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Or use a BFH.

Do you have to change a front hub?

=================================================

Yes have to change the whole hub assembly to do it last time i spent all day But IF i had time i would make a fine thread gear puller to hook to the wheel studs and it would probably come right off Oh Well guess this is gonna be another all day job

gordon

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This job can be very easy OR this job can be VERY hard. I have heard both situations. Me personally, I have replaced about 8 hub bearing assemblies and they have all, fallen out when I removed the AXLE nut and the hub retaining bolts.. BAM OUT...

But, there are those who have had difficulty (including caddy techs). Depending upon how the hub is bound up, I think a puller can be the wrong tool. It can be bound up in TWO ways. 1) the axle spline can be rusted, corroded, and frozen in the hub bearing and THAT needs to be pushed out with a puller, or with a brass bar and a BFH, or 2), the hub bearing can be frozen in the knuckle and will not come out of the knuckle. I think that is the type of problem most have, where the hub bearing is froze in the front steering knuckle assembly. I believe that it gets cocked in the knuckle. In that instance, I do not think that using a puller is the right way to go, because you would be bushing against the axle shaft end and that, especially if it is loose is not a solid thing to push against and very little solid PULL can be attained. Plus you are only cocking it worse. In this instance, I personally believe that a slide hammer is the best tool, moving in a circle around the bearing perimeter. A slide hammer is a great tool. Attach it to the hub flange with two nuts and turn the hub and use the slide hammer to pull it out.. This is a tool that I make, using an 7/16" all threaded rod, nuts, washers and some heavy lead weights or steel impact sockets, etc, you know the 36 mm 3/4 drive sockets that weigh a TON.. One hit with that sucka, and the hub is out. Use your imagination making the slide hammer based on stuff you have laying around, steel plumbing piping is good too, plenty of different size washers is important.

The hardest thing that I find is getting the axle bolt loose, I broke my favorite 30 year old craftsman ratchet stupidly putting a pipe on it and standing on it.. think stupid move... Good Luck

So in reality, you do not know how difficult this job is going to be UNTIL you get in there.

Pre-1995 - DTC codes OBD1  >>

1996 and newer - DTC codes OBD2 >> https://www.obd-codes.com/trouble_codes/gm/obd_codes.htm

How to check for codes Caddyinfo How To Technical Archive >> http://www.caddyinfo.com/wordpress/cadillac-how-to-faq/

Cadillac History & Specifications Year by Year  http://www.motorera.com/cadillac/index.htm

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I broke my favorite 30 year old craftsman ratchet stupidly putting a pipe on it and standing on it.. think stupid move... Good Luck

Mike,

Take it back to Sears... they will give you another one.

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If you live in the rust belt where a lot of road salt is used they corrode right into the hub carrier and have to be pounded

out with a BFH (I used a 4# sledge to get mine out after removing the hub-carrier from the car). When you install the new one use never sieze to prevent this corrosion.

Overall not a difficult job, just a lot of work if that sucker is corroded into the hub carrier.

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Front bearings are funny things. The sounds they make.

You'll give your baby away that it's the front left. Turns out it was the right front. The way the sound transmit thru the drive train.

My MotherIL had me drive her Ford Explorer for noise. FIL could not hear it.

I heard it as soon as I cleared the driveway. Came back and mentioned the wow,wow,wow sound?

I thought it was left front bearing. Turned out it was the front right one.

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I broke my favorite 30 year old craftsman ratchet stupidly putting a pipe on it and standing on it.. think stupid move... Good Luck

Mike,

Take it back to Sears... they will give you another one.

Oh I did, and they gave me what I consider was an inferior ratchet handle, not like the old one I had, but it was functional

Pre-1995 - DTC codes OBD1  >>

1996 and newer - DTC codes OBD2 >> https://www.obd-codes.com/trouble_codes/gm/obd_codes.htm

How to check for codes Caddyinfo How To Technical Archive >> http://www.caddyinfo.com/wordpress/cadillac-how-to-faq/

Cadillac History & Specifications Year by Year  http://www.motorera.com/cadillac/index.htm

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Front bearings are funny things. The sounds they make.

You'll give your baby away that it's the front left. Turns out it was the right front. The way the sound transmit thru the drive train.

My MotherIL had me drive her Ford Explorer for noise. FIL could not hear it.

I heard it as soon as I cleared the driveway. Came back and mentioned the wow,wow,wow sound?

I thought it was left front bearing. Turned out it was the front right one.

