Front Wheel Bearing/Race Replacement-Thank you to the forum and 2001LC

[BamaHoo]

I just wanted to jump on and post a big thank you to the forum and especially to 2001LC for his posts discussing front wheel bearing/race replacement. This forum and YouTube were an immense help when I undertook this project this past Saturday on my 2000 Land Cruiser. While I've replaced bearings and races on boat trailers before, I've never tackled this big of a job on a vehicle. I wanted to do it myself to make sure it was done right, because frankly I just don't have a lot of trust that any of my local shops would actually follow the FSM and do it right. It was especially helpful to have 2001LC's posts on this forum reporting his findings on the adjusting nut torque that is required to achieve sufficient preload on the bearings, otherwise I would have questioned my sanity at the amount of additional tightening that was required to pass the fish-scale test after I did the initial 57-inch pounds of torque called for in the FSM.

This repair seems to have solved a problem I had with vague steering that has existed since I bought my LC a year ago. I did the driver side bearings first, and when I broke it open and took the wheel off, I found the lock nut on the spindle was so loose I could remove it by hand. There wasn't even a tab bent back on the washer to hold the adjusting nut, either. The passenger side looked better, but I didn't trust them so I replaced those bearings and races too, and I'm glad I did, because when I got it apart the inner bearing grease on the driver's side looked like it was from Y2K.

I will say it would have been nice to have had a 3.5" bearing race driver in the set I borrowed from AutoZone, because driving in the inner bearing race with a 1/4" brass rod was tedious, but I got it done.

I also replaced the hub flanges while I was at it, which has helped but not fully resolved a driveline clunk. I have the parts for the diff bushing replacement project, I'll tackle that at some point. In the process I did discover that the hub flange gaskets were missing, so at least I fixed that issue as well.

Anyway, it was a looong Saturday, but I'm glad to have checked this one off the list.

 

[syrinxstar]

I've been accumulating all these parts to do CVs, flanges, bearings, and diff mounts.

I'll look for 2001LC's posts. Any YouTube videos you found helpful? And any other tools worth investing in?

 

[BamaHoo]

Search YouTube for 2nd Gear Low’s video on Toyota Land Cruiser Replace Front Wheel Bearings. It’s pretty detailed, but he doesn’t torque using the scale like the FSM requires and I think that’s a glaring error. Honestly, I watched as many videos as I could find because I’m a very visual learner. Timmy the Toolman’s was also good. I also have the FSM and reviewed it before and during the work.

As far as tools, I ordered a cheaper 54mm hub nut socket from Amazon that was 1/2” drive and it worked fine. If I had it to do over I would also have located a 3.5” bearing race driver for the inner race before starting the work. The standard AutoZone bearing race driver kits have a size that works for the outer bearing race. Having a bearing greaser (plastic can with a plunger that forces grease through the bearing) was nice since I was doing both wheels.

You also should get the set of different thickness retaining clips so you can select the ones that fit snug. I ordered those and Timken bearing sets from Cruiser Outfitters. I think one axle took the “D” size and the other the “C” size.