adelort

Hey guys. i am new here and am working on my girlfriends 2003 350z and i need to replace the right rear wheel bearing. Is there a walk through with pictures anywhere and is there a way to complete this without dropping the whole entire axle?

bjr

There is something here somewhere. I remember thinking at the time it looked like it was done like they didn't know what they were doing but it really easily turns out the way it is shown. Mine were rusted in there very bad. Mine also did come out in pieces! Some of the difficulty is that there are some different lips on the bearings to my memory and you will either be surprised what you are hammering on or pulling on after you get them out and may accidentily be hammering on something that pulls the whole race apart.
They could come right out or take all day and patience. Find the thread and take a good look at it and make sure to spray them down a few times the week before you are going to do it with PB Blaster. That should help alot. I waited until the day of and used a heat gun to soak it in and it was still major pain. Make sure you have a slide hammer too just in case you need to bang them out using a small thick steel plate behind them. Autozone should have a loaner hammer from what I remember because I think a hammer kit is >$100.
The other killer is you have to take the sway bar and axles out and I was fortunate enough that I did this when I had my diff out so it was a breeze in that regard. Others in that thread complained about having difficulty getting the axles to squeeze out through any openings they tried.
Good luck!

bjr

I cannot find that thread anywhere now! Hope you find it.

I was thinking back on this while watching TV and it's so much harder to do than the fronts. If they don't come out easily it's because the bearing is corroded to the bore in the wheel hub. Really soak from in front and behind with PB Blaster because it will be hard for the liquid to work its way in where it needs to be. If the bearing doesn't come out by banging on it from the front just to knock it loose and pull out by hand, you will have to use a slide hammer and a round piece of metal about the size of the bearing from behind. I remembered I had a install "tool" from my solid diff bushing install and it fit perfect. If you get to this point to get it out you are beating against the race but have no choice since the case you would want to ideally hammer on is hidden by the wheel hub. If it requires this much effort you are basically pulling out a bearing by hand that you would want to press out with a hydraulic press. Just keep beating on it over and over becuase it will come out a small fraction of an inch at time! Wear gloves and just keep at it until it comes out - it's not easy! Just hope it comes out before the race pulls all the way through.
And if you do this yourself before you put the new one in clean out the hub and polish it just a bit so the new one goes in with just hand pressure. Don't take any material off just clean up the corrosion you find. You don't want your bearing to have any slop. It should be a very snug fit.
Where do you live? If it's never seen rain and snow it might not be this bad but I would plan on it if I were you on a 2003 no matter what.

adelort

well it came off in pieces but the dam bearing housing is stuck on the knuckle. ive been banging for hours and its not moving. tried from the front, on top, and put the bolts back in and tried from behind... nothing...

going to the parts store to see what other stuff they have as far as tools go.

adelort

well no tools are offered. does anyone have any tips?

Ak48z

iTrader: (2)

This job was the only one I did not want to tackle myself for my Z... So I paid Nissan $700 haha, goodluck sir and write a nice DIY if you figure it out.

faiz23

2 seconds on google and lurking on G35 forum will lead to...


http://g35driver.com/forums/brakes-s...g-removal.html


2 more seconds and you can find the front bearing guide

https://my350z.com/forum/brakes-and-...nt-how-to.html

adelort

Faiz those didnt help as i found those already. the problem i had was the wheel bearing was blown to pieces... and the outside hub with the lug nut studs fell off and the actuall wheel bearing housing with the four bolts was stuck on the knuckle...

after hours of pounding and trying to pry it off i had no luck. A friend of mine came over with a piece of 1" wide steel about 10" long... we did our best to measure where the hole locations were on the bearing... then drilled two holes where we thought they were that would allow the bolts that hold the wheel bearing in place to be inserted. eyeballing it was hard.. so we used a dremmel to lengthen the holes. we then went to advanced auto (stay away from auto zone as their kit was no where near as good, advanced came with soooo many options in one box)... and rented a slide hammer. there was an adapter there with a threaded end... so we drilled a hole into the metal plate we just modified, right int he middle of the two holes, large enough for this adapter... we then put the adapter through the center hole, put a nut on the back of it... and then threaded the bolts into the wheel housing on the outside where the wheel hub with the lug nut studs were. we just punded the slide hammer back and fourth and it came off with ease!!!!

