Yelling wife.....

:flamemad: So at the expense of my wife yelling at me last nite for my time researching here, I need a little help or guidance with this issue. I want to replace the wheel bearing on the front. Now what I don't understand is I've read the the bearing can be replaced, but on the other hand the whole hub assembly has to be replaced. If someone can actually explain or point me in to the right direction(i.e thread) would be great.

front axle on stands in gear or park and 4wd
remove brake calipers and rotors (13mm)
loosen 36mm axle nut: picture 1
loosen 12point 13mm hub bolts: picture 2
if you have a brass hammer loosen the hub bolts a few ratoations and waxh on them till the hub is loose from the axle, then finish removing bolts

remove 36.. axle bolt remove hub, replace in reverse order.


torq specs:
axle nut: 175 TF/lb
wheel bearing bolt: 75 ft/lb

If you have stock hubs your Jeep has 'Unit Bearings', wheel bearings prefitted into a disposable hub. There are two types depending on the age of your Jeep. I don't know what year exactly but I think it was 2000 (I may be wrong). The disc rotor design was changed which forced a corresponding change in the unit bearing shoulder size.

Warn make two hub conversion kits which replaces the unit bearings for CJ style hubs and separate bearings.

The very early years had servicable hubs...meaning for around $30.00 you could have a machine shop press in new bearings.
I had an 86 xj with the 2.5l motor and napa pressed in new bearings on that.
Not sure when jeep went to nonservicable hubs,though.Take the hub in to napa's machine shop and see what they say....

Okay you've got advice and write ups for your XJ problem now here's my Write up:

1) reason with her "If I can't fix it I can't get to work" is a good one
2) if it's not your DD "fixing it myself will save us hundreds"
3) explain that if it wasn't a Jeep it would cost a LOT MORE to fix (avoid mentioning working on it all the time).
4) apologize profusely
5) when none of that works, wait at least one hour and begin again from the top. Note it is perfectly acceptable to spend that hour researching some more.

Thanks everybody, what I find that works some times is telling her about non jeep owner friends and their vehicle problems of high cost. Which leads me to also tell be thankful we own a jeep.
So back to the bearing and hub issue. Thanks for all the inputs. Seems reasonable. My next question is what is the going cost for a new hub? What I've read is timken bearings are pretty superior. What's the cost for a set of hubs with timken bearings. Any cheap way around this?

around $120-200 each from a parts store.
if you can get one with a lifetime warranty, do that, I went for 3 years swapping them out every 11 months...

my problem i figured out was i wans't tightening the axle nut enough. that thing has got to be super tight.
http://www.oreillyauto.com/EW3/ProductDetail.do?id=26538379&client_ip=75.132.36.143&client_ip=75.132.36.143&categoryCode=2&groupCode=51

replace wife.

Tell her to pipe down, or you will use her allowance to take it to the shop.

Good Job Dano!:yelclap:

Any time my wife complains about the time or money I spend on my Jeeps, I tell her I could very easily spend the same or more hanging out at taverns drinking copious amounts of beer in the presence of women other than her.

She knows exactly where I am and what I'm doing, and having a newer vehicle would involve monthly payments that would add up to more than I put into the Jeeps.

Plus, I'd just end up modifying the newer rig anyhow.

fubar XJ said:

Any time my wife complains about the time or money I spend on my Jeeps, I tell her I could very easily spend the same or more hanging out at taverns drinking copious amounts of beer in the presence of women other than her.

She knows exactly where I am and what I'm doing, and having a newer vehicle would involve monthly payments that would add up to more than I put into the Jeeps.

Plus, I'd just end up modifying the newer rig anyhow.

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that's the one I use for my wife!!!!!!!!! LOLHasta

It must suck to be married!!! Glad I'm not.

My old g/f scarred me for life... lol not really but being younger and dumber I ended up getting whipped and had 0 social life. That came to a sudden stop when on my 21st b-day she got all pissy at my b-day dinner with about 40 friends there and said "This day isn't about you, this day is about me!" and the proceeded to yell at me for going out that night (she of course wasn't 21 yet). Needless to say 3 days later after I sobered up I packed my shit and peaced out of the apartment.

Sorry for the thread jack, back to topic

If the wife is hounding you about working on your jeep, do what I used to do when my parents chewed my ass.

I always told em it was easier for me to fix it, learning experience, cheaper, and I know who is doing the work and that it is getting done. Not just sitting in some bay costing $85/hr to be worked on. As far as parts and cost go, I buy a lot of my stuff from schucks. We have Napa and schucks up here thats it but schucks (though its un-advertised) will actually honor their online prices in the store. You just need to take a print out of the item from the website. I have saved a lot of money on stuff that way. Specially since we get reemed on prices due to "shipping cost". So for all you McD's people and your $1.00 menu... stuff it. LOL it's $1.50 up here

Matt98XJ said:

It must suck to be married!!! Glad I'm not.

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No, not at all. If you find the right woman, and you keep the ground rules covered, respect each other's needs, etc. 15 years married for me, and it's 90% good.

I would have to agree w/ fubar. As long as there is understanding and respect on both sides from the start it is wonderful. I can't imagine how I would have ended up over the past eight years without mine. Not to mention the awesome kids she cranked out.

Quick shout out to being married. LOL

Now a technical question. Actually just verifying a hunch....

Can I just leave the hub attached to the axle and pull the 3 unit bearing mounting bolts to remove the whole thing as one piece? I'm replacing my front hubs and axles with Alloy's and would like to have the OE's as trail spares. I imagine that having them pre-assembled makes for an easier trail repair.

Thanks,

Brad

Yes you can. Remove brakes and the 3 bolts on the back of the outter knuckle and remove the whole assembly, inner axle, stub shaft, and unit bearing. Would make for a quick trail fix.

As for the wife, both of our XJ's are technically 'hers' although I'm the one to work on them and I'm the one driving on the trail about 75% of the time.

yeah Brad, the pics were actualy of when i installed my dana 30 lockright, so yes it's way easier to keep the axle and beering connected, because that bolt is a real bitch.

speaking of real bitch....
I am single now and LOVE it!
but I know one day I will get married and would liek to have a couple kids running around. Hopefully I can pass the 4-wheeling bug onto them and ther will be XJ's still around to tinker with!

"No more fatties for Dano!"

Matt98XJ said:

It must suck to be married!!! Glad I'm not.

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Nah dude what sucks is being single past 30, most of your friends are married or gone off to other places and opportunities to meet women dry up like road kill on an asphalt road in Nevada.