Front wheel bearing replacement

[Rinkydink]

1998 P30 (chassis) 1999 Brave

Removed the wheel, caliper, hub no problem on the front drivers side... loaded the new inner front bearing, grease, seal etc to reinstall... I'm having a heck of a time aligning the bearing onto the axle while trying to hanlde the heavy hub/disk assembly. (The bearing does fit, just the bearing w/o the hub slides on easily, but there is no play and needs to be perfectly aligned)

Is there a trick? An alignment tool?... or just keep trying till it goes? Any insight would be appreciated, trying again tomorrow!

Dilly-Dilly!

[Rickf1985]

There are several ways to do it, I usually just put a long board under hub and the inside of the board on a block of wood, cinder block, whatever to raise up the inner part of the board so it is roughly level. Keep the inner block close as you can to the wheel and that way the longer part of the board is out towards you and leverage is on your side. another trick I have used with big trucks is to put the wheel on the hub and then lay a piece of plywood under the spindle and put some grease on it. Set your jackstand so that it is a bit lower than needed to get the hub on so that if something happens with the jack it still ends up on the stand. Now slowly jack up on the axle and push in on the wheel hub and it will slide on the greased board. You want to eyeball it and get it as close as you can before you start pushing with whatever method you use so you do not damage the seal. This method works exceptionally well on the rear with dual wheels since they will support themselves upright and all you need to do is push. The front you still need to balance it while pushing. No two ways about it, it is a back breaking job. I did my Dodge dually fronts 3 months after major back surgery, not really one of the smartest things I have done but it had to be done. If you have strong arms you can sit on a milk crate and rest your elbows on your legs and curl the hub up and guide it in but this takes a lot of arm strength and still strains the back because you are bent over.

[tmsnyder]

I just did this not too long ago . I remember it being a little bit of a bear .


Are you sure the new inner seal is correct?  Is the ID correct for the portion of the shaft it's supposed to slip over? Make sure it's the right one, check the diameter of the shaft with calipers and look up the seal number you installed to verify it's right for the shaft. 


Then you are trying to wrestle the complete hub assembly onto the spindle _including_ the outer bearing?  I think it might be easier to set the outer bearing aside while you get the hub in place .  It's a bear enough without fumbling with the bearing .   Also, this will allow you to wiggle the hub up and down while pushing it in onto the inner bearing, getting the seal where it belongs .   Then you can hold it while you center it up and put the outer bearing in place and get the washer and nut on.

[Rinkydink]

Thanks for the input guys! I guess I just "bum-u-me-d"  that part of the job to be way easier... what was I thinking??

I did get it on, after reading your posts, it got me thinking and I remembered I had a transmission jack and it's on wheels... duh! I set the hub on the jack... adjusted the height and for the most part, slid it right on... alignment still a bit of a challenge, but at least I wasn't dealing with the weight aspect.

While there, I saw that my ABS sensor is burnt... so that was all just a practice run, new sensor on the way. So will get to do it again, and will be doing the other side as well for the sake of "balance"

FYI-What I learned from all of this-For those who don't know yet... the P32 chassis (I have a 1998, but think it's true for many if not all of them)  is notorious for front brakes overheating, and if not caught in time, you get to do what I'm doing... Bearings, Pads, (rotor is fine) and ABS Sensor.. all caused by the hydraulic brake line bracket. Rust builds up inside the bracket and slowly squeezes the hydraulic line... brakes will work when pressure applied to the pedal, but when the pressure is removed, the closed line maintains some of the pressure on the side of the caliper and the brakes really never completely release causing friction and a lot of heat. I learned the hard way on 5 south in San Diego in Friday afternoon rush hour... just "another" something to keep an eye on!

Thanks again for the input!

Mike

[Rinkydink]

Auto correct?? lol.. that was "assumed"... but keeps changing to bum-ume-ed...  Hm?

Dilly-Dilly

[Rickf1985]

That issues with the bracket on the brake line is not limited to the P-30. It is an issue with any vehicle that uses that type of line.

[Winnebago Warrior 94]

We had trouble with ours too ..the hubby changed out brake pads ,cappelers and still sticking so he changed out brake lines and still sticking ...we drove it 40 miles to a brake place because they kept sticking ..we would have to stop every now and then and bleed the brakes to release them and drive a,little,further ..the hubby doesn't work on brakes all the time but he has done it a,time or two on cars and trucks but,not rvs ..we got it checked and it needed a new master cylinder and they said everything he did was good ..they also blew out the lines and checked the back brakes and all was good ..so far we havent has any more trouble with the brakes but,we,havent driven it that much