hub bearing help needed

[lothos]

1995 sts. Broke 2 of the lug nut studs off. Now I'm trying to replace the hub. I can't for the life of me get the 33mm hub bolt off. Borrowed an air compressor and impact wrench and still no luck. Am I missing a step? Take wheel off, prybar in the rotor so it doesn't move, then remove 33mm bolt?

Also the book calls for a hub seal installer, what's that and do I need one?

Thanks guys :-)

[BodybyFisher]

When I took mine off, I put a chisel in the rotor, put an 18 inch breaker bar on and STAND on it with one foot and kind of bounce... I am 225 pounds so it seems to do the trick.

I once broke a craftsman ratchet handle with a 4 foot pipe attached to it to take of my 91s nut, I miss that ratchet

Never ran it a hub seal with my 96

[lothos]

I jumped on the 18 inch breaker bar a little bit last night. Hopefully the PB Blaster has worked it's magic.

I'll give it another shot, I'm like 205 lbs so let's hope :-)

[winterset]

1995 sts. Broke 2 of the lug nut studs off. Now I'm trying to replace the hub.

I thought those lug nut studs can be banged out from the back & replaced? It may have to be removed to do the replacement though. Just a thought.

[lothos]

1995 sts. Broke 2 of the lug nut studs off. Now I'm trying to replace the hub.

I thought those lug nut studs can be banged out from the back & replaced? It may have to be removed to do the replacement though. Just a thought.

that was our first thought but ther's no clearance behind to pound them through. The metal shield is in the way along with the knuckle I think. I think the hub would have to come off anyways to replace the studs.

We still can't get that 33mm hub bolt off. Tried jumping on it, my dad tried jumping on it and he's probably about 240lbs.

What next? Torch and water?

[lothos]

There's a shop in the next city that will use the part I already have and install it for me for $140 bucks. That seems really really reasonable to me.

I'm willing to keep trying this for another couple hours, so suggestions are welcome.

If I can't get it, is it safe to drive my car? TWO of the lug nut studs are missing, and the missing ones are next to each other. If I put the wheel on can I drive the car at like 35 miles an hour for 8 miles? I can take back roads the whole way there.

Thanks guys!

[Cadillac Jim]

Nobody is going to tell anyone, in writing and in public, to drive a car with two lug nuts off. If you do decide to do it yourself, avoid high speeds and corner very, very gently, and don't accelerate or brake with the wheels turned if you can help it. Avoid high lateral forces and potholes.

[lothos]

Nobody is going to tell anyone, in writing and in public, to drive a car with two lug nuts off. If you do decide to do it yourself, avoid high speeds and corner very, very gently, and don't accelerate or brake with the wheels turned if you can help it. Avoid high lateral forces and potholes.

point taken. Thanks Jim

[lothos]

Do you have to take the caliper and rotor off before the hub nut will come out?

[BodybyFisher]

Do you have to take the caliper and rotor off before the hub nut will come out?

No and if you take the caliper off, I don't believe you will have a place to hold the axle from turning

I am very surprised you are having this difficulty, we don't hear people having problems getting that nut off, you are using righty tighty, lefty loosey, correct?

[MAC]

We still can't get that 33mm hub bolt off. Tried jumping on it, my dad tried jumping on it and he's probably about 240lbs.

What next? Torch and water?

I was able to loosen the hub nut by using a breaker bar and car jack. Just rest the breaker bar on top of the jack and then raise it up. The jack will be able to put the torque on the nut that you need to loosen it. I also used one of those elastic tie down cord just in case the breaker bar sprang up. In my situation, the breaker bar did not spring up. Don't need to wrap the breaker bar very tight, just enough to prevent it from springing up. The breaker bar will flex a lot depending on how much torque is needed to loosen the nut. If you don't have an air tool then using the jack will probably work.

[joeb]

i just took off my nut. surprised it was so easy. did not feel tight at all. course that is no help for you. i did lift the handle with floor jack once on other car. had to jump on fender to shock it loose. i measured nut. it was 1.312 across flats. i used 34mm socket and it did not strip. if you pound out stud and than grind head of stud you can sometimes wiggle them out. now, try and get new stud in without damaging threads.

[KHE]

I had to replace a couple of studs on my '96 Seville - I did not need to remove the bearing assembly to do it - there is one position where you can get the stud lined up in the hub flange. Then use the lug nut and a stack of washers to pull in the stud.

The seal is probably an o-ring that goes between the bearing and the knuckle.

[lothos]

I drove the car to the shop.

They were going to use my part and the labor was going to be $130+tax which is really reasonable I thought.

I just found out that the hub bolt has welded itself to the bearing from heat. The shop tells me that the drive shaft boot is very torn and needs to be replaced, and they are probably going to damage it getting the hub bearing out, so that needs to be replaced as well. I could probably manage that part myself but if it's damaged the car won't be drivable.

I was quoted $450 for this job :-(

I did the ball joint on that side 3 years ago and they tell me it needs replacing again but I will do it myself, they wanted $200 for it. I will replace it this weekend. They've looked over the rest of the front end and don't see anything else wrong at this point but I asked them to take a closer look as well. I know the tie rod boot on the passenger side has come loose.

[lothos]

I had to replace a couple of studs on my '96 Seville - I did not need to remove the bearing assembly to do it - there is one position where you can get the stud lined up in the hub flange. Then use the lug nut and a stack of washers to pull in the stud.

The seal is probably an o-ring that goes between the bearing and the knuckle.

