jfwes300

Hello. I am new to club lexus and I am glad that this source of information exchange exists! Thank you creators! I am also new to diy car repairs.

I have an es300 2003. I need to replace my front left wheel bearing. I have been quoted $300-400 for the repair. I cannot really afford that right now. I thought that I would make my job cheaper by going to a local salvage yard. I did. They had the exact make and model. For 50 bucks they sold me one part starting at the knuckle and going all the way out to and including the wheel hub. They told me all I had to do was to take out the old and put in the new in one step and plug back in in the break hose line. I did much research from as many sources as I could. I studied the parts involved. I became confident enough to begin the process, knowing that I would stop and put everything back together if I ran into trouble.

It didn't take long to get into a stumbling block. I have a rusted hub nut, and it does not have the cotter pin that many sources say should be there. After more researching, I have determined that either some shop did not put it back in or I have the kind that doesn't use one (a self-locking hub nut?). There is also this squiggly black thing with maybe 12 bumps on it that looks like it should screw or pull off. It won’t budge. I have attached a picture. I have also noticed a groove in the hub nut. Maybe that is a detent that needs to be pushed in?

Can anyone offer any clues that would help me to get the nut off? I would be forever grateful!
Thanks,
Jay

PuReChaos

These are locked in place by being staked. Meaning they just use a chisel to push part of the black nut into the grove on the top. Thats why there is a little thicker of a piece to the right. The right way to go about it is putting a very specific chisel in there and reversing the process (unstaking). However, most people dont really have the right tool for doing that and buying a special tool just for this could help but no one wants to really spend 75$. You've got a few options. You can take a dremel to it and replace the nut when re-installing. Even then you'll probably need a breaker bar/cheater bar as these are on there really tight (217ftlb). Another method, which isn't the most professional, but it works is to just take an impact gun to it. This is probably the fastest method though not the best. Hope any of the information is helpful.

PuReChaos

I should add you generally replace the nut when re-installing anyways.

mitmaks

Use some PB blaster penetrating oil on it and let is soak for several hours. Use breaker bar/impact gun to get old nut off. you might have someone sit in the car and hold brake pedal so it would hold axle/hub as you're trying to loosen nut.