Hi

On a TP Magna (1990) and probably its predecessors (TN, TM) the front hubs need to be removed to renew the wheel bearings. They mention a hub removal tool in the manual, but has anyone found one or done it without it? The danger is damaging the hub when not using a puller/removal tool designed for the job. I doubt any puller would work because the manual talks about bolting the removal tool to the steering knuckle's boltholes (from the front struts, ball joint and tie rod end, when its out of the car) and the steering knuckle is very irregularly shaped. I can't imagine any average puller being able to be affixed to it somehow, whether through leverage or a nut and bolt.

Curioso

a press is the ideal tool but I have done it another way

lever method
while the hub is on the car
you can use screwdrivers tyre levers and then a hand size crow bar

you may damage the seals using the lever method

you start off with screwdrivers and work your way up to the crow bar

there is a large circip to be removed
and the bearing race(cage) is plastic
to replace the large bearing runner(what the bearings run on inside the stub axle itself)
you can hammer it out after the circlip is removed


to get to the tn/tp wheel bearings

Front
undo cv outer nut
remove cv joint from the spline
undo brake caliper
undo brake caliper support mount bolts
remove the brake rotor


ease off the hub without damaging the dust seal
by evenly placing two levers diagonally on to the hub
wiggle side to side
use wider or thicker levers till the hub comes off



the seal will be damaged this way

with the cv nut off ..the brakes and rotor off

there is eneogh room to start with 2 strong screwdrivers or tyre levers and you put them between the stub axle and the steering assembly
diagonally egual distane at all time any where arount the hub
push towards you tight at first apply pressure and wiggle till the stub axle starts to move out
then turn the tyre levers on the flat side till the stub axle with the wheel nut bolts come off

Thanks chain rattle.

I have a 10-tonne press so do I just remove the hub and steering knuckle and press out the hub with the wheel studs on it from the back of the knuckle? Or will that get in the way of the cage, race, circlip or whatever else is in there?

Curioso

as you already worked out

you place the stub axle in the press
so the stud bolts are facing down
and press out on the hub part with the studs

I use a socket the same size diameter as that stud part

once the two parts have been seperated

you can then locate the circlip remove that
then press out the bearing race inside the large stub housing

reassemble
you carefully tap in a circle the part with the studs till it sits flush again
you could use the cv joint and outer nut to finish the job of tightening


in 2008 the bearings used to be $100 a side

Great thanks chain rattle.

At $100 a side, that begs the question, what is the major gain of having new front wheel bearings? I just paid $15 a side for rear wheel bearings so it seems a bit steep. Also, how many kms would front bearings last on average? Say 100,000?

Hopefully some cheaper supplier sells them. Obviously, you would use High Temperature Bearing Grease when you repack it.

Today I pressed a polyurethane front engine mount into its bracket - pretty easy job. Much easier than getting one out that's been in there for twenty years - you tend to distort its bracket. Going in is smooth - no direct press tube contact with the bracket is what does it.

Those front engine mounts are very easily broken, so I hope this one lasts longer than a year or two, but I have my doubts. It's a Kelpro insert - polyurethane with three compliance slots (airways). I noticed a lot more engine stability already but it just seems that the front engine mount has too much weight on it to survive longer than a year or so.

Thanks to the economic climate, I managed to get a new set of rear DBA disc rotors for only $90 (+$30 p&h) and new rear Bendix pads for $54 (+$6 p&h). Usually it's $140 and $88 respectively, not including postage.

Curioso

both my TP and TN have done over the 200000 km
I just cleaned and repacked the front bearings once
still ok

the plastic race the bearings sit in, go britlle with the heat

front and rear engine mounts
I filled the gaps up on the engine mounts with sikaflex 227
making them solid so they dont sag or crack
they lasted two years

in some states of aus members cars have been defected for using sikaflex

Did the rear engine mount crack as much as the front engine mount (assuming you reinforced both with Sikaflex)? I wonder if it is subject to the same stresses as the front one, as they are the same diameter.

You can buy polyurethane front/rear inserts with the crush tube for about $85. Then you need to press them in somewhere. Left/right inserts are also available in polyurethane - about $120 with the tool to press them in included in the kit.

A suspension guy told me not to use polyurethane engine mounts due to less give in them which transmits more of the shock to the chassis. He said to go for genuine rubber ones but Mitsubishi list them as obsolete. What do you think?

Curioso.

the rear mount was good

mine are both autos and have
the small shock absorber (it was stuffed) so the front mount took all the pressure
and broke up around the crush tube

solid polyurethane mounts have less give in them this is true

the solid poly mounts are best used in the left and right engine mounts

you can buy the front and rear rubber type mounts from
repco bursons and some super cheap and off ebay

You said that the poly bushes are better in the left and right mounts. I would have thought the polys were more useful in the front rear owing to the much smaller size of them than the left/right. The left/right mounts do not seem to crack much, while the front/rear crack all the time, so why wouldn't poly mounts be better for those?

