Changing hub bearings like a cheater

"NaturallyAspirated" (NaturallyAspirated) 02/23/2016 at 15:06 • Filed to: Harbor Freight, hub bearings

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I accidentally found the secret combination of Harbor Freight tools to make changing hub bearings without a press as easy as child’s play.

You’ll need the “Front Wheel Bearing Adapter kit” P/N 66829, which is actually a well-made kit with a wide variety of bearing adapters. The weak point of this kit is the bolt that is used to press the bearings in and out - mine lasted 1 1/2 bearings before I stripped all the threads off. Additionally, it’s a huge pain in the rear to have to torque on this thing hard enough to break loose rusted-on bearings.

The “secret” second tool that makes things easy is the “14 Piece Hydraulic Punch Driver Kit” P/N 96718. The hydraulic power head in this kit is threaded exactly the same as the bolt included in the adapter kit, so you can do this:

Pardon my mess

Using the power of hydraulics means no stripping of threads, no yanking on giant wrenches like you’re pretending to be Hercules, just spin everything together easily with your bare hands and give the handle a few pumps.

EDIT: The threads on the large bolt in question are 3/4-16. A 12" piece of 3/4-16 Allthread would make things even easier, since you could just snug up the big nut in the adapter kit as needed instead of spacing the bolt out with extra adapters (as you can only thread into the hydraulic head a short distance).

HammerheadFistpunch > NaturallyAspirated 02/23/2016 at 15:21

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One of those times I’m thrilled that the cruiser has serviceable bearings

JawzX2, Boost Addict. 1.6t, 2.7tt, 4.2t > NaturallyAspirated 02/23/2016 at 15:24

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BigBlock440 > NaturallyAspirated 02/23/2016 at 15:30

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Interesting tip, but for $200+ I think I’ll stick to just buying the hub assembly. I don’t change wheel bearings often enough to make up the cost difference.

BKosher84 > NaturallyAspirated 02/23/2016 at 15:41

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That looks totally safe.

torque > NaturallyAspirated 02/23/2016 at 16:18

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Nice detective work, good idea!

NaturallyAspirated > BigBlock440 02/23/2016 at 16:19

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Unfortunately the Subaru hubs press directly into the knuckles, otherwise I would have bought the hub assemblies.

In my case, I already owned the adapter kit from a previous job and just needed to buy the hydraulic jack. If you were going to buy both tools off the bat, it would be pretty expensive.

Autofixation > NaturallyAspirated 02/23/2016 at 19:10

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I think I will buy both. I have a Subaru and will have one for a while. I thought that looked like a Subaru spindle.

Santiago of Escuderia Boricua > NaturallyAspirated 02/23/2016 at 23:04

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I used that kit to do my rear bearing on my e36. If I strip the bolt, this looks very appealing