Stuck in the middle of the wheel bearing job

[zokman]

:censored: I am stuck in the middle of the rear wheel bearing replacement on my 97 Boxster. I have the hub nut off, the caliper off, the rotor off. The next step in the Sir Tools B-90P instructions are to "remove the bottom contol arm retaining nut and bolt" I wonder what nut an bolt this is. Is it the one located at the end of the control arm away from the wheel? This looks like the camber adjustment to me. Or is it the nut that attaches the control arm to the wheel housing. This looks like a ball joint to me. :censored:

Next step "Swing the wheel bearing housing and strut assembly out of the way and off the stub axel. If I could figue out which nut and bolt to remove, than maybe I can do this step. :censored: :censored:

If anyone has any advise, I will greatly appreciate the assistance.

Zok

[ar38070]

I am not sure what you have disconnected so far. It would help if you could post the instructions that you have and/or what if anything else has been disconnected to far.

There are 3 suspension arms. The 1) track rod (toe adjustment, attached to the rear of the wheel carrier). the 2) track control arm (camber adjustment, what the wheel carrier sits on) and the 3) control arm (attaches to the middle of the track control arm and runs forward to the body).

There are two possible bolts that this could refer to, the camber eccentric or the bolt that holds the control arm(3) to either the body or the track control arm(2).

It does sound like the cam adjuster. We have never done it that way but it should work. If you do it this way then you should mark the adjuster so that when you reassemble it you can put it back in the same place otherwise you will have to re-align the car. I think that if you do it this way then you have to undo the bolt that holds the control arm to the track control arm too.

Alternatively (and to address your other post about getting the wheel carrier off of the track control arm ball joint) then assuming you have the toe link ball joint apart, the sway bar disconnected and the three nuts holding the top of the strut to the body (underneath the convertible cover) undone:

(We have always unbolted the drive shaft from the transmission at this point but you may be able to do the following without doing so since you have the axle nut off.)

Now you should be able to remove the strut/wheel carrier/(drive shaft). In order to do this you must depress the control arm all the way down to enable you to get enough room to lift the wheel carrier off of the ball joint stud. This means compressing the suspension bushings. This is usually a two person operation. One person pushes/pulls down the track control arm while the other lifts/holds the wheel carrier until the track control arm ball joint drops out of the wheel carrier. If your car has a stock suspension you may have to use a spring compressor in order to keep the strut from extending. Also when you press down, the control arm running forward will eventiually bind against the flat strut that runs diagonally from the body to the bracket underneath the transmission. So watch out for that.

I hope some of this helps.

[zokman]

Thanks for the assistance. I think I am beginning to understand where I am now. Here goes.

1. installed a spring compressor on the rear strut

2. removed the retaining bolt and nut from the control arm (3).

3. loosened the eccentric nut at the end of the track control arm.

4. removed the upper retaining bolt and nut from the upper connecting rod that attaches to the sway bar. This bolt attaches to the upper part of what I guess is the wheel carrier. When I removed this bolt and nut, and after considerable moving back and forth of the wheel carrier assembly, the entire wheel carrier assembly began to slide off the strut tube. I am guessing this is no good. I jacked the carrier assembly up into it's original position.

5. loosened the nut on the top of the ball joint, but can not get the carrier off the stud. I have a pittman rod and will attempt to separate this assembly this AM.

The following are the instructions that came with the B-90P from Sir Tools. I'm going to skip the removal of wheel nut/caliper/rotor.

6. Remove the bottom control arm retaining nut and bolt. ( still a little foggy on this, I think this is the bolt and nut removed from arm (3)?)

7. Swing the wheel bearing housing and strut assembly out of the way and off the stub axel. ( this is where I go into the weeds)

8. Remove the hub as shown in Figure A. This picture shows a cross section of the Sir tools parts and the hub assembly complete with the E-brake shoes. There is no axel showing, no drive shaft, just the spindle bearing housing ,brake shoe assy and hub. None of this makes any sense to me because I haven't gotten the wheel carrier stripped to the poing where I can even see the bearing.

I appreciate your assistance.

Zok

[zokman]

Thanks again for the reply. Your description of the suspension parts has enabled me to what I am talking about

In my earlier this morning post I did not list the removal of the nut from the track rod and the separation of that rod from the wheel carrier.

I am having trouble understanding why anything needs to be done to the track control arm if this part is separated from the wheel carrier at the ball joint. Is the removal of the eccentric nut and bolt an alternative to breaking apart the ball joint?

I also do not understand how the wheel carrier comes apart.

Thanks again for your help.

Zok

[ar38070]

Refer to the attached picture.

The wheel carrier is "1".

There are two ways to do this. The first is the way that I have done it and the second is the way I think the Sirtools instructions want you to do it. Choose whichever works for you.

First way:

Now that you have the sway bar and track rod disconnected and the spring compressed you need to crack the track control arm ball joint ("D" in the picture).

Now remove the three nuts holding the top of the strut to the body by putting the convertible top in the service position. Check your owner's manual if you do not know how to do this.

