Hey guys,

I'm in the process of installing my wheel studs and camber kit. I was gonna replace the front bearings, and front lower ball joints. However I noticed that my ball joints for the steering arms are bad too. Now I was trying to figure out how I would go about getting those pressed out/in? do I just unscrew the end of the steering arm and take then press it out?

Also something happened while I was removing my rear drums (it's a CRX DX). My right rear came out ok and I was able to swap out the studs. However the left rear was a major PITA. I took off the drum cover, but the hub stayed on the axle. So I got a hub puler like this to pull out the hub. When I did this part of the bearing cover stayed on the axle cause when I looked at the hub in my hand the bearings were exposed. Now I was wondering if it would be ok to just slap the hub back on and tighten the axles nut to close up the wheel bearing again. Also, how do I go about removing that part of the wheel bearing that is still stuck on the axle?

Aside from the left rear hub giving me problems the install is going pretty good. I was able to use a socket and press out the studs so they fell into the socket. Then when I pressed in my new ARP wheel studs I used some 1/2" drive sockets and stacked them so that the ARP stud went through it. I couldn't use the shop press to seperate the front hubs from the knuckles though. So I dropped them off at a machine shop where they will finish the rest of press work.

 

For the steering arm, unscrew the nut then unscrew the rod from steering arm that has the ball joint. Since your not going to reuse, use a balljoint separator, looks like a large fork, about $20 from autozone. A new steering arm is like $15-$20 and are easy to install. Get a new alignment afterwards if you can, or you can adjust it after a few test drives. I have replaced everything on my car and she handles great, I also replaced all bushings with energy suspension polyurethane bushings, great upgrade.

 

the outer tie rod (steering) balljoints need to be replaced along with the whole outer tie rod arm. you cant press them out.

 

Cool thanks guys, I already had the ball joints seperated with a pickle fork, but it looks like I'll be replacing the steering rod end.

Anybody have any input about my left rear bearing?

 

i think youre descrbing the inner race of the bearing being stuck on the spindle. its common. just gotta do your best to pry it out. use PB blaster, hit it sideways to rotate and free it, whatever. you can try to rent a 3 jaw gear puller too. dont try to reuse it. its a old and will be worn out and cause more play or wear the bearing quicker when mated to the new bearing parts.

 

Cool! thanks for the tips. I may have to use it temporarily just to get the car out of the shop. Once the car is out I'm gonna park it until I can get a replacement one installed from Autozone. In fact I'm gonna check with them right now and see if they have any in stock. When reinstalling the wheel bearing I just have to press it into the wheel hub right?

TIA

 

if youre just going to do it "temporarily", then put your old bearing back on.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Tyson &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">if youre just going to do it "temporarily", then put your old bearing back on.</TD></TR></TABLE>

ok, but if my tire comes off while i'm driving and I die, I'm coming back to haunt you, hehehe. Working on the rear hubs is a lot easier then I thought. I will probably replace both of them in the next week or two. I called a nearby carquest and they said they had two of them in stock, but they said the wheel bearing already comes pressed into a new hub. So each rear hub/bearing assembly will cost $97 each. I guess for now I'll try to pry out that inner race thingie and put it back in the hub until I can replace both rear hubs next week.

 

So anyways I was working on the car again today and I was hoping to have it all done. The left rear drum brake was making a metal-to-metal scraping noise. I tried to use a hub puller to remove the hub and drum cover but the retaining pin on the back broke (#38 in the pic). So now one of my drum shoes is off the backplate. Also the cylinder, and the rods that come out of it may have gotten bent so now I'll probably have to replace those.

I think I'm gonna replace the following:
#14
#26
#27
#31
#32
#38 (x2)