KHE that's good news, but I asked on the forum here a while ago about a grinding noise that I was hearing from the front end, and I think the grinding was coming from this bearing. It happened when I was braking and putting load on this bearing so it makes sense I think.

Better to just replace the whole thing I think.

[lothos]

The shop just called and the car is done. $458 is the final price.

They looked over the front end again for other issues and tell me the only thing that needs work is the ball joint on that side. I was originally taking the wheel off to do the tie rod end on that side, so I can do those both at the same time this weekend.

[lothos]

OK, got the car back. I still have a little bit of grinding noise when I Brake and Turn at the same time. Could it be the crappy auto zone front pads? The other wheel hub bearing? Would a ball joint or tie rod do that?

There's also a popping noise but I'm assuming it's from the bad ball joint. The only thing they said I needed was a ball joint, and I'm assuming they'd look close for stuff to fix and make $$ on.

Guess I have some work to do this weekend

[BodybyFisher]

Not sure, but it does not sound good. Check that the lug nuts are properly torqued, did they replace the studs? Did they replace the hub bearing? You said you were replacing the hub bearing, but you just said you were doing a tie rod, did the job expand for some reason?

They might have bent the backing plate. Did they resurface the rotors or replace them?

This is why you do the job yourself

What did they charge you $458 for?, the hub bearing?

[lothos]

Not sure, but it does not sound good. Check that the lug nuts are properly torqued, did they replace the studs? Did they replace the hub bearing? You said you were replacing the hub bearing, but you just said you were doing a tie rod, did the job expand for some reason?

If they let the axle hang at all, to replace the hub bearing, they could have dislodged the inner CV joint.. that would create a knocking

This is why you do the job yourself

What did they charge you $458 for?, the hub bearing?

I was originally going to do the tie rod end. Then the studs broke. The shop replaced the hub bearing on the drivers side, and also the drive shaft on the drivers side for $458.

I've had a popping noise for a little while now. Doesn't happen all the time but did just now pulling into the driveway. Had a grinding noise for quite some time but it's very rare. Usually happens when I brake hard and turn the wheel to the right. Was hoping the grinding was caused by the wheel bearing I just replaced but I guess not.

Hopefully the popping is from the bad ball joint or the tie rod end. I'll be doing both this weekend. I have no clue what is causing the grinding sound.

I normally like to do my own work, and I try to both for learning experience, saving money, and doing it right. I seriously tried for hours and hours to get that 33mm hub nut off and it just wasn't moving.

[BodybyFisher]

Check your transmission and engine mounts, maybe your powertrain is shifting

[lothos]

Check your transmission and engine mounts, maybe your powertrain is shifting

I'll do that tomorrow, thanks BBF

[Jan Olsson]

Hi!

I just re-read the entire post.

Some thoughts:

1) About the 33mm hub bolt. Salt and corrosion on a highly torqued bolt/nut is never fun.

As BBF said, a large breaker bar and force/weight usually does the trick and WD-40 of course.

Heat can also help. Be sure that the breaker bar is rigid. You have to pull/push the bar with a quick motion in order to loosen the bolt more easily. If the bar is to flexible, then the bolt will not "feel" the quick pull/push because the bar will act as a damper.

You can also hit a sturdy bar with a small sledge (3-5 pounds of weight).

Be careful, it might bounce!

Nice trick with the jack MAC!

2) Be sure that they use an OEM-drive shaft. The last forever if the seal is tight. Using a aftermarket/re-manufactured one is usually a bad idea. The seal on a reman. unit is generally more sloppy than the OEM ones and will not last long.

3)The grinding noice. Since you experience it only when turning this makes me think that you still have a bearing problem. Or perhaps a problem with the ABS-sensor/tooth-wheel making contact.

I had a similar sound on my 2002 STS. Had to replace the entire hub because the bearing, hub and ABS-sensor forms a single unit on a 2002.

4) How about the brakes? Worn pads or something stuck scraping against the disc? Seems unlikely since you only experience the sound when you are turning the wheels. Might be worth trying though.

5) Popping sound. Sway bar bushings or sway bar links?

[lothos]

Hi!

I just re-read the entire post.

Some thoughts:

1) About the 33mm hub bolt. Salt and corrosion on a highly torqued bolt/nut is never fun.

As BBF said, a large breaker bar and force/weight usually does the trick and WD-40 of course.

Heat can also help. Be sure that the breaker bar is rigid. You have to pull/push the bar with a quick motion in order to loosen the bolt more easily. If the bar is to flexible, then the bolt will not "feel" the quick pull/push because the bar will act as a damper.

You can also hit a sturdy bar with a small sledge (3-5 pounds of weight).

Be careful, it might bounce!

Nice trick with the jack MAC!

2) Be sure that they use an OEM-drive shaft. The last forever if the seal is tight. Using a aftermarket/re-manufactured one is usually a bad idea. The seal on a reman. unit is generally more sloppy than the OEM ones and will not last long.

3)The grinding noice. Since you experience it only when turning this makes me think that you still have a bearing problem. Or perhaps a problem with the ABS-sensor/tooth-wheel making contact.

I had a similar sound on my 2002 STS. Had to replace the entire hub because the bearing, hub and ABS-sensor forms a single unit on a 2002.

4) How about the brakes? Worn pads or something stuck scraping against the disc? Seems unlikely since you only experience the sound when you are turning the wheels. Might be worth trying though.

5) Popping sound. Sway bar bushings or sway bar links?

Thanks Jan, I'll check those out