Push/pull down on the track control arm. A second person helps here. With the track control arm pushed down as far as it can go (you need to compress the bushings) you should be able to lift the wheel carrier clear of the ball joint. Make sure that the spring and strut are as fully compressed as you can make it. As you have noticed the wheel carrier will slip on the strut. Hold it in place and remove the wheel carrier/strut from the wheel well.

Second way:

As you have the control arm disconnected from the track control arm and the sway bar disconnected, I think all you need to do is remove the camber eccentric ("C" in the picture). It might also be easier if you take off the nuts holding the top of the strut.

With all this disconnected you should be able to pull out the wheel carrier/strut/track control arm assembly outwards until the hub clears the stub axle and the camber eccentric clears the body member. Then you drop every thing down so that the strut clears the wheel well.

Wheel carrier disassembly (numbers/letters in quotes refer to the picture):

With the wheel carrier off of the car:

1) Press the hub "7" out of the bearing "2" from the back of the wheel carrier "1". Do not be surprised when you do this that the inner race of the bearing remains attached to the hub i.e. the bearing comes apart. Assuming this happens you will need to use a bearing puller to pull the inner race off of the hub later.

2) There are 4 bolts not shown in the picture (location indicated by "A") that hold the bearing retainer "3". Remove these bolts and the bearing retainer. Also not shown in the picture is the brake dust shield that is between the hub and the bearing retainer that I believe is also held in place by the 4 bolts.

3) Now press out the bearing "2" from the wheel carrier "1".

[zokman]

Your verbal instructions helped me understand what I was doing. I eventually figured out that I had to break apart the ball joint in order to get the wheel carrier off the drive shaft. Once this joint was separated the rest of the job was very straight forward, with the exception that the additional horseshoe bracket (J) for the B-90 was not needed. I spent about 30 minutes trying to figure out how to get this bracket in place in order to remove the hub from the bearing and finally decided to attempt the removal without the bracket. The hub came right out, therefore the (J) bracket not required on the Boxster.

Removal of the bearing and replacement of the new bearing was as described in the sir tools instruction sheet. The guy at Paragon Products suggested I freeze the new bearing to facilitate installation. I did this and it seemed to help somewhat.

The other item that you mentioned was the spring compressor. Absolutely necessary in my opinion. I ended up getting one at Autozone, using their free "borrow a tool" program. I also got a pittman wedge from AutoZone, I used this tool to separate the ball joint.

Everything went OK once I understood how this assembly was put together. The only thing that I messed up was the boot over the ball joint. I don't know if I can replace just the boot or if I have to replace the entire ball joint. I am guessing there is a better tool that the Pittman wedge for separating this joint, because I think that's how I damaged to boot.

Thank you for the exploded view of the rear suspension. Next time I do one of these repairs that I have never done before, I'm going to do a lot better homework before I begin. I know my wife will appreciate it.

Just in case I haven't mentioned it, your assistance was invaluable.

Zok

[ar38070]

I am glad that you were able to complete the job.

It also helps to heat the wheel carrier with a propane torch to facilitate the bearing insertion.

The correct tool to separate the bearings is the Porsche tool #9560. I have seen prices for this tool anywhere from $150-$400. You can however get the exact same tool from www.harborfreight.com for $89. Item number 92882:

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/disp...temnumber=92882

The tool you use is the one in the upper right of the picture. Definitely worth getting if you ever have to do this again or if you ever do any suspension work.

As you found out the pittman wedge is not the right tool for the job. I had assumed that since you had undone the track rod that you had the ball joint tool.

Now for the bad news. As far as I know you cannot replace just the ball joint. You have to replace the entire arm ($$$). However I have heard of several people who have torn the ball joint cover and successfully covered the tear with some silicon sealant. Just check it from time to time to be sure that the patch has not broken.

Out of curiosity when you took the hub out did the inner race of the bearing come with it or did the bearing stay intact?

[zokman]

When I removed the hub, the inner bearing race came with it. I had to remove it with a small puller.

I did apply silicon to the torn boot. It was the only way I could figure out how to seal the area. I am not surprised that the boot can not be purchased separately. After all, why would you want to sell a $5 part when a $900 part will do just as well.

I think I am going to buy that ball joint tool from Harbor Freight. After all the tools I have purchased for this job, 350# torque wrench, Sir Tools B-90, impact driver, wheel nut socket, misc. other small extensions, etc, why stop now.

Zok

[ar38070]

You said you did not have to use the Sirtools part J. I assume that means you had to use the hub extractor bracket (see picture) along with bolt and some of the other pieces. Correct?

Also for future reference if you do not have the service manual set, www.autoatlanta.com has a lot of the assembly drawings on line. Also you can download it from here (14MB):

http://www.autoatlanta.com/model/986catalog.html

I do not think it is 100% complete but it is better than nothing.

[zokman]

Regarding the hub extractor, Yes I used the bracket and the designated hub extractor washer, I think it is SirTools washer #14. I will check this PM and reply back if it was another number. Everything worked OK, I just did not need the 3J bracket. It wouldn't fit between the brake shoes and the hub.

Thanks for the link

Zok