GnatGoSplat Posted December 28, 2009 Author Report Share Posted December 28, 2009 98-lbs? Nowhere near! I'm a 220-lb weakling, but with the upper-body strength of a 98-lb weakling! Actually, I managed to get them out! I had my wife hold the hub on the metal pipe, then I two-handed that sledge and pounded the crap out of it. Finally, one by one, they came out and all kinds of rust chunks shot out of that hub so good thing we were wearing safety glasses. I went and bought some new studs from O'Reillys and am finding they are crazy tight in the holes. So tight, I tried pounding one in (using the metal pipe, wife helping, and sledge hammer again) and it barely moved a millimeter. I had to quit when the handle started to detach from the hammer. Safety tip: do NOT buy sledge hammers from Harbor Freight! So now I'm using a nut and trying to tighten it up with the hub off the car, and finding it damn near impossible. I have a 3/4" box end wrench on the nut and am pounding on the wrench with a hammer. It sort of works. Got 2 studs most all the way seated in about 2 hours. 3 more hours and I'll have them all in, maybe. I'm wishing I just bought the new hub and saved myself the trouble for $80. If this hub ends up being ruined from earlier pounding, I'll probably cry like a little girl. Years ago when I did the '88, I reused good studs I pounded out of a spare hub. Sort of wish I had just done that, used ones go in so much easier! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CSI_MuNkY Posted December 28, 2009 Report Share Posted December 28, 2009 When I did my studs I pulled them through as best I could by hand then torqued the wheel on and that pulled the studs the rest of the way though. I took the wheel back off just to double check. And fwiw, some of SKF's stuff is made in Canada Jamie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy K Posted December 28, 2009 Report Share Posted December 28, 2009 LOL!!!! I was joking, ya know!!!! Take a round file and ream out the holes a little, to remove excess rust. take and put grease on the hole and the splines on the lugs. Place each lug part way in. Now use a stock rim or spare tire and place the hub with the loose studs through the bolt pattern holes. Apply grease to the cone contact face of lug nuts and spin them onto the lugs hand tight. lay the tire down (lay on blocks if the hub protrudes) and use a tire wrench or similar to tighten each lugnut until "tighter" check progress by lifting tire up and seeing if the lugs have met the hub... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BXX Posted December 28, 2009 Report Share Posted December 28, 2009 Any hub can fail prematurely.. But Timken and SKF being better is quite true. However, ebay hubs are made just like any other chinese hub you get from a parts store. I would have no qualm aboot buying an ebay hub to save a couple bucks if needed. Key to ANY hub lasting as long as possible that most people dont do, including 90% of mechanics.... Proper torque of the hub/axle nut!!! Ive replaced at work so many hubs under warrenty, including Timken and SKF and I know damn well the previous tech didnt torque it properly. Yes, im mister torque king I always properly torque lugnuts, hub/axle nuts, and head/intake bolts. Those areas are just way too torque critical to think you know how much torque your impact gun is gonna ram them down to. And dont do what mr grease (aka) ken said. DO NOT use grease to lube up the stud when installing it into the hub. Last thing you want is a tough lugnut, and the next thing you know, the stud is spinning in the hub. Greasing them makes that much much much more likely to happen. And Jaime's process is a bit more proper and less time consuming than what Ken said. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GnatGoSplat Posted December 28, 2009 Author Report Share Posted December 28, 2009 Thanks guys, I had a "duh" moment and right after posting that reply, I mounted the hub on the car, put the rotor and caliper back on it, and set the park brake. Then I used the lug nut and big torque wrench and a couple washers to bottom the studs in. Didn't take any time doing it that way! I tried using my manual torque wrench to tighten the lugs, but it seems way off and just touching the stick changes the reading wildly, so I went back to my clicker, but now I don't really trust it so I only torqued to 75ft-lbs while GM calls for 100. If my wrench is off, it should be close to 100 (in my experience, clickers out of calibration torque too high, not too low). If not, 75 should be good enough as it's OEM spec for a lot of cars aluminum wheels. I still have to do the front wheels then take it for a test drive. Hopefully the front is uneventful. EDIT: All done, taken for a test drive up to 60mph and no strange noises or humming, everything is A-OK. Cost <$10 to fix and didn't have to take a risk on a eBay hub. Thanks for the help, guys! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy K Posted December 28, 2009 Report Share Posted December 28, 2009 woot? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dakiln Posted December 28, 2009 Report Share Posted December 28, 2009 Timken and SKF. Which alot of the times SKF bearings are made by Timken. Exceptionally True however, pay close attention because almost half of Timken and SKF hub and bearing assemblies are coming from China now. The last Timken brand hub I bought stated right on it made in China. Here is the even funnier part - AC Delco brand Hubs have began to be resourced to Kyklos in Sandusky (formerly GM NDH division) and these are again the most common for "Made in USA". I know this because the replacement hub I bought for my Cutlass at autozone (Timken brand, not cheap knockoff) said "Made in China" lasted almost 13 months and bad, got mad and called local dealer for price and country of origin on AC Delco (since AC wont tell you over the phone and my Delphi plant closed about 8 months ago so no more calling engineer budies in Sandusky) and they said one arm, both legs, and first born child but the magic words of "Made in USA". So far so good on the Delco hopefully will last until the car is dead. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mfewtrail Posted December 28, 2009 Report Share Posted December 28, 2009 and they said one arm, both legs, and first born child but the magic words of "Made in USA". So far so good on the Delco hopefully will last until the car is dead. If they're of the original quality used on these cars it should last you forever. I rarely see the original 1st gen bearings go bad, even after 200-300,000 miles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1990lumina Posted December 29, 2009 Report Share Posted December 29, 2009 My Lumina is quiet and tight @ 191,000km. On a Aveo/Swift+ it's common to rpelace front wheel bearings @ 20,000miles lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dakiln Posted December 29, 2009 Report Share Posted December 29, 2009 and they said one arm, both legs, and first born child but the magic words of "Made in USA". So far so good on the Delco hopefully will last until the car is dead. If they're of the original quality used on these cars it should last you forever. I rarely see the original 1st gen bearings go bad, even after 200-300,000 miles. They appear to be identical so my guess would be that it will last that long. I think this one went bad only because the seal was damaged somehow and there was water present in the bearing. The only way I would be able to tell for sure would be to call the engineers that I knew in Sandusky and ask them if they are using the original production molds or a modified service mold and hope that most of the components in the new one are still sourced from the original suppliers. Especially since the other hub has well over 200,000mi on it now and no noise or problems so far. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Galaxie500XL Posted December 29, 2009 Report Share Posted December 29, 2009 X2 on 1st gen bearings. My brother in law's Lumina had some of the noisiest I'd ever heard on a drivable car...but then again, the car did have 360,000 miles on it. and they said one arm, both legs, and first born child but the magic words of "Made in USA". So far so good on the Delco hopefully will last until the car is dead. If they're of the original quality used on these cars it should last you forever. I rarely see the original 1st gen bearings go bad, even after 200-300,000 miles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xtremerevolution Posted December 29, 2009 Report Share Posted December 29, 2009 I also agree on the OEM wheel hubs. My passenger side went out at 180k, but my driver's side is still fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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