bjr

So it sounds like the bearing came apart and came out of the housing pretty early on leaving you very little to work with. I think you were screwed from the beginning with it in that kind of shape that you described. Good job getting it out without much to pull on! I read your first post and thought you may not get how it was in there - if it is that stuck there is little hope of banging on it in all directions from the front, it has to be pulled like a press fit bearing to break the corrosion free.
Hope the wheel hub held up OK from all of the abuse like prying. A little nick or gouge in one location shouldn't be much to worry about though. At least you didn't get a torch out to heat things up and worry about warping anything.

What was it like getting the axle out with everything in there still (diff, exhaust pipes, sway bar, etc. )?

I still don't know where that thread with pics is at...

bjr

That G35 link reminds me of the Z one I found last year. So that guy had problems arise too. And people giving him a hard time that he did it wrong. Well, you found out for yourself that it all depends on the amount of corrosion holding it in and the deterioration of the bearing itself. As soon as something goes wrong you must improvise. Of course it should just pull out but it doesn't always turn out that way.
Sorry I forgot that if you want to reuse the hub the new bearing has to be pressed on! I've owned a small Harbor Freight press I picked up on sale for about $90 2 years ago and just take it for granted now. Hope you are all set to put it back together on your own I forgot about that! It would be tough to find help like that on a Sunday night. Don't want an upset girlfriend on Monday morning that needs her car

Italianjoe1

iTrader: (6)

Was gonna suggest a slide hammer but you already got it. Glad it worked out for you, they sometimes just corrode into the knuckle and can be a beast to take out as a result.

steed77

iTrader: (3)

I just changed mine out also... both of them.

I do have an extra SET of hubs. It is nice to have an extra to build the bearing assembly and the just install and be done. Rather remove, look for a press, hammer,(or have them done) then go back and re-install.



Need to up them up for sale, I guess.

adelort

i dontt need to press the bearing into the knuckle... just the hub into the bearing right?

bjr

Yep. My memory was a bit fuzzy the first time I spoke without pictures to remind me. That's why I told you to clean the hub of any corrosion because once you get the bearing pressed on the hub the whole hub/bearing should slide firmly into the knuckle by hand.

adelort

well i got it all done. man what a pain!!! the car rides and sounds sooooooooo much better. no wheel thumping, no brake grinding, no wobbling!

but now the VDC/OFF light is on along with the SLIP light... these were not on before. do they need to be reset or did i screw something up?

Italianjoe1

iTrader: (6)

You probably damaged the sensor or wire for the speed sensor. Although, in the rear it's on the diff so that shouldn't happen...

bjr

Thinking about the same axle speed sensor(s). We don't know what was taken off to be careful or get stuff out of the way. Make sure both sensors are mounted and no damage to wires, etc. Can't think of anything else back there to cause this. No reset should be necessary.
Glad you got it taken care of though. Should make other repairs seem easy!

adelort

well... i dont think i damaged the sensor i as very careful with everything. one thing i noticed is i put that disc brake quiet on the back side of each pad before installing... the left side of the car (which had the ok wheel bearing), the brakes installed perfectly fine and after bedding the brakes, the color of that disc brake quiet was still red.

When bedding in the brakes i noticed some smoke coming from the right rear. however it was cold so i thought it was that, or the WD40 we soaked everythign with to loosen the bolts. Whoever worke ont he car last time stipped one of the bolts to take the caliper off the caliper mounting braket. so installation of the brakes was a bit more painful. i couldnt swap out the lil metal shims to support the brakes with new ones... i got the pad that the piston presses into fine but the other one was tougher.... had to grind a litte of the nub on the brake pad to get it to fit... getting the assembly over te roter wasnt to bad. it went on bout have way, couple hits with my fist and then like 3 taps with a rubber mallet an it slide into place. when i was done driving i noticed it still melt like brakes after a while still... and the disc quiet was like a burnt black color...

any tips on what may fo went wrong?

ByThaBay

Hey guys, just posted up some videos that detail how to separate the rear wheel bearing from the hub and how to install a new bearing back on.

Rear wheel bearing removal from hub
Rear wheel bearing installation onto hub