M K S

I've searched everywhere on the internet and cant seem to find a DIY to replace a front wheel bearing and/or hub assembly for a 4G ES.

My '02 ES300 was diagnosed as needing a new p/s front wheel bearing and possibly hub. The cost of the repair will be $395-$515 depending on if it needs a hub as well. Instead of paying that, I'd like to do it myself.

Another issue I'm coming into is I can't seem to find a front bearing/hub assembly. Most places only sell the asssembled version for the rear. It will be much easier to just replace the entire assembly instead of having to worry about getting a shop to press the bearings.

Can anyone help point me in the right direction? Any DIY for this would be greatly appreciated as well as the actual parts.

Thanks!

LeX2K

The front wheel bearing is pressed onto the hub and that assembly is pressed into the steering knuckle. You can buy the hub and bearing as a kit, but that doesn't help you because that would have to be pressed into the knuckle anyway. if you really want to attempt to do the job yourself.

Personally, this is a job I leave for a shop with a bearing press. I just went through this on my Camry, I pulled the steering knuckle out myself and took it to a shop along with the replacement bearing and the inner/outer seal (not sure if the hub design on your car requires seals). This to me is the by far the best way, removing the steering knuckle is not that difficult as long as you have an axle nut socket and a breaker bar along with a pipe for leverage.

Good bearing brands are Koyo, NSK, Nachi. National is a popular brand but they are not as good IMO. It is best to remove the ABS sensor before working on the knuckle, but be careful rust build up can making removing them a problem.

M K S

^ Thanks for the response. Once I started looking more into it, I realized that the models I was watching online were RWD (LS & GS), so I wasn't thinking right lol.

I ended up going to (2) Indy's and got two different quotes. The first shop wanted $600 to replace the hub/bearing; the second shop wanted $350 for the hub & bearing.... neadless to say, I went to the cheaper one and they did great work.

If anyone in the Denver metro area needs a good Toyota/Lexus or import shop, PM me.

speedkar9

Just to update this thread with a DIY, I recently finished replacing the wheel bearing on a 2006 Toyota Sienna.

Procedure is the same as the Camry and Lexus ES, which a DIY writeup can be found here:
http://www.toyotanation.com/forum/10...nt-w-pics.html

Here's a short DIY video:


Getting the hub off was straight forward. The only hindrance could be if you have rusted cotter pins and brake hose bolts. I opted to remove the ABS wire from the hub and disconnect it from the splash guard in the car.

I removed the strut bolts and left it hanging from the ball joint and CV shaft. One thing is you have to make sure both sides of the car is jacked up so the stabilizer link doesn't give the strut extra pressure making it impossible to maneuver in and out of the steering knuckle's 22mm bolts.

I took the hub to a shop to press out. The center was pressed out and the inner race was grinded and chipped off the hub. The outer race was really stuck in the hub. The 10 ton press couldn't push it, so we used a 20 ton press from next door.

Here's what's left of the bearing:



Pressing in the new bearing using the old bearing as a guide:



Pressing the hub into the inner bearing race:



Here's the new bearing installed in the hub. You need to remove the ABS ring to get access to that snap ring:



I used a Timken bearing which was manufactured by Koyo:



The van drives nice and quiet now, no more grinding and whirring sound!

hypervish

Thanks for the DIY Speedkar! My ES needs a new front left bearing. Going to pull the steering knuckle off in a few months when it's warmer and have a shop press in a new bearing. It's not grinding yet, only whirring! lol