how hard is it to replace wheel bearing in a vr4?

[CoreyB]

The rear bearings are inner and outer per side for a VR4. One bearing comes out toward the differential. The other toward the wheel, It is difficult to determine one bad one until dis assembly, I recommend doing the inner and outer at the same time,.

[AF Twin Turbo]

the slide hammer is very simple to use, and will break the hub off quickly. you can rent one from an auto parts store for maybe 5-10 bucks, and the attachments you need for the lugs will come with the set. if i were you, i'd buy all 4 bearings for the rear (inner and outer) and do them all at the same time, it's a half hour job, very easy. i can't remember step by step how to do it as it's been 2 years since i sold my car and i can't just look at the axle and explain.

[R/T93]

That "nonsense" was in regard to the subject of this thread, the REAR bearings...

Damn, foot in mouth. Lol, sorry.

Yea you will need some special tools

[deemo99]

I have only done the fronts, but I didn't think they were too difficult. I did not need a press or slide hammer on our 95 which is just under 100k at the time I replaced them. Given the fronts bolt into place they were significantly easier than on my DSM which were a press fit and a major PITA by comparison. I used a gear puller to get the hub to slide on the half shaft and it was cake from there.

[wraith]

For the fronts, you just need to loosen the castle nut enough to push the axle in so you can get to the bolts with an open wrench. Once you take them all off, the bearing can be pryed out from the front unless its really rusted. If its really rusted, you might be banging on it for days trying to get it off and in some cases have to take the whole shebang off the car to get it pressed off. Remember to put anti-seize on it all when it goes back. For the rear, you have to unbolt the flange that holds the axle together and inside that flange on the wheel side is a nut inside. Take the nut off and after taking the wheel off of course, bang the whole axle out and one bearing will stay on the axle, the inner one usually jams inside the housing. No need to take the reluctor ring off and I would not touch it.

Sam

[RealMcCoy]

No need to take the reluctor ring off and I would not touch it.

Sam

And what form of magic will you be using to get the outer bearing off with that reluctor ring in the way...?

[x2xtreme360]

I've done the rears.

It's not hard up to the bearing part. You need to disconnect the 4 bolts holding the CV shaft to the axle. Once that's off, you need to break the axle nut free. Take it from me first hand... if you have an impact, use it. Advance has a kit for rent that contains the right size sockets and they are BLACK (for an impact gun) so they wont shatter. Hold the hub still with a tire iron and simply break the bolt free with the impact. Once that's off, use a slide hammer to remove the axle. It literally take all but 3 seconds to get it out. Harbor Freight sells a nice one for cheap and I'm sure Autozone or Advance has one for rent... all these parts are free. Basically they require a deposit that you get refunded when you return them. Okay, now that the axle/hub assembly is out, it HAS to go to a shop to have the bearings removed and pressed in. I tried everything to remove them. I actually ended up almost ruining the threads on the axle trying to get the bearings out. They WILL NOT come out without a press.

Good news is that the shop wont charge you the labor for getting to the bearings and it should cost you less than $20 to get the new ones pressed in.

Also, you should buy a new locking nut for the axle. I'm pretty sure they are not supposed to go on twice as I couldn't torque the bolt to the 180 ft lbs Mitsubishi recommends without causing the hub to not be able to spin freely.

[RealMcCoy]

Larry, I had to google slide hammer. I don't own one and had no idea what it was. Does the hub attachment need to be a particular size to work with our cars? Do you have any pictures to show how you do the job?

The hub attachment is a pretty common size... We have the same bolt pattern as the last 40 years of Fords, and many Mopars.

I don't have many pics. I took a few with my phone last time I did one, but the only one that came out was the this one: (using a gear puller to remove the ABS reluctor)

[jba3]

It cost me a few hairs under $1,000 to have one rear bearing and an alignment done on my VR4 last year. Would have done it myself, but it was 3 days before my wedding, and I needed the car for the wedding. That was a painful repair to pay for.

[CoreyB]

You got robbed.