Well, it was that time by the ODO to replace/repack the bearings. I chose to replace, it was about $200 for new bearings and seals - cheap insurance for something like this. With planetisuzoo's how-to guide (http://www.planetisuzoo.com/articles...earing_Repack), the shop manual and a bit of courage - I took the fun on. yay.

I'm not after a how-to guide here, but a few pics of the guts to our hub and some of the fun I had along the way.

Since I had to replace the rear rotors, I got front discs too and no better time to replace the front discs than when you're repacking the bearings. The replacement pretty much is the same work load as repacking, instead of playing with getting the old grease out of the bearings you're going to re-use, you are tapping out the raceways and tapping in new ones. I STRONGLY RECOMMEND YOU RENT/BUY A BEARING INSTALL TOOL (metal discs and threaded rod). Tapping in the new raceway in is slow and grueling with a brass draft and hammer , with the bearing tool it only takes 30 seconds to put the new raceways in .

So here's a few shots of the guts of your hub.



As everyone kept saying, those philips screws on the retaining ring strip easily. How true! I used one of those impact drivers you hit with a hammer to turn them out - worked like a charm.

Instead of the hub nut tool, I just used a screw driver and hammer to tap the hub nut on and off. Worked ok for me - it's not on that tight anyhow (or it shouldn't be - else you'll probably be getting 5 MPG if it's super tight .)




Man, the drivers side grease was pretty discolored rusty red - something got past the oil seal.

Wasn't too hard to pop out the old raceways if you line up with the notches in the hub. Putting the new ones back was easy as pie with the bearing tool .






When replacing the discs, there's a few extra steps; Taking off the ABS reluctor ring (tough 6mm hex bolts!) and popping the hub out.

The hubs come out easily if you support the disc on some wood blocks and use another on the back of the hub. After a few hits, it pops out.




Since I'm too cheap to buy a packer tool , and I wasn't planning to repack the old bearings, I did it manually - Messy, but fairly simple.




When putting back on the hub flange and cap, it was recommend to put on a bead of RTV silicone gasket (Room Temperature Vulcanizing). Read instructions, they vary. Bead is on the cap here.




A before and after with the new SP Performance drilled ans slotted discs and EBC Green Stuff (6000 Series) Pads [Both from Tone].



I was thinking of making it a sport to see how far the oil seal would fly when you pop it out with the puller tool - Advice: put a rag over it so it won't fly. BETTER ADVICE: USE A SEAL INSTALLER DISC LARGER THAN THE OPENING WHEN INSTALLING THE NEW SEAL, if not it could be tapped into the inner bearing if you tap it in too far.




And finally, my joy with those #$%#'n snap rings on the ends. After putting it all back together and doing all the proper procedures to BOTH sides, the snap rings would not go into the slot along the splines!!!! @$%@#$! It was sooooo close - see if you can make it out in the pic here - it's literally a few hairs off.


The raceways and bearings are fully seated, the hub nut was loosened and un-loosened over and over (12 times) to compress and spread the grease around. Pre-loading is ~5 - 5.5 lbs both ways.



It is all one piece from the back face of the hub to the front face of the flange - the new disc shouldn't matter, and I was careful to put a very thin RTV layer on the hub flange. Anyways, I had to shave a few mils off the back of the snap rings and not install the shims to get them to lock into the grooves.

Now, who is going to freak the $H!^ out of me and tell me that this is an issue??
Pre-loading is still good and there is no excessive play in the wheel when jacked up and tugged top and bottom. Driving is very smooth when loading (turning) the front tires, etc... All indications are that the hub assembly is tight. The only thing I can think of is the RTV layer is too thick on the hub flange, even though the flange looks tight to the hub. ......

Oh well, what the worst that could happen

Plan for about 4-5 hours to repack the bearings if you have talent. If not, it could take you 10 hours. It took me 7.5 hours on the first side with the learning curve and playing with that stupid snap ring. The other side took me 3.5 hours without so much dikin' around. I was longer as I was replacing my discs and pads and rotating tires too.

Cheers all.