Actually it's probably mainly the front mount that's important because as you yourself discovered, the rear mount was ok after two years - I guess you meant little to no cracks.

I mentioned to the suspension guy that I once bought a new Kelpro aftermarket rear engine mount for a TP from Repco (it included the bracket), but it broke after six months. He said that was because Kelpro and most other manufacturers use a cheaper quality rubber, and mentioned something about the rubber quality scale that determines durability and stress resilience. He said the way around it was to buy only genuine mounts, but like I said, Mitsubishi don't make them anymore. So where do you go from there?

Curioso

I buy the repco mounts then sikaflex them

if I dont sikaflex it ..they sag and break

the front mount only lasted a month ...before I started using the sikaflex

Found out that SuperCheap Auto sell Front Wheel Bearing Kits for $60 a side, but they are GBC. I got GBC for my rear wheel bearings and they didn't look too flash. But for rears, I just wanted anything but the original bearings, which I know 100% for sure are 20 years old, so out with them.

Did you ever hear much about GBC as a brand? I don't want to spend $130 on front wheel bearings if they are shoddy.

With the polyurethane engine mounts, I think if you get about 2 years out of the front one, you can't expect any more. Then just buy another insert for it and start all over again. For the sides, they get by as is, due to the much larger diameter. With a bit of Sikaflex, the rear would last years also, as its not under as much stress.

I also have a dampener shock absorber on my front mount but it doesn't seem to do a lot. I would have to question its usefulness.

Curioso

Just as a sidenote to this discussion on polyurethane vs rubber engine mounts, something that has happened recently has led me to suspect that the poly mounts do channel more vibration to the chassis than the rubber. What happened is my driver's door has started shaking internally and making a vibration-type metal-on-metal noise since I put the poly mount in. I removed the entire door trim panel today and found nothing had come loose, but that the door just vibrated more now with the stiffer synthetic mount. If I lock the door while driving, it has less chance to make any kind of rattle, but surely this increased vibrating can't be good for anything - it always leads to earlier wear and tear and part failure of some kind.

Just saw a video on changing the front wheel bearings on a 2000 GM Impala. The mechanic used an air chisel around the outsides of the hub to loosen it up so it could be hammered out. Left the driveshaft in the whole time, after removing the wheel nut with an impact wrench. The steering knuckle was left bolted to the tie rod end, ball joint and strut the whole time. Reckon this could be done on the first gen Magnas? Would the old bearings just prize out? I guess the cup or race wouldn't come out of the knuckle without being pressed out right?

yes the race is only plastic

no the main race in the large section(knuckle) is in hard

the little shock if working does stop the rolling of the motor on automatics only

If you're not getting loose hubs or bearing noise while driving, do you think its necessary to put new front wheel bearings in?

I know they should be repacked with new HTB grease every 60,000km or so, but is replacement necessary or justifiable without a detectable flaw (that is, purely on the basis of age)?

If it isn't necessary to change them, then they sure last a long time. Mine have been in for twenty years, which is why I wanted to change them in a kind of pre-emptive attack on aged parts so that they don't cause any problems in the future.

Curioso

I found no problem with just repacking the bearings
if they are still ok and the balls hold in the race
if the metal running surfaces are not pitted or damaged
they should be fine also

mine are over 200 000 km for sure

The thing is, the front wheel bearings are sealed units. You cannot grease the ball bearings individually like the rear wheel bearings. So it is probably a good idea to change them after 200,000 or so. With that, the inner race or cup should be pressed out of the knuckle at the same time and renewed. And removing the hub is no small feat. So adding it all up, the most gain to be had would be if the entire knuckle assembly was removed and the bearing unit and inner race(s) replaced using the press where needed (for the hub and metal race). This would make sure everything was new and greased, rather than using 20-year-old wheel bearings that cannot be internally greased due to being sealed units, and an inner metal race of the same age and worn state.

Because the rear wheel bearings can be thoroughly greased (not being sealed), repacking them with grease every 60,000km is a worthy task, as you would derive a much greater benefit from that than simply greasing the outside of a sealed bearing unit. This is probably why the manual doesn't mention anything about repacking the front wheel bearings with grease at any time, but rather checking for excessive free play in the wheels, which would indicate the need for a total wheel bearing renewal, with the regreasing at that time being of secondary importance.

Curioso

dont follow you there
on a TP magna
the front bearings are ball type in a plastic race
as in the picture below

so can be repacked if ok

not presealed like in other models

If you dont have a press then you would fit new bearings etc if you had to

OK I thought they were sealed units because they don't mention regreasing the fronts in the manual, only the rears. My mistake.

Obviously there's a metal cup inside the hub (within which the bearing unit spins around) that would have to be pressed out so it's easier doing it out of the car anyway.

My main concern is trying to remove the hub part without the knuckle being out of the car - it seems like it would get damaged too easily unless it was pressed out. So I'll wait until just before I need a wheel alignment (I get one a year) before I do this job.

That plastic race must get pretty distorted from all the heat after a while. Seems like a bad materials choice for that part.

Curioso