Change Your Front Wheel Bearings like a Pro

Replacing bearings will eventually be required for any rig. Here’s our latest step-by-step to get your rubber rollin’ smoothly again.

by

Words by Quinton Neufeldt

The clean up after running the trails can be a challenge and a lot of times the parts that really need cleaning can’t be seen. Wheel bearing deterioration commonly occurs from frequent wear and tear – especially on older vehicles – as water, grit and grime can eventually find its way past the seals and cause damage (or damage to other components) if it’s not addressed.

So, after a long season with our 1986 Jeep CJ7, we decided it was time to change the bearings at the expert hands of Randy’s Worldwide and the bearing kit from Yukon Gear and Axle.

While our Dana 30 front axle has live spindle user serviceable front wheel bearings, newer models will have sealed front wheel bearings to avoid the mess of greasing the hubs and bearings. For older vehicles, however, there’s not much choice but to ‘dive in’ and ‘git ‘er done.’

By following these steps and a little mechanical surgery, your bearings can be replaced in no time.

1.

After blocking the rear tires and putting the front axle on jack stands, we pulled the front wheels off.

2.

We then removed the locking hubs and brake calipers. Our aftermarket locking hubs are a two-piece design, which are held on with five bolts and one snap ring. The calipers are attached with two caliper pins per side. The hubs and bearings are held on the spindle by a lock nut.

3.

We pushed back the washer tab to remove the outer locknut with a hub socket, and then removed the washer and inner hub nut. We pulled off the rotor and hub to find the grease was contaminated with moisture and rust.

4.

Since it was obvious we would need to replace the bearings with this kind of damage we contacted the pros at Randy’s Worldwide and ordered two wheel bearing and seal kits from Yukon Gear and Axle for our front axle.

5.

Each kit consists of an inner and outer wheel bearing and race, with one inner hub seal for $75.98 USD. Removing the old grease from the hub and spindle was a nasty job. We used some solvent and a stiff brush to get most of it off. We then applied some parts cleaner and rags to finish the job. The spindle took a bit of polishing with an emery to clean off the rust and scoring from the contaminants.

6.

The old races can be knocked out of the hub using a drift and hammer. The new components are matched to the bearings so the inner and outer are put in the correct location.

7.

The new bearings can now be packed with grease. Since our favourite type of trail has a lot of water and mud, I prefer to use a waterproof grease to resist moisture contamination. It also goes without saying that packing the grease can be a messy job and using nitrile gloves is a good idea. The inner bearing is then installed into the hub with fresh grease and the seal is installed flush to the inside of the hub. Next, the hub and rotor are placed back on the spindle, the outer wheel bearing put in the race and the lock nut spun on.

8.

The Dana 30 uses a hex nut with a washer that bends over the outer lock nut to keep from coming loose. The other style of the locknut is the Dana 44, which uses a keyed nut with a tab that fits into the washer. While the Dana 44 lock nuts will fit on the 30 axles, the combination is slightly thicker so it may not work, and it all depends on the type of locking hubs you have. Our Hayes manual instructed us to tighten the inner lock nut to 50 ft lb while rotating the hub, then backing off 45 to 65 degrees. The washer is installed and then the outer lock nut is installed to 50 ft lb. We then bent over the outer lock nut to keep from spinning.

9.

Now, we reinstalled the brake pads, calipers and locking front hubs. In 1980, Jeep changed to a 5-bolt locking hub design, which tends to come loose under hard use and we’ve had good success using ‘stage 8’ hub bolts with locking fasteners and red thread lockers on each hub bolt. RTV sealant was put around the edge of the hub before installation to attain a watertight seal.

10.

Once everything is back together, put the wheels on and go for a smooth test drive.