I am a beginner at mechanics.. I can hold my own, and have done my own mods so far - but only because of the writeups done by members here.

Ok.. to the point. JimRockford's writeup took me step by step to get to the front outer wheel bearings but I'm also wanting to check out my front INNER wheel bearings. Now I just have to find out where they are. (Jim's writeup - https://www.yotatech.com/~corey/tech...imrockford.htm )

I'm comparing the writeup to this picture from the FSM ( http://personal.utulsa.edu/~nathan-b...15componen.pdf ) and I'm a little confused.

Where the writeup shows Step 9: Removing rotor and dust cover the FSM also shows removal of the "Axle hub and disc". It's at this point I would expect to find the INNER wheel bearings somewhere... I'm guessing they are inside the back of the "axle hub and disc" in the picture - but the FSM doesn't give good instructions on how to remove that and get at the inner bearings.

Anyone have some advice for me?

I haven't taken anything apart yet.. but I like to use YotaTech as a "briefing" if you will - so I know as much as possible before I dig into the project.

 

Inside "Axle hub and disc" behind the inner wheel seal. It comes out the opposite side and the outer wheel bearing. Youll have to get another seal from the parts store. 5 or 6 bucks I think.

 

Sweet! You're my hero

 

When you remove the larger 54mm outer nuts, the spindle will slide off the hub cone/bearing plate, and you will find the bearing on the backside. Every vehicle that uses a floating style front end has to have an inner and an outer bearing, to support the load placed on it.

To simplify: Yes, they are on the backside of the "axle hub and disc"

 

I was working on being your hero.

 

Well you're all my hero - Even DeathCougar. I think I can get this done without a hitch now. Thanks to everyone

 

I bet that seal aint no 5 or 6 bucks at the dealer either...probably a lot more and NOT in stock.

 

I'll bet you're right.. I just called NAPA and they've got the seal for 5 bucks in stock. I'm beginning the project right now. Should be fun.

Stand by - I'll see if I can't turn this into a writeup.

 

UPDATE::

Alright I'm hopelessly stuck on the 54mm nut... it won't budge at all... see if you can help me at all...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXCO6GE1eHo

 

It looks like you unstaked the nut, and i see the 54mm socket sitting there on the ground, so i am assuming its just not turning? You may have gotten it stuck with the amount of damage the spindle assy suffered. If it were me, i would just head over to a wrecking yard and buy a new spindle, and be done with it. That damage looks pretty bad.

BTW the thing you held in your right hand is the locking hub drive gear. Basically, when you turn the dial to "lock" it moves down, and engages the axle to the hub, which engages the spindle and so forth. its supposed to be inside the outer locking hub aluminum body, not under it.

 

Well DC.. you are now a full fledged hero!

You are correct about the 54mm not turning - AT ALL... I was guessing it may have been damaged while driving it with the bearing trashed - but wasn't sure. Being so loose - it also damaged my brake rotor pretty well too.

What do you mean that the hub drive gear was in the wrong place? I installed Warn manual hubs not too long ago - but right before I dug into this project I locked the hub with the tire in the air and it wouldn't engage the axles when I spun the wheel. Funny you mentioned that.

Also - would I be able to get the old spindle off without removing that 54mm nut and the rotor?

 

What you do it unbolt it at the upper and lower ball joints, and pull the entire assembly off. Like this:



then just replace the entire assy

 

Well DC.. please let me know if you're ever in the Spokane area so I can buy you a beer.

 

So is that the lock nut that you can't remove, or the adjusting nut. I couldn't really tell from the video whether both were there or not.

 

One thing I forgot to mention, regarding those nuts....there are two of them there. If you are trying to remove them both at the same time, it won't work. You need to remove the outer nut first, then the inner nut. The outer nut works as a lock nut, as Gallant describes.

 

Allright guys.. I took DC's advice and got a steering spindle from a salvage yard with warranty and less than 60k miles for $37 bucks. I'm almost done installing it.. I haven't had a full day to work on it yet with work and all.

Anyways.. I took my old spindle to a brake shop and they said the 54mm nut was basically welded to the washer. It's toast.

When I got the salvaged one I went to put new bearings in and the nut came off with just a slight amount of pressure.

Now I'm about done and I'm just worried I didn't grease the new bearings well enough. I'll double check but I'm just being paranoid.

 

scribed for reference