Silly_me

Here is what my plan is.

Pull the hub out with a slide hammer (going to rent one from autozone with the flange). Will this work?

I have a bearing tool from harbor freight that will allow me to press out the old bearing, press in the new one, and press the hub in. Thus I will not need to disconnect the knuckle from the strut.

My question is: What do I need to remove in order to swing the knuckle/strut assembly away from the drive shaft?

Steering arm? The self locking nuts, can I just reuse these with some thread locker on em?

Also, I need to buy a new impact wrench. Sears has one that produces 350 ft-lb of torque. Do you think this will be enough to power the tool to press the bearing in/out?

The front bearings in a V8 don't need to be packed do they?

TIA need to do this tomorrow.

Silly_me

One more question. The shop manual says the car must be on the ground when removing/installing the axle bolt but it does not say if it should be in park or neutral. ????

Will Ng

Park or neutral with parking brakes on.
You need the full weight of the car on the wheels to break free the axle bolts. And the full weight to seat the axle shaft in the bearing's inner races.
Usually, I torque it to 60-70 ft-lbs while the wheel is off the ground, and finish it properly to 130 ft-lbs when the wheels are on the ground. This is for my 10vt 200q, but I believe the specs are the same for the V8.

IMHO, 350 ft-lb impact wrench is not enough for what you plan to do. More like 500-600 peak ft-lbs. But I wouldn't use an impact gun. Not only bad for the bearing, but may gall the threaded shaft of the tool. Just get a long breaker bar to crank on it. You will be better able to gauge when the bearing is seated as well.

audiqv8

The Quattro V8 does not use a regular wheel bolt, but a hex allen head bolt 17mm IIRC.

Use a tool called the Hub Shark if you don't want to remove the strut (upright). Otherwise you will have to remove the strut (upright) and use a hydraulic press to remove the bearing.<ul><li><a href="http://www.ntxtools.com/undercar/of7325.htm">Hub Shark</a></li></ul>

Silly_me

I purchased this from harbor freight:

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

What do I need to remove in order to get the knuckle to swing free and how do I remove them. I'm having reservations about doing this job now...<ul><li><a href="http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=45210">http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=45210</a</li></ul>

tonyj

&gt; I have a bearing tool ... Thus I will not need to &gt; disconnect the knuckle from the strut.

You will need to remove the strut to use the tool.

&gt; What do I need to remove in order to swing the
&gt; knuckle/strut assembly away from the drive shaft?

Lower control arm ball joint. I like to do it without lostening the sway bar. Two person task if done this way. Loosen the pincher bolt on the lower ball joint. Use a 2X4 6+ ft long to pry down to unload the sway bar pressure and then remove the bolt and pop out the ball joint.

&gt; Steering arm? The self locking nuts, can I just
&gt; reuse these with some thread locker on em?

I do but I am sure it is recommended to replace.

&gt; one that produces 350 ft-lb of torque. Do you
&gt; think this will be enough to power the tool to
&gt; press the bearing in/out?

With my hub Shark I used a cheap B&amp;D impact that is a lot smaller than that. But the only way it works is to run it until you can hear it stop and then hit the Hub Shark with a hammer to shock it and you can hear the bearing give a bit. Repeated enought times gets the bearing off and in again.

I would be glad to have a 350 ft lb for the HS.

tonyj

a few less parts. Also a LOT less expensive. I think mine was over $450.

With that you should be able to remove the lower ball joint as I described in the other post above and do the bearing on the car.

Use a lot of oil on the threads of the tool.

BTW, others are advocates of releasing the sway bar tension by dropping the bar with a jack and them replacing when done.

Take your pick.

audiqv8

Harbor freight bearing tool is most likely made in China. Where the original hub shark is made in the good old USA.

Silly_me

Okay, so the sway bar must be pressed down in order to free the lower control arm? How is this done with the 2x4? I will have no help in doing this and thus it'll have to be a one man job.

How do you pop the ball joint back on to the knuckle? Should I rent a tie bar remover?

Thanks again for all the help guys.

Will Ng

The hub shark and the harbor freight copy allows you to do the job without removing the strut. The idea is to preserve the alignment. BUT, the type 44 won't lose its alignment settings by removing the strut assembly. You will only lose the initial settings if the assembly is dismantled. So, I recommend you pull the strut out to make life easier. You'll gain more space to access the back of the hub.

The following is for a 200q, should work on a V8. Guys chime in if there are differences.

1. With the car on the ground, remove the wheels' center caps and use the appropriate bit or socket to loosen the axle bolts. Don't remove them at this point.
2. Jack up the front end, place jack stands at front lift points.
3. Go to the strut towers, and loosen the 3 outer retaining nuts to the strut assemblies. This will provide clearance to pivot the struts later.
4. Since you have an impact gun, remove the front tires with it. Remove the brakes, rotors, etc.
5. Remove the tie rod ends from the steering arms.
Use a tie rod threaded remover, not BFH or forks.
6. Support the front of the swaybar with a floor jack. Remove the front mounts and drop the bar.
This is the method in the Bentley. After this, no brute force is needed to release the lower ball joint. A 6 yr-old girl can pull off the control arm. (not that I have the strength of only a 6yr-old girl, of course)
7. Remove the axle bolt.
8. Remove the pinch bolt and locknut and discard. These MUST be replaced with new ones of proper hardness. They don't actually pinch the ball joint stud, but relies on the strength of the shank of the bolt. Carefully pry out the ball joint stud.
9. Now you can push out the axle.
10. This would go easier with 2 people, but remove the 3 retaining nuts and remove the strut assembly.
11. OK, time to press out the hub. Your tool should have the necessary items to do it. But it's quite easy. A slaphammer would work, or a 3 jaw puller. The hub is pressed into the outer half of the inner bearing races. It slips out with very little force.
12. Now you must remove the inner race from the hub. This gets tricky. A 3 jaw puller may not have the clearance needed. Most simply use a grinder and cut the race enough to chisel it off.
13. Spray PB Blaster or Kroil around the old bearing. And use your tool to press out the old bearing. There is no C-clip.
14. Inspect the new bearing. NOTE, there is an outer side and inner side. The inner race halves are different diameter. One half matches the hub.
Install your new bearing, then press on the hub.
15. Re-assembly is the reverse of the above steps.
16. Tighten the (new)axle bolt the best you can for now.
17. Jack the swaybar up and carefully re-attach the mounts.
18. After the brakes, wheels are mounted, lower the front end, and torque the axle bolt to 130 ft-lbs.
19. Go have a cold beer.