Wheel bearings repair

Maintenance/Repairs
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1

I have an '01 S10 Blazer. The wheel bearings on the front driver side tire are bad and since replacing the transmission/heater core in just the past couple of months i’m not really in a financial position to go to a shop. I was wondering how hard it is to replace and can I do it myself? Any suggestions are appreciated.

2

Changing the front bearings in a modern 4wd vehicle can be a bit tricky…At least invest in a shop manual. Pretty sure you will have to pull the half-shaft out of the hub first…

3

I had bad front wheel bearings on my 2000 Blazer 4wd. The entire hub assembly has to be replaced, the bearings are not serviceable. Labor was about $50 a side, but a reman. hub was ~$350 each by my local mechanic. A dealer would be considerably more.

Autozone has a repair guide for the Blazer. There are two repair guides, one for 99 and older Blazers and one for 2000 and newer Blazers and the replacement Trailblazer. I check both when I’m working on my Blazer.

http://www.autozone.com/autozone/repairinfo/repairguide/repairGuideContent.jsp?chapterTitle=Suspension&partName=Steering+%26+Suspension&pageId=0996b43f8036f6f3&subChapterTitle=Wheel+Hub++%26amp%3B++Bearings&partId=0996b43f8036f5e0

Autozone prices for a hub assembly range from $100 to $150. I’m not sure if they are ABS equipped or not.

Good luck,

Ed B.

4

Thanks so much. I do have several manuals somewhere but will see about getting some pricing. I eally appreciate all your help!

5

The best you can hope for I think is that the old bearings have to be pressed out and the new ones pressed in. I’m pretty sure that can’t be done without special tools although it is just barely possible that if you are very, very clever that you can somehow use the weight of the car or some other brute force technique to force the bearing out.

Here’s a set of instructions, but they don’t seem to specify what model year they are discussing.

http://www.ehow.com/how_4928065_replace-hub-bearing-chevy-blazer.html

Good Luck