What am I doing wrong in installing rear wheel bearing? UPDATE

Thank you for clearing that up, your OP only said hub bearing…lol

EDIT: Do you have ABS brakes??

Verify that it is the rear hub please. None of the information provided above can be validated without this information.

If the part you want to remove is the first picture in @davesmopar reply above, the best way to remove it is to put at least two opposing bolts back in. Snug them down finger tight, then back off exactly one turn. Use a big hammer and what ever you have around to transfer the energy of the hammer to the bolt and alternately hit the heads of the bolts until both are snug again.

This limits the amount that the hub will come out on each side and makes sure it doesn’t get cocked to one side where it will never come out. When both have bottomed out, verify both bolts are equally snug, then back them out another turn and hammer on the heads again. Repeat till the hub is removed.

It will be tempting to back out the bolts two turns after a couple of rounds, resist that temptation because if the hub gets cocked, then it wont come out.

If you have already cocked it, then just put all four bolts in and tighten them down until the hub is snug against the knuckle and then follow the procedure above.

The spindle is damaged.

The spindle is in the rear, axle shaft in the front.

I figured that out after my initial post, so I went back and changed it. I had to replace the rear hubs on my Subaru not long ago, it has a splined axle hole where the spindle is in @davesmopar’s post, but my procedure works for both.

Before I did the hubs, I watched a lot of YouTube videos and in everyone, the people who made the videos did a lot of damage to the knuckles and axles etc before they got the hub out. They also recorded that it took several hours. I did it my way and it took about a half hour per hub, not counting jacking up the car and removing the wheels. Just the R&R of the hub assembly. Probably two hours total from parking to test drive.

But it does help if the person asking for help would just answer the questions first and not leave us guessing.

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Keith it’s the rear spindle shaft that holds the bearing and drum. They are drum brakes in the back no calipers of course. But right now because I’m having trouble getting those off I’m having a roving mechanic come to my house in November and do it. So I will revisit this at some point if I have other problems. Thank you

That seems like a sensible idea. A few years ago I did a “removing-stuck-fasteners” experiment, starting with an old 1/2 galvanized iron pipe I found that was rusted fast to a fitting for many years. I had perfect access, the whole thing was held in my bench vise, tried propane torch map/o2 torch, thread penetrant soaking for an entire week, various wrenches w/cheater bars, none of my diy’er methods would break the rust bond and allow disassembling the pipe from the fitting. The pro-mechanics here said I’d probably would have to use an oxy-acetylene torch to have any chance.

Next time you face that sort of problem, try carefully splitting the side of the nut w/a Dremmel tool & cutoff disc, then just pry it off. Less chance of damaging the threads. There’s a tool available called a nut-splitter that might work too.

If you have ABS brakes (you refuse to answer for some reason lol), then I hope you read my post about the ABS tone ring…
Good luck…

I did not see all these specific questions you and another ask at some point. Yes I do have abs. But since I bought the car about 6 years ago the ABS light was always on so I just never bothered to do anything. Back in the day all my cars never had ABS because there wasn’t any. I have no problem driving the car when stopping ever. Also when we had a car in a past that did have abs I didn’t like it when I was sliding on some snow I hated that vibration feeling when the ABS kicked in. It vibrated the steering wheel and everything wasn’t used to that ever.

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I think in some states, the DMV won’t allow the car to be re-registered if the ABS warning light is on. I’m presuming the OP doesn’t live in any of those states. I’ve owned 4 cars over the years, and none of them were ABS equipped. Yet somehow I remain alive … lol …

I think four wheel ABS is pushed by the insurance industry, mostly to reduce minor rear end collisions and reduce insurance payouts. It’s not to save your life. ABS without ESC can actually make losing control of the vehicle at high speed and a serious accident more likely.

Prove it, I can’t see why.

I don’t think it’s even worth arguing with @TheWonderful90s

I just read his comments and move on

I debated doing that, but someone might take his post seriously and mess with their ABS.

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Often when the ABS light comes on, it is due to a bad wheel bearing. The clearances for the ABS sensors are very close so a wobbly wheel bearing, one that you might not even feel wobble, will cause the tone ring to get damaged.

I did a little checking and it looks like you have to remove the rear shocks to get the spindle hub off, but my procedure above will work and it is easy. BTW, you may not need to remove the whole shock, just undo the bottom and swing it out of the way. In fact, because it doesn’t appear to inset into the axle, just remove the bolts and it will fall into your hands.

Have you gotten the brake drum off yet?

ABS just adds a unnecessary level of complexity. It also adds cost. Does it help slow you down more on slippery occasions? Sure. But just don’t slip.

Well I’m not bragging but I’m kind of bragging I was driving for 50 years now never had an accident! ABS or no ABS cars lol. I also wanted to mention too on that Focus that that anti-skid icon is lit up as well with the ABS. It’s been like that since I had the car 6 years ago and the brakes were perfect and no problems. I just wish this wheel bearing never went. Yeah there is a ABS sensor on that drum spindle as well but I noticed the wire going to it was cut. That probably happened before I bought the car LOL.

I expect you already know this, but those warning lights might be caused by the same problem.

Yeah I figured that too. Thank you