[chris81276]

I need to replace the left front wheel bearing on my 84 Turbo Z. Do I have to take it to a mechanic to have the bearings pressed out and in or is there a complete assembly I can buy to do this myself?

 

[charger R/T]

84 should be press in. If you have a press you can do it yourself. Machine shop might be cheaper to press the bearings out and in if you don't have one. Take the arm off and run it over. Some just go to a yard and grab an arm. If I had one that old I might grab an arm to press a new bearing into ahead of time then just swap it when ready.
Tim

 

[detobias]

back when I had GLH's and drove them hard, wheel bearing replacement was an annual affair

the cheapest way to do it is to pull the whole strut with the hub... pretty easy:

remove wheel/tire, large (22mm ?) axle nut (may need to have a friend stand on the brakes to keep the axle from turning); brake caliper & rotor; then seperate outer tie rod end from knuckle; remove lower control arm (LCA) bolt and pry lower A-arm down away from LCA; remove 3 bolts holding top of strut to strut tower; remove strut/spring/hub assembly being careful not to pull on the halfshaft (leave halfshaft in trans so the fluid doesnt spill out)

take the whole assembly to a *good* parts store ; they should be able to press out your old bearing and press in a new one.. they usually charge 15-25$ for this

reverse process to re-install

I am skeptical about the shops that do this job on the car using those large threaded bearing removal/replacement tools because I don't think they seat the bearing as thoroughly as a good hydraulic press (my opinion based on my experience)

 

[chris81276]

Thanks for the tips guys. I think I might just go to the junkyard and see if I can find one there, pull it, and have the new bearings installed in that. Then I can swap when I have the time. Thanks again.

 

[detobias]

the only downside to that plan is you will have to get your front end aligned after the install

if you need a front end alignment already - fine

but if your front end is OK then if you do it my way, you never touch the alignment cam bolts