Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting Front Wheel bearing replacement

1998 Contour Zetec front wheel bearings. Anybody ever do it themselves? Special tools needed? Help.

Chris in Buffalo, NY

I just did these this last weekend. You can get the hubs off in your driveway but you'll have to take them to the machine shop to get the bearings removed and installed in them. If you don't know which one to replace, the book says if it growls when you turn left, replace the right wheel bearing and vice versa. I just replaced them both because I'm over 118,000 miles.

To get the hub off:
Remove the wheel (duh)
Remove the brakes, bracket and rotor
Remove the ABS sensor and clip
Unbolt the Tie Rod End and knock it out
Unbolt the lower ball joint, pull the A Arm down to get it out
Remove the CV axle nut (mine was 32mm)
Unbolt the strut to hub bolt
Pound out the CV axle...the hub should slide off the strut

This would be a good time to do your brakes if they need it. It'll take the machine shop an hour or two to do the bearings, so you'll have time. Good luck!

It's best that you have a press to remove and reinstall the bearings, once the knuckle/hub assembly has been removed from the car. It can be done without a press (I've done it), but a press is highly recommended. Other than that, the main obstacle is having to deal with removal and reinstallation of the knuckle/hub assembly from the struts and ball joints. You'll need a 32 mm socket to remove the nut from the end of the driveaxle, and a long ratchet to enable you to apply a lot of torque (I think around 200-250 lbs) when you re-install the nut on the axle.