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kaotik78
04-21-2012, 11:23 AM
Had to happen sooner or later, just wished I had caught it sooner. Checked the play on my front wheel bearings today while doing a MTF change, they've got some play in them now. Axle nut is on to factory spec, checked it with my torque wrench. So for a laugh, I decided to reach out to my local dealership to get a quote on having both front wheel bearings replaced.

$780.04 for crying out loud, stating that it would take the mechanic 2.5 hours a side to get the job completed. But wait, there's more... I do get a free complementary rental for the day since I've spent over 300 dollars....

I'll be doing this myself, but wanted to share this because I think it's ridiculous. I can only imagine how much a new clutch would cost me, probably 1200 dollars!

I've got to eat the cost of my new alignment though now after I take everything apart but that's life.

USAF EP3
04-21-2012, 11:43 AM
You just have to unbolt the knuckle from the strut and the lower ball joint from the lower control arm. It won't mess with your alignment, just make sure you put the upper back in the same position you took it out. The upper hole is wider than the bottom and it slides left to right for toe adjustment.

I did my own wheel bearings when I swapped to RSX-S knuckles/hubs/axles and wheel bearings were $100 for both at Advance auto parts..

kaotik78
04-21-2012, 12:33 PM
Thanks for the tip!! I'll be sure to use a permanent marker to mark where the bolts were. When I found this out today it took the steam out of my sail a bit. Seems like everything came at me at once. Again, thanks for the tip!!

kaotik78
04-22-2012, 08:34 AM
I forgot to ask, after going over the procedure in the honda manual for our car's. Did you get the bearings out with their special press tools that they list in the manual?

07GAF-SE00100
07749-001000
07746-0010500

Honda refers to it as a "special" tool...

EUB44
04-22-2012, 09:44 AM
dlt

USAF EP3
04-22-2012, 02:14 PM
Uhh, I used a hydraulic press I bought from harbor freight lol...

If you don't have access to a hydraulic press I recommend going to a shop that has one and have them press out the old and press in the new.

I've never used the FSM when it came to pressing bearings, I've done them on so many different cars and all other Honda's, it's pretty straight forward.

Red_liner740
04-22-2012, 09:01 PM
i just had a shop do my r/h wheel bearing. When i first got the car i had to replace the r/h axle and for the love of me even with the special tools i couldnt get the lower ball joint to come off. I never did get it off and managed to slide the axle in without taking the knuckle off. No way was i gonna fight with it some more.

I had the local shop replace the bearing and lower ball joint which i mangled and it came out to $320 all in (that includes 13% tax). Not too shabby. I knew if i shopped around for parts myself i could have gotten it cheaper but whatever...there are some things i am not willing to waste my time on.

02_epdriver
04-22-2012, 09:32 PM
Harbor freight has 12 ton presses for 129 bucks. I picked one recently only 6.95 shipping. I just did my front driver wheel bearing. Cant go wrong. I got it so i could do all the bushing on the car as well. Better than paying horrible shop rates

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kaotik78
04-23-2012, 04:44 AM
Thanks for all the input. I do have a press, I was just curious about the real need for Honda's special tool, or if the right sized socket would work just fine. I've got some bearing oilseal die's that might do the trick too. Have to see when I get it all apart again. Least now everything will come apart that much easier since it's already been taken apart once. Probably do this either this weekend or next. My body needs a bit of a break from crawling around on the concrete :)

kaotik78
05-07-2012, 09:37 AM
Quick update. The wheel bearings went in without issue. No special tools from Honda were needed. Just a Bearing splitter, press, and some race and seal driver kit. Only took me three hours to do both sides. The original bearings were certainly on their way out.

Jrw
05-11-2012, 04:41 PM
100% agree!


Harbor freight has 12 ton presses for 129 bucks. I picked one recently only 6.95 shipping. I just did my front driver wheel bearing. Cant go wrong. I got it so i could do all the bushing on the car as well. Better than paying horrible shop rates

Sent from my SGH-T959V using Tapatalk