Hello MK3 supra community, I'm new to this forum and I've own my 89 supra for about a year now and i plan on doing all the upgrades to my car by myself, due to the fact that I'm on a budget plus I enjoy doing my own work. This is my first write up so forgive me if I am leaving any info out or being to vague. But lets begin, I recently discovered that my front driver side wheel hub was extremely lose and making noise while I was driving. So as I jacked up the car my wheel was very lose there was about an inch and a half of play. I realize how dangerous this cud be so i knew i had to replace it. At the it I thought it was my wheel bearings and i searched the web to find how to go about fixing this issue. I soon came to realize there was not a single write up about how to go about replacing the bearings nor how to remove the hub only the rear ones. So I just took matters into my own hands to figure it out and since there is no write up I have decided to make my own for you guys.
This job will be messy and it will take a few hours to complete.
IF YOU ARE LOOKING TO REMOVE YOUR WHEEL HUB/FIX WHEEL HUB "WIGGLE"(ALSO CAN BE HELPFUL FOR REPLACING WHEEL STUDS AS WELL AS REMOVING YOUR DUST SHIELD) READ BELLOW<br>
IF YOUR LOOKING TO REPLACE YOUR WHEEL BEARINGS SCROLL DOWN TO THE bottom <br>
Tools you will need to fix/remove your wheel hub<br>
car jack
Ratchet
Needle nose pliers
all the tools needed to remove your wheel(for this job we don't need to remove the brakes nor touch them at all)<br>
Breaker bar (optional)
hammer
ball joint splitter(I used this tool to unbolt my tie rod end because it was super stuck after 130,000 miles of use, I don't know if you can do this job without unbolting the the tie rod end because I just barely got enough clearance to tighten/loosen the hub bolt)<br>
36mm socket
19mm socket
Liquid Wrench (optional but it helps big time)
flat head screwdriver
Ok lets get to work.....
Step 1: Jack up the car but not all the way
Step 2: loosen lug nuts on wheel
Step 3: jack up the car so the tire is not touching the ground, remove the lugs and take off wheel
Step 4: Unbolting the tie-rod end. If you look at the tie rod end you will notice an odd shaped nut, looks kind of like the head of a rook from the board game CHESS (I don't know the actually name of this type of nut) And if you look closely there SHOULD be a C clip Aka Cotter Pin going in between the holes of the nut and the bolt. To remove this I used a pair of needle nose pliers and pulled on the joined end of the clip until it slips out (sometimes u have to bend the other side of the clip to make it easier to pull out.Once this clip is removed get your ratchet with a 19mm socket and loosen this nut. Once removed your tie rod end can be hammered out. This took me a while with a hammer but using the ball joint separator it made it easy. To hammer it out strike the bolt directly on the head of the bolt. This did not work for me but it might for others. If not wedge the ball joint separator between the tie rod end and the wheel knuckle and hammer the fork until they separate.
Step 5 almost done. now the wheel knuckle is free to turn. Now turn the wheel hub away from the front of the car (if working on the driver side that means turn the hub as if u were making a left turn in the car and the opposite if u were working on the passenger side).this will give u enough clearance to get to the dust cap that houses the wheel hub nut and the wheel bearings.<br>
Step 6 remove the dust cap with the flat head screw driver. I just wedged my screw driver under it and used leverage to pop it out.<br>
Step 7. After you have removed the dust cap u should see a gold/ brass looking nut that is very large. If you were trying to remove the hub to get to the dust shield or replace the studs you would loosen this nut( but first u would have to remove the brake caliper, caliper bracket, and rotor if you were trying to remove the hub) but since this write up is about how to fix the wheel hub "wiggle" we are only tightening this nut. So grab your 36mm socket and tighten the bolt down as much as u can... You notice that after a certain point of tightening this nut the rotor will spin. what i used to fix this was my breaker bar. I placed the breaker bar between 2 wheel studs and used that as leverage to stop the rotor from turning as i used my other hand to tighten the bolt. After you tighten this bolt try to wiggle the wheel from the studs if there is no play then u have fixed the problem. at this point pop the dust cap back on, put the tie rod end back into the hole, tighten down the the odd looking nut, pull the C-pin threw the nut and bolt (I bend the ends to make sure it doesn't come off) put the wheel back on and tighten the lug nuts and lower your car and your done!. <br>
thats how i fixed my wheel hub wiggle issue. <br>
