recently so it is a lot better. Large sections of Route 17 / Interstate 86 were pretty awful until recently.

The VR6 axle carriers (AKA spindles) are for larger brake calipers, but the wheel bearing is the same. Still I don't know if the beefier spindle will perhaps allow for less stress on the bearing somehow?

Anyone have any opinion on perhaps a more durable brand than FAG for the wheel bearing? Autozone sells a Timken bearing but it does not include the axle nut or circlip.

Thanks.

Richptl said:

I have another wheel bearing failure on my passenger side. That will make the 4th bearing in 50,000 miles.

Click to expand...

Either there's a far-out-of-balance driveshaft and/or wheel, or the procedure for replacing the bearing isn't being followed...

We replaced the LF bearing on our MkIV Wagon at 120891 miles, and the RF bearing at 277740 miles... FAG bearings both times... Both are still doing fine at 490400 miles...

YMMV...

Yuri

ymz said:

Either there's a far-out-of-balance driveshaft and/or wheel, or the procedure for replacing the bearing isn't being followed...

We replaced the LF bearing on our MkIV Wagon at 120891 miles, and the RF bearing at 277740 miles... FAG bearings both times... Both are still doing fine at 490400 miles...

YMMV...

Yuri

Click to expand...

Come down here and drive on some of the crappy roads where I live and maybe you'll see my point. Between the extreme amount of salt used and the constant joincing from all of the bumps and potholes, suspensions take a real beating. I've replaced lots of wheel bearings on this car, a Buick, my wife's Honda CRV. It's like driving through a mine field on the highway. But there has been a lot of repaving of some bad spots this summer, next year will be better.

And to clarify the salt issue, salt causes the most corrosion at just below freezing because the chemical reaction slows down a lot as it gets colder outside. So here in Upstate New York, where we get lots of snow (400" per year is not uncommon) but don't see too much extreme cold, we have about the worst possible conditions for cars. I have a bad rust spot on the fender of my 04 Jetta. Cars rust here worst than just about anywhere except maybe right by the seashore. Minnesota, North Dakota, Maine, Canada, etc. are colder so even if salt is used, there isn't as much snow/slush to splash it up into the car and the colder temperatures slow down the corrosive reaction.

finally finished my bearing change tonight...

I used a friends press to remove the hub from the steering knuckle...and then a grinder to cut the inner race off the hub...in retrospect I wish I had known about using the hub puller/slide hammer trick while the steering knuckle was still on the car...

the outter race I was able to remove from the knuckle using only one spacer from the Autozone balljoint press kit, Autozone bearing/seal driver kit and my bench vice...I used the medium tube spacer against one side of the race and just used the vise to squeeze the spacer into the knuckle which pushed the race about halfway out the other side of the knuckle before it hit the vise jaws. I then set the knuckle across the vise jaws and used the bearing driver against the tube spacer against the outter race and a few hits with a big hammer and the outter race dropped out.

I put the new bearing and hub in the freezer a bit to shrink them...

Greased up the knuckle bore and placed it on the bench with the outward side down. set the cold shrunk bearing on top and tapped the outter race a few times to start it into the bore...Then I used the bearing driver to hammer the outter bearing race all the way into the bore until it seated against the outter clip lightly. The bearing went into the hub very easliy so It wasn't like I was really pounding away on the outter race. the bearing driver became jammed in the edge of the bore for the last few millimeters since it's the same size as the bearing so a deep socket inserted back thru the bearing center was used to tap out the bearing driver mandrel and then the inner clip was installed.

then the cold shrunk hub was removed from the freezer and placed on the bench. the inner bearing race was slightly greased and then placed on top of the hub. I used a smaller bearing driver mandrel to hammer the inner race down over the hub. It went on easily as well.

hub/bearing reassembly complete. now just needs to be put back on the car. total tool cost....ZERO...Autozone free rental tools did everything I needed...

Bearings....$32/pair from fleabay....box said "china" so I guess I will see how long they last....but just spinning the hubs they don't sound super quiet...actually they sound about the same as the bad bearing sounded...but I guess once the hub and axle are torqued together the inner bearing races might tighten up a bit and such?????