Replacing wheel bearing

[jhall]

Hi all,

Lots happening.

Replacing RF wheel bearing tomorrow on my 2000 Deville and need torque specs for the 3 bearing mount bolts and the axle nut. Any help appreciated!

Wife's car was wrecked by a deer earlier this year. Got it fixed and also spent $2,500 having P0741 code fixed - along with a motor mount.

Now, if that wasn't enough, my car throws the same code (fixed once already by previous owner) AND I was hit by a woman that ran a stop sign while she was texting. Got the car back from the shop yesterday (new front passenger door). Insurance covered body damage, but I picked up tab for the trans fix and a new motor mount. I did not want them to charge me $500 for the front bearing, so I'm doing it myself.

Working on both cars this weekend. Her car needs tires, rear shocks plus a brakes front / back. Wheee!

[rockfangd]

specs are as follows,

caliper bolts 38ft lbs (51NM)

axle nut 107ft lbs (145NM)

It seems the retainer bolts are 52 ft lbs, but You may want a ssecond opinion

[BodybyFisher]

Hey Jeff,

According to the manual, for the FE1 and FE3 suspension the torque for the hub bearing bolts is 96 ft lbs, for the FE7 suspension its 112 ft lbs.

The axle nut for FE1 and FE3 suspension is 118 ft lbs, for the FE7 suspension its 159 ft lbs

[WarrenJ]

Here's the whole thing . . .

2000Deville_Bearing.doc

[jhall]

Thanks Guys. Much help.

From the step-by-step, I prefer to loosen the axle nut and the wheel lugs while the tire is still on the ground.

I've tried the drift punch method in the rotor with the tire off, but it's a bit sketchy when the axle nut is stuck. Have a concern about breaking the rotor fins.

Got the bearing back on and it is really quiet.

Also worked on the wife's car and did brakes on all around. Had some ibration when stopping from highway speed.

Shop could not turn the rear rotors correctly. Even with the anti-vibration belt and two other dampeners, we could not stop the rotor from ringing as the cutter got to the last inch near the rim. Chatter marks appeared. I decided to just buy new rotors.

Got everything back in place - along with two new rear shocks (one was blown). A pair of Gabriel shocks were $75 compared to the $400 the dealer wanted (with installation). Fit just fine. Hope they will last until we get another car.

The 2000 and 2002 Devilles have left a bad taste with respect to both cars having the P0741 trans code (mine had repairs made TWICE) and the front wheel bearing fiasco (have now replaced 4 bearings between the two cars. Paid to have the RF on my wife's car replaced. It failed and was covered under warranty, so dealer did it again. I replaced the LF when it failed. Purchased a cheaper $90 bearing. No problems so far. Have now replaced the RF on my car.

GM Customer Service and I had a long talk about the trans issues. No help. Will make darn sure I do my repair history homework on the next Caddy we consider. Feel like GM stepped back into the 80's again with respect to quality control and customer support. Don't expect them to last forever, but when major trans problems occur like this, they should step up and help in some manner.

A note on wheel bearings. I saw some prior posts about whether bearing quality was different between low / higher cost bearings. Based on my examinations of the bearings, the actual differences are in the seal assembly. Cheaper units have a lower-quality design which increases potential for dirt collection and damage to the seal lip. A more expensive assembly has a more robust seal and improved shielding. I purchased a $140 unit that had a better seal design versus a $90 unit. Guess I'll see if this analysis is correct.

Just had a coolant sensor failure on my car, so will be replacing it next week. Otherwise, I hope things stay in good order through the winter.

[BodybyFisher]

Just an aside, I have actually used a 4 foot pipe on an 18" breaker bar to break loose that axle nut on my 91. I will admit that I broke an old Craftsman ratchet handle with that trick also, now I only use breaker bars.

[rockfangd]

Did your cv shafts come out easy?

[jhall]

CV shafts have been pretty easy to remove. In the other bearing jobs, I loosened the nut to the end of the shaft and used a piece of 4X4 to bump the shaft back a bit, then dropped the steering knuckle and it came apart pretty easy. Takes me a bit more than an hour to change one in my garage.

[rockfangd]

very good. I am usually lucky with GMs, its mainly fords and foreign cars I have trouble with