NOW IF YOU HAVE A BAD WHEEL BEARING READ ON<br>
If this is your case, After step 3 you will have to remove the the brake caliper, Brake caliper bracket, and the rotor at this point then continue the rest of the steps except of tightening the hub nut u will be loosening the nut and pulling out the hub. <br>
Step 1( after removing the hub and following the above directions about removing the tie rod end. At this point your brake assembly, rotor, and hub should be removed, if not go back and follow the steps. At this point if you look at the hole were the wheel hub was you will notice you can see the wheel bearings around the hole (more like the inner races honestly). I did not have to change the bearings so i left them, BUT since there is no write up i will make one. From what i have read is that the bearing inside the wheel knuckle is a sealed unit. So what i would do is remove the wheel knuckle completely, and replace the whole wheel knuckle with a new one ( i looked online and they are about 30-50 bucks used) but thats what i would do. I believe you can also take the wheel knuckle to a shop that deals with pressing out bearings and pushing them in. the bearings are for sale on drift motion.com for 50 bucks i think? maybe cheaper I don't really remember i might put the link at the bottom. but buy that bearing and have them press it in for you. I also think theres a third option and that is leaving the knuckle in the car and making a tool that can press the bearing out and put the new one in. I don't know if this has been done or not but someone could try.<br>
Any way moving on how to remove the wheel knuckle, IT WILL BE A BITCH.<br>
Step 2: with the tie rod end removed theres only 2 ball joints left. the upper control arm and the lower control arm. Just like the tie rod end they have weird nuts and C-pins. remove the C-pins and the nuts. Using the ball joint separator wedge them between the ball joint and the knuckle and hammer it in until them come loose... i used a lot of liquid wrench as well as a torch to heat up the bolts to remove these. Once these 2 bolts are free the only thing stopping you from removing the knuckle is the ABS sensor if you have on, it is a single bolt which i think was a 12mm or a 13mm(could be wrong). Unbolt it and remove the sensor. now your wheel knuckle is free to take to a shop to install a new wheel bearing. Or just reinstall your new knuckle that hopefully has a good wheel bearing in it. just do the steps backwards and you should be done <img src="http://www.supramania.com/forums/images/smilies/smile.png" border="0" alt="" title="Smile" smilieid="1" class="inlineimg"><br>
<br>
WHEEL BEARING LINK-----http://www.driftmotion.com/Front-Wheel-Bearing-MK3-Supra-p/dm1703.htm
This job will be messy and it will take a few hours to complete.
IF YOU ARE LOOKING TO REMOVE YOUR WHEEL HUB/FIX WHEEL HUB "WIGGLE"(ALSO CAN BE HELPFUL FOR REPLACING WHEEL STUDS AS WELL AS REMOVING YOUR DUST SHIELD) READ BELLOW<br>
IF YOUR LOOKING TO REPLACE YOUR WHEEL BEARINGS SCROLL DOWN TO THE bottom <br>
Tools you will need to fix/remove your wheel hub<br>
car jack
Ratchet
Needle nose pliers
all the tools needed to remove your wheel(for this job we don't need to remove the brakes nor touch them at all)<br>
Breaker bar (optional)
hammer
ball joint splitter(I used this tool to unbolt my tie rod end because it was super stuck after 130,000 miles of use, I don't know if you can do this job without unbolting the the tie rod end because I just barely got enough clearance to tighten/loosen the hub bolt)<br>
36mm socket
19mm socket
Liquid Wrench (optional but it helps big time)
flat head screwdriver
Ok lets get to work.....
Step 1: Jack up the car but not all the way
Step 2: loosen lug nuts on wheel
Step 3: jack up the car so the tire is not touching the ground, remove the lugs and take off wheel
Step 4: Unbolting the tie-rod end. If you look at the tie rod end you will notice an odd shaped nut, looks kind of like the head of a rook from the board game CHESS (I don't know the actually name of this type of nut) And if you look closely there SHOULD be a C clip Aka Cotter Pin going in between the holes of the nut and the bolt. To remove this I used a pair of needle nose pliers and pulled on the joined end of the clip until it slips out (sometimes u have to bend the other side of the clip to make it easier to pull out.Once this clip is removed get your ratchet with a 19mm socket and loosen this nut. Once removed your tie rod end can be hammered out. This took me a while with a hammer but using the ball joint separator it made it easy. To hammer it out strike the bolt directly on the head of the bolt. This did not work for me but it might for others. If not wedge the ball joint separator between the tie rod end and the wheel knuckle and hammer the fork until they separate.
