I finally got around to replacing my front hubs. They were still feeling just fine, but at 220k+ miles I was hearing a noise that sounded like wheel bearings, so I replaced them. Sadly, the noise persists, so it must be the rear hubs. I have those too, and I'll be replacing them this week as well. But, for all those who were wondering - It is not possible to rebuild these hubs. the axle is swaged onto the wheel speed magnet/bearing assembly, so you would need to cut the end off the axle just to get to the bearings. At that point, you'd need a new axle and a very large press to swage the new axle into the assembly. In terms of manufacturing, this is pretty trivial, but for the home wrench, or even a well tooled professional, this is not at all worth the effort.

Also - take note of the L and R on the wheel speed sensors when you install the new hubs. I guarantee your dash will light up like a Christmas tree within a few miles of departing if you get this wrong. The only good news here is everything is fresh and clean, so swapping left to right isn't too terribly difficult and doesn't take a lot of time, but it's always better to get it right the first time. I trusted the label on the boxes much to my disappointment.

Another important thing - you would be wise to replace the bolts holding the hub on the upright, and you would be wise to buy new lug nuts if there is even the smallest amount of corrosion in them. About half of my lugs would not spin down to the hat on the brake disc with just fingers. Some were great, but a few of them were 4 to 5 turns away from seated. This means when you are torquing the lug nuts, they're giving false readings because the threads are binding. New hubs have new studs. New studs with new lug nuts spin down to the hat like butter, so you can trust the torque applied to them is accurate.

Note the R on this sensor. It will not work if it is installed on the left.

Important to note the R on this wheel speed sensor and put it on the right side where it will work.


Axle end is swaged over the speed sensor ring. There is no economical way to rebuild this part.


I would never run these again. They're in the bolt bucket in case I need a pin for something, but they will never see service in the IS F again.

 

Thank you!

 

Please do a write up of how you do the rears and any gotchyas; this was very interesting and useful for the fronts

 

I'm hoping to enlist the aid of my 10 year old to make a YouTube video of this. I'll do one side just to figure it all out, then have him video the other side once I've got through all the gotchas first. The procedure in the manual is a little daunting because they have you remove the entire knuckle. I will likely do that but not because I think it's necessary, but because I am installing all new suspension links from Figs Engineering - no more rubber bushings - so the knuckles will come off no matter what.

The service manual for the MkIV Supra also tells the mechanic to remove the knuckles to replace the rear wheel bearings. This is entirely unnecessary, and the whole job can be completed with the knuckle in place using a puller, some all-thread, and big sockets. I suspect something similar with the IS, especially considering they have you remove the dust shield from the knuckle, but there doesn't appear to be a need for this from what I can tell right now. Update to follow, hopefully with video.

 

I went and bought new oem front wheel bearings/hubs and bolts - after lowering and aligning I am hearing a constant roar/noise from the front left at 50+mph that then slows down with braking, but the noise does not change when I move the wheel from left to right.

Its either the tire or the hubs or both, but I figure with 76k on my car and how hard I drive it - it doesn't hurt to replace them first before the front tires.

I bought a slide hammer in case the front hubs give me any issues - and was going to put the new hub/bearings in the freezer the night before to shrink them.

 

I used a regular ball peen 2 lb hammer to get them off since they're being retired anyway. But I don't have nearly the corrosion problem you have in Illinois. I cleaned up the whole knuckle with a red Scotchbrite ball on my die grinder. It actually looks pretty sweet now. But for sure the corrosion between the knuckle and the hub can be a real beast to overcome.

 

Ok folks.

If your IS-F has the original hubs in it, and its from a state where they use salt, and you drive it year round - TAKE IT TO THE DEALERSHIP OR A MECHANIC SHOP.

My slide hammer and pb blaster laughed at it and said "aww that tickles."

Just going to drop it off in the morning at the dealership and be done with it.

 

You just need a bigger hammer! I wouldn't try this with a slide hammer unless it was at least 5 pounds (2kg), and where you live, I'd be heating up the aluminum before hitting it with the hammer. Keep in mind, destroying the old hubs isn't a big deal. They're being replaced. The only thing that matters is getting the old parts out and cleaning up the bore with something really effective. I was able to clean up mine with red Scotchbrite ***** using a mandrel on my die grinder. It polished up the aluminum pretty nicely too.

 

The tech at the dealership laughed when I told him I used a slide hammer, he said he had to heat everything up with a torch, then smash them out from behind with a sledgehammer and they still didn't want to move, more heat and more sledgehammer until they finally gave out.

He told me no way was I doing this in my garage on the floor.

Unfortunately, after new front wheel bearings the noise persists - mechanic drove it and said it sounds like tire noise, but doing the bearings was a good call anyways.

I figured id do bearings first because they are critical, versus if its tire noise i'll let it ride out until time to replace the front tires.

 

Yikes. I'm not looking forward to this in a few years. How many hours of labor did they charge for this? I'm still going to give it a shot, though as I've been undefeated in the realm of wheel bearings and suspensions the past few decades. But...that was before I moved to Illinois.....

 

I did a front hub a few weeks ago. Found it pretty straightforward, the hard part was getting the hub out after everything on the backside was unbolted. I read somewhere to throw a wheel back on and tighten the lugs about halfway, then give the top of the tire a good yank (gives you momentum so when the lug nuts catch, the whole thing pops out). I ended up using my spare as I didn't want to damage my OEM wheels; two yanks, and the hub popped straight out, no hammering required.

 

two hours I think?

It was about 450 in labor.

I guess if you could get the knuckles for cheap you could just replace them as well, and the labor you could do in your garage...would be about the same cost.

 

Smart idea! I didn't think of that

 

Hi there, was wondering if you had any success with the rears and your thoughts on that dust deflector and whether it is indeed easier to pull the knuckle or ok in situ?

 

I recently did all hub bearings on mine. The rear dust deflectors were a pain to re install even with the knuckles off the car. It helps to flare out the leading edge all around to get them to start around where they fit on the bearings. You also won't be able to tap on them evenly with the halfshafts in place. They'll come off as you pull the hub bearings out, putting them back in will be challenging for sure with knuckles on the car, not to mention making sure the holes for the speed sensor line up. Just my opinion of course!