Had a wheel alignment today and ask them to check out the rear wheel bearings as best as they could. There conclusion was that I need to replace both rears. I already suspected there was a problem with one or both. Question..They gave me a $929 estimate to replace them. I'm a pretty fair shade tree mechanic although I tend to buy my way out of trouble these days. Is this a DIY or best left to the pros?

 

Looks like you are in the Military. You probably have a Hobby Shop Garage on base. That would be an excellent place to do it. Yes, it can be a do it your self project. Not very difficult as long as you have the tools. I purchased a C5 front hub assembly from Advanced Auto Parts and it was $165. I believe that the rears are a bit less expensive.

I would do it my self and save the money for MODs!

I am sure that we can talk you through it!! If you lived close, you could do it in my drive way!!

BC

 

How did they exactly come to that conclusion? Are there loud roaring noises at high speed(this may be tire related also)? Did they shake the wheels side to side and up and down and found play? The easiest and very accurate way to check for bad bearings is to lift the rear wheels off the ground(a lift is great here) spin the tires(may have to turn car on and put in D or 1st) and place a hand or even better, a mechanic's stethoscope on the back of the spindle/hub assembly. Bad bearings will feel and sound rough. You can spin the fronts and feel the difference between what is smooth and what is rough(assuming your front bearings are good) good luck

 

Other than the high cost of parts, bearing assenmbly has speed sensors attached, it is not much more difficult than back in the good old days, Timken still makes the bearings, fronts are easier than the backs. I used to repack both on an annual basis till they went to all sealed.A real mechanic doesn't bleed blood, but rather oozes bearing grease.Lol!

 

Lost, you're right. I've packed many a wheel bearing using the palm of my hand. Is there a DIY thread on this anywhere? I've got a roomy garage and an ample tool box.

 

Hi MT,

I have had to replace both the rear bearing hub assemblies on my own C5. Here is a link for the part number. and, I will e-mail you a diagram that is very self explanatory. Best wishes to you. And, do let us know how it turns out for you.

Link:

http://www.forums.corvetteforum.com/...hub&forum_id=1

 

MT,

For some reason, the above link is not working. However, I have sent you a PM. Moreover, you may locate the link by simply accessing the search mode up above and inserting: "rear bearing hub", and, my brief post regarding this issue will come up for you. Best of luck to you.

 

I just recently had to get mine done on the passenger side. Tire wore really hard on the inside 1" or so. I took him the bearing I bought, and had it dont then realigned. I also picked up some used tires. So it saved a couple hundy getting the parts myself. TIre hasnt worn funny so it fixed it. But no one else I talked to heard of that sort of issue, but this dealership did alot of corvette service.

btw this at 97xxx mi

 

I got my front wheel bearign at O reillys for $90. Seemed like a good deal.

 

Couldnt get the link to come up.

BC

 

The wheel bearings do wear out from cornering loads. Most SCCA T1 teams, myself included, replace them annually as they have a lot of play in them. The wheel bearings come as a pre-packed, integrated assembly with the speed sensors already in them. They are on the order of $450 each from gmpartsdirect, though I've heard Napa has them for about half that.

Changing the fronts is easy, the rears are a little more work as you have to remove the whole spindle to get to the torx nuts holding the wheel bearing to the spindle. I've done my own rears and I'm not much more than a shade tree mechanic either. Did it in my garage with the car up on jack stands using the shop manual as a guide. Though I don't have the shop manual right now, the process in general is:
- Put car up on jacks
- Remove halfshaft axle nut (34mm nut - I had to pick up an impact wrench socket from Napa as I couldn't find any other sockets in this size)
- Disconnect e-brake line and ABS sensor
- Remove toe tie rod
- Remove upper and lower spindle nuts (need a splitter - I bought mine at Sears)
- Remove spindle
- Remove wheel bearing from spindle (uses three torx nuts and I can't remember which size - I have 45, 47, and 50 in my tool box and am pretty sure it is one of those).
- Put in new wheel bearing and assemble in reverse order.

Took me an easy afternoon to do both rears after I got the right tools in hand.

 

Jake Latham did a nice write-up, with pics, for both the fronts and rears.
http://www.jakelatham.com/C5/misc/

 

Who made them? I thonght Autozone was great at 130 each for Timken OEM supplier. In a regular shop it's two hours labor tops.