That happened to me also with this 96, I swore it was the RF when it was the LF

Pre-1995 - DTC codes OBD1  >>

1996 and newer - DTC codes OBD2 >> https://www.obd-codes.com/trouble_codes/gm/obd_codes.htm

How to check for codes Caddyinfo How To Technical Archive >> http://www.caddyinfo.com/wordpress/cadillac-how-to-faq/

Cadillac History & Specifications Year by Year  http://www.motorera.com/cadillac/index.htm

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If you're pretty handy around the car then it's not to difficult of a job. The difficult part is if you encounter frozen bolts and or hub bearing. Mine was a challenge because the 3 torx head bolts holding the hub bearing were so frozen that it seemed as if the Incredible Hulk had put them in. I had to stand on 2 of the bolts for 2-3 minutes at 160lbs with an impact wrench. I seriously didn't think they were going to come out. When they finally did they were blazing red hot so care should be taken. To "break" the bearing loose I used a 3" wide brick cutting chisel and a 3 lbs hammer and worked my way around it. The bearing slid off easily. Remember to disconnect the plug before doing anything.

This is for a 94 STS so you'll want to confirm this for your 98. Here are some of the tools you'll need to have on hand.

T55 torx head

3/8 hex head

34mm socket

Breaker bar

Heavy duty rachet

Puller or the unofficial brick cutting chisel and large hammer(one is more fun)

My suggestions:

Impact wrench - makes the job so much easier and you can get an electric one at Harbor Freight for around $50 or if you have a compressor just buy it for that. You won't regret it.

Buy all the sockets and heads at impact wrench quality or specs regardless.

Good luck and let us know if you need anything.

"Burns" rubber

" I've never considered myself to be all that conservative, but it seems the more liberal some people get the more conservative I become. "

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This job can be very easy OR this job can be VERY hard. I have heard both situations. Me personally, I have replaced about 8 hub bearing assemblies and they have all, fallen out when I removed the AXLE nut and the hub retaining bolts.. BAM OUT...

But, there are those who have had difficulty (including caddy techs). Depending upon how the hub is bound up, I think a puller can be the wrong tool. It can be bound up in TWO ways. 1) the axle spline can be rusted, corroded, and frozen in the hub bearing and THAT needs to be pushed out with a puller, or with a brass bar and a BFH, or 2), the hub bearing can be frozen in the knuckle and will not come out of the knuckle. I think that is the type of problem most have, where the hub bearing is froze in the front steering knuckle assembly. I believe that it gets cocked in the knuckle. In that instance, I do not think that using a puller is the right way to go, because you would be bushing against the axle shaft end and that, especially if it is loose is not a solid thing to push against and very little solid PULL can be attained. Plus you are only cocking it worse. In this instance, I personally believe that a slide hammer is the best tool, moving in a circle around the bearing perimeter. A slide hammer is a great tool. Attach it to the hub flange with two nuts and turn the hub and use the slide hammer to pull it out.. This is a tool that I make, using an 7/16" all threaded rod, nuts, washers and some heavy lead weights or steel impact sockets, etc, you know the 36 mm 3/4 drive sockets that weigh a TON.. One hit with that sucka, and the hub is out. Use your imagination making the slide hammer based on stuff you have laying around, steel plumbing piping is good too, plenty of different size washers is important.

The hardest thing that I find is getting the axle bolt loose, I broke my favorite 30 year old craftsman ratchet stupidly putting a pipe on it and standing on it.. think stupid move... Good Luck

So in reality, you do not know how difficult this job is going to be UNTIL you get in there.

=======================================================

Well i went out today using a gear puller took all the bolts loose installed the puller and she came out pretty easy really compared to the drivers side that ook me nearly 8 hrs to do a few weeks ago

Had it out in less than a hour andspent allot of time prepping things before reinstalling the new one but total time for the job was about 3 hours

Thanks Everyone for the help

gordon :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

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  • 1 year later...

Glad I found this topic. Resting my back and hands after finally getting loose the Axle nut and 3 bolts holding the hub assembly in. Definitely will use impact wrench next time. Looking like my hub is frozen to the knuckle. Anyway, what about a torqe wrench? Sounds important for the bearings, but I can get pretty close to 100#'s. Just wondering everyone's experience on that part of the job...

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Glad I found this topic. Resting my back and hands after finally getting loose the Axle nut and 3 bolts holding the hub assembly in. Definitely will use impact wrench next time. Looking like my hub is frozen to the knuckle. Anyway, what about a torque wrench? Sounds important for the bearings, but I can get pretty close to 100#'s. Just wondering everyone's experience on that part of the job..

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Glad I found this topic. Resting my back and hands after finally getting loose the Axle nut and 3 bolts holding the hub assembly in. Definitely will use impact wrench next time. Looking like my hub is frozen to the knuckle. Anyway, what about a torque wrench? Sounds important for the bearings, but I can get pretty close to 100#'s. Just wondering everyone's experience on that part of the job..

I couldnt fint any torque wrench for the 34 mm nut so i tightened it and checked so the axle was free to turn! Not too much...just so it stays in place!

Roger Martinsen

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When I had to change the hub on my 94 Eldorado a couple months ago I know the torque spec on it was 160 ft/lbs. Only took about an hour and a half all together to do the job, but that was with the right tools and an impact.

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