Rear wheel bearing R/R DIY

[FrankMstein]

^^^ This is a keeper post, thanks!

[7tune]

Small update. Got the hubs in yesterday. BimmerWorld is awesome - 6 days to Japan and the kit looks wicked. $800 shipped with all hardware.

The hubs themselves are a meaty piece of kit! Can’t wait to get this done once and for all.

I do have a question thought: seeing as I’ll be pre-pressing the hubs and simply pulling the old hub/bearing assembly off, how hard is it to get this new hub assembly on?

As you can see from the last shot, my rear end brake/hub assembly is toast, so I’m replacing absolutely everything.

Do I need a spline puller for that job? If I punch out the old hub assembly from the back so it pops off the spline, surely reinstallation of the new hub is just as simple? Fingers crossed! 🤞🏻

[mike082802]

following

[uncle ben]

Adding this to my “to do” list

[sun573]

Originally Posted by Driver407

Finished up my bearing install yesterday. I do highly recommend buying a axle shaft puller and extractor.

I owned the puller before hand but on assembly it was going to be nearly impossible without the extractor to pull the axle through the hub. It was not going to happen with muscle or a hammer. This made the entire ordeal painless as it could be.

Extractor is ~$40 on ebay and other is $20 or so. That will be the best 60$ you ever spend if this job is in your future.

Am I correct in thinking that I won't need any pullers or extractors if I'm swapping the entire hub and bearing assembly? Planning on the Bimmerworld racing kit since its a strictly track car.

[Driver407]

Originally Posted by sun573

Am I correct in thinking that I won't need any pullers or extractors if I'm swapping the entire hub and bearing assembly? Planning on the Bimmerworld racing kit since its a strictly track car.

My install was also for both the hub and bearing.
Like i mentioned. That 60$ is beyond worth it for the proper tools and ease.
I would not have been able to do it without them. Even with some ingenuity. The parts did not want to separate and come back together. That is with zero corrosion/rust/grime of a California car too.

[Driver407]

Originally Posted by 7tune

Small update. Got the hubs in yesterday. BimmerWorld is awesome - 6 days to Japan and the kit looks wicked. $800 shipped with all hardware.

The hubs themselves are a meaty piece of kit! Can’t wait to get this done once and for all.

I do have a question thought: seeing as I’ll be pre-pressing the hubs and simply pulling the old hub/bearing assembly off, how hard is it to get this new hub assembly on?

As you can see from the last shot, my rear end brake/hub assembly is toast, so I’m replacing absolutely everything.

Do I need a spline puller for that job? If I punch out the old hub assembly from the back so it pops off the spline, surely reinstallation of the new hub is just as simple? Fingers crossed! 🤞🏻

Even if you are lucky enough to get the entire old bearing and hub off axle without a tool. The installation of the new hub onto the axle doesnt go on as smooth as you may anticipate.

Axle gets stuck inside the hub about 1 inch too short to get the axle nut on. That tool fits inside of the space available and pulls it out.

I too thought there should be some way to do it tool-less. After an hour of fighting it. I ordered the tool and did it in 5 mins or less when it showed up next day.

Between getting the axle out of the hub and getting it back on. One or both of those are bound to stump you.

[hC1001]

This thread is invaluable. For me, i will stick to the lighter weight hubs since my F80 is not a track car. I've done rear swaps on other cars and getting axle out of the hub and the bearing race off the hub is always a PITA. I hope my axles come out easily...

[FrankMstein]

Originally Posted by Driver407

Even if you are lucky enough to get the entire old bearing and hub off axle without a tool. The installation of the new hub onto the axle doesnt go on as smooth as you may anticipate.

Axle gets stuck inside the hub about 1 inch too short to get the axle nut on. That tool fits inside of the space available and pulls it out.

I too thought there should be some way to do it tool-less. After an hour of fighting it. I ordered the tool and did it in 5 mins or less when it showed up next day.

Between getting the axle out of the hub and getting it back on. One or both of those are bound to stump you.

Tool? To install?

[jfritz27]

Originally Posted by Driver407

Even if you are lucky enough to get the entire old bearing and hub off axle without a tool. The installation of the new hub onto the axle doesnt go on as smooth as you may anticipate.

Axle gets stuck inside the hub about 1 inch too short to get the axle nut on. That tool fits inside of the space available and pulls it out.

I too thought there should be some way to do it tool-less. After an hour of fighting it. I ordered the tool and did it in 5 mins or less when it showed up next day.

Between getting the axle out of the hub and getting it back on. One or both of those are bound to stump you.

Thanks again for the tips.... just curious, did you clean off the axle splines good and use some grease/anti-seize on them, and it was still hard on reinstall to get the axle through the hub?

[Driver407]

Originally Posted by FrankMstein

Tool? To install?

Look back on page one at my other post. Pics of them and info.

[Driver407]

Originally Posted by jfritz27

Thanks again for the tips.... just curious, did you clean off the axle splines good and use some grease/anti-seize on them, and it was still hard on reinstall to get the axle through the hub?

Yea, cleaned every spot with steel brush prior. Proper hub/spline greasing.

Tried hammering backside of axle lightly/evenly with rubber mallet. Tried block of wood + hammer for more oomph. Hitting any harder woulda broken something. Just was ever too short to pull it through hub face or even put the axle nut on and just fasten it through. Tool was required.

[7tune]

*edit* - I took a look at this tool on the 1st page. How did it help with disassembly? Is it a driveshaft related issue?

Is it what you used to break the axle spline free from the rear hub? That would make sense... even more so considering mine are completely fubar.

[Jack White]

I wanted to thank everyone for their respective contributions to this DIY. Although I have an M2C, I was able to get through it without too much difficulty.

Originally Posted by Driver407

Finished up my bearing install yesterday. I do highly recommend buying a axle shaft puller and extractor.

I owned the puller before hand but on assembly it was going to be nearly impossible without the extractor to pull the axle through the hub. It was not going to happen with muscle or a hammer. This made the entire ordeal painless as it could be.

Extractor is ~$40 on ebay and other is $20 or so. That will be the best 60$ you ever spend if this job is in your future.

I wanted to address the axle shaft puller portion of this. I had the most difficult time here, as I wasn’t smart enough to order the tool ahead of when I was able to spend time on the car. I tried a lot of different things but came up short on getting enough threads for the axle nut to grab, so I went to get the tool. I couldn’t find the tool locally, so I was stuck with the axle about 2mm from where I needed it to be, for days, if I couldn’t figure it out. Frustratedly, I pushed the axle back out and loosened the hub assembly bolts, but not completely (IIRC). I then pushed or lined up the axle back into the bearing assembly and held the axle shaft from behind the assembly, while I used a hammer (lightly) on the face of the bearing, in a star pattern, to push the bearing assembly onto the axle until I had enough threads to get the nut on. I was then able to torque the hub assembly bolts before I had to tighten the axle nut. I hope that makes sense.

TLDR: You can use a hammer to bring the axle through the bearing assembly. The tool would work well, I’m sure.

[GuyLedouche]

I am doing this now. Easy way for me to push the axle out was to loosen the axle nuts and hit the impact rated socket with a hammer. Then back the nut off a bit more and hit it again.