5v/cyl

I've got what sounds like a front wheel bearing going on my '99 quattro. New bearing coming from ECS, but I was wondering if anyone has used this tool before: http://www.harborfreight.com/fwd-fro...7-001b2166c62d

Does it work? I can take the knuckle to my local machine shop to press the old out and new in with a hydraulic press, but they charge $15 to do it + my gas to get there and back. It will also lay up the car for a day if they are busy. If this works then it will save me time and removing the whole front knuckle.

HBAudi

I can only speak about my experiences with replacement of the wheel bearings and I feel the best way is to remove the bearing carrier and have the bearing pressed in with a hydraulic press since the pressure required is most likely beyond what that tool can provide. The last time I replaced front bearings, it required nearly seven tonnes of pressure to move the old bearing out.

Remember to have the shop doing the work notice that the new bearing can only be installed one way so the hub seats correctly into the bearing inner race.

Dank713

I'm a welder and have enough tools to be a wanna-be machine shop so I made my own to replace the rear bearings. What I made was not made of carbon steel and it worked fine (with a 175psi / 1000 ftlb impact driver to crank it). Having said that, I would guess that those from Harbor would work fine provided there is the correct diameter in there some where. I didn't use a local press shop because I didn't want to take the suspension apart. I couldn't get those expensive ABS sensors out without breaking them (and was too stupid to think to just unplug them from inside the car until after I did the first one. It was my "duh" moment for that week.)

Catamount90

Funny you ask, I used this exact tool (from HF) 2 nights ago to press out my old bearing and press in the new. It worked GREAT! I have heard some reviews of the bolt snapping after several uses, but it's a standard thread bolt that you can replace with a hardened version if it comes to that. Then again, I know guys who have used it 8-10 times with the original bolt.

Anyway, you should have an air compressor because the threads are fine and you'll go nuts trying to use a standard breaker bar on the tool.

If it seems like it's getting hung up, you can tap on the upright with a hammer to get it going again.

Best bet is to freeze the bearing and hub before install, and heat the upright. Also, you will need a 5 lb slide hammer and hub adapter to pull out the hub.

I'm going to have a review of the tool this weekend over on QW, I just haven't gotten around to it yet and don't come over to AW much.

urtorsen

buy it...this kit is well worth the $,had the bearing changed in a few hours,the difficult part is taking it out but with this the sizes are perfect and keeps centred while taking it out,i just kept tapping and tightening the remover as it moved out.heat will take the outer race off the bearing as thats the way it will prolly seperate when removing it. putting it in was a breeze with this,just take your time and watch that everything is going straight/centred. im looking foward to the next bearing going,im ready with this kit !!!

urtorsen

i meant the outer race off the hub

5v/cyl

Thank you for the replies. I think I will get it then be ready for any future bearing failures as well. With 166k miles on the A4 and unknown if the rears have been done before I might be using it several times. When I had a bearing done before, the hardest part was getting the whole suspension apart, especially the pinch bolt uppers. Only having to remove the hub/CV would be a huge time saver. I'll post how well it worked for the help of others. Thanks again.