Step 5 almost done. now the wheel knuckle is free to turn. Now turn the wheel hub away from the front of the car (if working on the driver side that means turn the hub as if u were making a left turn in the car and the opposite if u were working on the passenger side).this will give u enough clearance to get to the dust cap that houses the wheel hub nut and the wheel bearings.<br>
Step 6 remove the dust cap with the flat head screw driver. I just wedged my screw driver under it and used leverage to pop it out.<br>
Step 7. After you have removed the dust cap u should see a gold/ brass looking nut that is very large. If you were trying to remove the hub to get to the dust shield or replace the studs you would loosen this nut( but first u would have to remove the brake caliper, caliper bracket, and rotor if you were trying to remove the hub) but since this write up is about how to fix the wheel hub "wiggle" we are only tightening this nut. So grab your 36mm socket and tighten the bolt down as much as u can... You notice that after a certain point of tightening this nut the rotor will spin. what i used to fix this was my breaker bar. I placed the breaker bar between 2 wheel studs and used that as leverage to stop the rotor from turning as i used my other hand to tighten the bolt. After you tighten this bolt try to wiggle the wheel from the studs if there is no play then u have fixed the problem. at this point pop the dust cap back on, put the tie rod end back into the hole, tighten down the the odd looking nut, pull the C-pin threw the nut and bolt (I bend the ends to make sure it doesn't come off) put the wheel back on and tighten the lug nuts and lower your car and your done!. <br>
thats how i fixed my wheel hub wiggle issue. <br>
NOW IF YOU HAVE A BAD WHEEL BEARING READ ON<br>
If this is your case, After step 3 you will have to remove the the brake caliper, Brake caliper bracket, and the rotor at this point then continue the rest of the steps except of tightening the hub nut u will be loosening the nut and pulling out the hub. <br>
Step 1( after removing the hub and following the above directions about removing the tie rod end. At this point your brake assembly, rotor, and hub should be removed, if not go back and follow the steps. At this point if you look at the hole were the wheel hub was you will notice you can see the wheel bearings around the hole (more like the inner races honestly). I did not have to change the bearings so i left them, BUT since there is no write up i will make one. From what i have read is that the bearing inside the wheel knuckle is a sealed unit. So what i would do is remove the wheel knuckle completely, and replace the whole wheel knuckle with a new one ( i looked online and they are about 30-50 bucks used) but thats what i would do. I believe you can also take the wheel knuckle to a shop that deals with pressing out bearings and pushing them in. the bearings are for sale on drift motion.com for 50 bucks i think? maybe cheaper I don't really remember i might put the link at the bottom. but buy that bearing and have them press it in for you. I also think theres a third option and that is leaving the knuckle in the car and making a tool that can press the bearing out and put the new one in. I don't know if this has been done or not but someone could try.<br>
Any way moving on how to remove the wheel knuckle, IT WILL BE A BITCH.<br>
Step 2: with the tie rod end removed theres only 2 ball joints left. the upper control arm and the lower control arm. Just like the tie rod end they have weird nuts and C-pins. remove the C-pins and the nuts. Using the ball joint separator wedge them between the ball joint and the knuckle and hammer it in until them come loose... i used a lot of liquid wrench as well as a torch to heat up the bolts to remove these. Once these 2 bolts are free the only thing stopping you from removing the knuckle is the ABS sensor if you have on, it is a single bolt which i think was a 12mm or a 13mm(could be wrong). Unbolt it and remove the sensor. now your wheel knuckle is free to take to a shop to install a new wheel bearing. Or just reinstall your new knuckle that hopefully has a good wheel bearing in it. just do the steps backwards and you should be done <img src="http://www.supramania.com/forums/images/smilies/smile.png" border="0" alt="" title="Smile" smilieid="1" class="inlineimg"><br>
<br>
WHEEL BEARING LINK-----http://www.driftmotion.com/Front-Wheel-Bearing-MK3-Supra-p/dm1703.htm