WITH REGARDS TO THE
FRONT WHEEL BEARING HUB ASSEMBLY:
FYI #1 - You can purchase the front hub bearing assemblies from your local Auto Zone. These front hub bearings are produced & packaged by TIMKEN. These come w/ an Auto Zone Lifetime Warranty as well. Auto Zone does not stock them instore, however, they can order them and get them into the store within 1-3 business days (or you can order them directly online as well).
Auto Zone/TIMKEN
Part # 513111Price is $95.00 EACH
FYI #2 - Upon receiving and opening the TIMKEN boxes and looking over the bearings, the bearings do have "FAG" inscribed into them. The bearing manufacturer FAG is a GENUINE BMW OE manufacturer.
FYI #3 - The original E30 318 front hub bearing assemblies were SKF (I think the same holds true for the 325's).
FYI #4 - Rent the following tool kit from your local
ADVANCE AUTO PARTS:
Alltrade Tools AXLE NUT SOCKET SET, Part # 648635. Comes w/ 30mm, 32mm, 34mm & 36mm deep 1/2" drive impact sockets.
You will need the 36mm socket from this set to remove the front spindle nut. The 36mm socket in THIS SET WILL FIT inside of the hub assembly, it IS thin enough to do the job!! You can either rent or buy this kit from Advance for $49.98.
FYI #5 - If you have a slide hammer/puller - use this to remove the wheel bearing hub assembly from the front spindle. I know multiple tech articles say to reinstall the front wheel onto the old/damaged hub and shake/wiggle the wheel back and forth for getting the hub off the spindle.... However, that is a SLOW process... You can attach the "foot" of the slide hammer to the front of the old wheel hub via using (2) of the factory lugs. Screw the factory wheel lugs through the appropriate holes in the slide hammer "foot". Once you have secured the foot to the old hub, just give one quick, hard pull of the slide hammer and the entire hub assembly will slide right off the spindle with almost little to NO extraordinary effort needed! When we used this method of hub removal, the entire L & R hubs came off, no races were left stuck to the spindle.
FYI #6 - When reinstalling the NEW front hub assembly, you can use the 36mm spindle nut and the 36mm socket to start the process of pressing on the new hub assembly. Insert the new hub assembly w/ spindle nut onto the spindle, making sure that your alignment is STRAIGHT. Now, using a small 5lb sledge hammer and holding the socket/hub level on the spindle nut, tap the end of the socket firmly/squarely and this will start the process of pressing the new hub onto the spindle. Check every once in a while to make sure the spindle nut does NOT smack into the spindle threads! You just want to press on the hub until the nut touches the spindle thread (or is damn close). Remove the spindle nut, now take the 32mm socket from the above mentioned tool kit to continue pressing on the new hub further until you get enough of the spindle threads coming through the center of the new hub. The 32mm socket is the best outer diameter to fit onto the inner race of the hub for this part of the pressing process. Once you have enough of the spindle threads showing, spin on the spindle nut until it bottoms out, then using your 36mm socket & 1/2" drive ratchet, continue to turn the spindle nut UNTIL IT STOPS and you can no longer turn it. After you are at this point of securing the spindle nut, you will now need a torque wrench and need to torque the spindle nut to 200ft lbs. (follow the rest of Zoso's online installation instructions as posted in Zoso's original link above in this thread)
There are multiple replacement front hub bearing assemblies available for the E30 318 (or 325) and these are manufactured or distributed by:
RUVILLE - $144 each
SKF - $106 each
FAG - $129 each
TIMKEN - $95 each as stated above (or I've seen them as high as $170 each)
NATIONAL - $99 each
MEYLE - $143 each
BECK/ARNLEY - $225 each
NOTE: the prices above reflect the current online pricing for these parts from multiple online vendors as of 03/05/09 - these prices are mostly likely subject to change either +/- after the date of this posting...I went w/ TIMKEN front hub assembly replacements from AutoZone on my 91 318ic, only because I have used TIMKEN bearings in the past and they are excellent quality parts - never had an issue w/ TIMKEN wheel bearings, hub assemblies and/or clutch throw out bearings. I also chose to buy them from my local Auto Zone because of the Lifetime Warranty (if I ever have a problem w/ the parts, I'm logged into their system showing I bought the parts there, they would order new replacement parts and take the damaged units back with NO extra money out of my pocket [ie: basically a swap of parts] ). You cannot do this with online vendors, nor do online vendors offer Lifetime Warranties on the parts sold out of their inventory.
Hope this helps someone in the future.
Topic: DIY Wheel Bearing Replacement (Read 38719 times)