1st Gen Murano Wheel Bearing Replacement -- Step-by-step

[ti55uck5]

Originally Posted by nitely

Try jb weld if you have a clean break without sensor damage.

NO! NO!!! Superglue is the perfect material in this application! JB weld contains powdered steel and would cause a short on the joint. When the ABS sensor breaks there are 2 copper metal strips that must be aligned in order to make contact. Super glue will not cause a short after it dries, unlike jb weld which would because it is similar to steel after drying and will be conductive.


nitely:You obviously have not snapped an ABS sensor and tried to repair it, or didn't read my entire post; I was giving good advice, trying to save other members the cost of a sensor or 2 not asking for an idea that would not work!

[nitely]

You are absolutely right that I never need to deal with broken sensor or rusted underside like you. Thank god for that.

Chill dude....Your mickey mouse fix is experimental at best and driving it a few thousand miles without issues maybe be a good option to try but don't put it in stone that its the way to go. I just felt that super glue on metal does not sound like a permanent fix--temperature tolerance. And just offered jb weld as a more permanent mend. And depending how the sensor breaks using jb weld is not out of the question. Did you look here regarding its electrical conductivity? FAQs JB Weld More power to your super glued sensor and I hope it last.

[06murano]

Originally Posted by chris27

I JUST came here to post about my experience in replacing the hub/bearing assembly. It took me only 2 hours in my driveway with a minimal amount of tools. FYI I have an 04 with 55k miles but I live in a relatively dry area so there wasn't too much corrosion.

First off I ordered the part from AutoPartsWarehouse. I actually ordered a generic hub/bearing that cost only $99! Unfortunately it looks like it's no longer on the site, so the closest is the Timken brand one that's received plenty of good reviews. Came in about a week and it's was ready to be put on the car (ie already lubed up).

I'll do my own step by step that will hopefully help you out.

1. Go to auto store and buy/rent the following (you might have some of this stuff, but I needed them):
a. 32mm axle nut socket (I tried to rent but they were all out so I bought it for ~$15)
b. Replacement cotter pins (I didn't know what size so I just bought a pack that had assorted sizes ~$5)
c. CRC/Freeze out or any sort of rust/corrosion loosener. There is a whole shelf of them, I chose the cheapest. ~$4

2. Other tools you will need: A mechanics set with all of your socket sizes. The sensor is a 10mm, the brake calipers are 17mm I believe, and the 4 bolts for the bearing are something else smaller than the 17mm. Make sure you have some long bolts and an extender. You'll also need some sort of hammer, I used 2lb rubber mallet/hammer type thing, as well as a regular metal claw hammer.

3. Loosen up lug nuts, jack up car, and remove wheel. Once complete, I sprayed all visible bolts with that penetrating liquid. I waited just a couple minutes, sprayed a bit more, the went on to the following step. (2 bolts brake caliper, 4 bolts hub assembly, 1 bolt wheel sensor, and the axle nut)

4. Take the two bolts off from behind and remove the brake caliper from the rotor. I used a small bucket and sat the caliper on top of that. You don't want to let it dangle as it won't reach the ground. Push it as far as you can to the inside of the car to give you room.

5. At this point, nothing is actually holding the brake rotor on the wheel hub assembly. Some light pounding with my rubber hammer got it loose and I slid it right off.

6. Remove cotter pin with a pair of pliers.

7. Remove axle nut. It's nice to have a breaker bar on top of your ratchet to give you more leverage.

8. Remove the ABS wheel sensor from the back of the hub. If you look behind, you'll see the small wire and the 10mm nut. Luckily mine slid right out after removing the bolt. Hopefully you don't run into the corrosion issues like others.

9. Remove the 4 bolts holding the assembly in place. Even with the long extension sockets, I had to turn the wheels left and right to be able to access the top nuts because teh CV boots get in the way. No biggie though.

10. At this point there is nothing hold the assembly in place. You do have to pull it out towards you though as it's teeth are still locked into the axle. It took me about 25 minutes to finally get it out. The techniques I used were banging it from all sides with the rubber hammer. The one that worked the best is hitting it from behind on the right side (passenger side) or left side (driver side). Whatever side is closer to the front of the car because the dust shield on that side isn't in the way and there seems to be more room to swing a hammer. You do bang up the dust shield a bit but don't worry about it. Eventually you'll see it start to separate from the dust shield and just keep pounding away. Like someone else said, you won't be reusing the hub so just go for broke. I hit it so hard one of the lug bolts actually came out. SEriously, I can't stress enough, just keep pounding it, you're breaking all the corrosion and dirt away. I doubt you'll be able to break anything, except the dust shield maybe. You can also try pounding in sideways in a circle, it won't actually spin though because the car is in park, but it should loosen it up that way as well.

11. Once it's out, just slide the new part right back in it's place, line up the holes and put everything back in the order you took it out. Don't forget to put the brake rotor back on I almost forgot. I didn't bother using a torque wrench and everything seems to be fine.

The minute I started driving it was SOOOOOO much more quiet. I'd been driving for about 2 months with that horrible vibration from the front and it's soo smooth now. My car feels brand new. I saved over $200 doing it myself and I highly recommend everyone do it. Let me know if you have any questions.

__________________________________________________ ____
Just did the driver side wheel hub over the weekend. Thanks for the info! will be doing the other side this coming weekend. In addition I would add a bit to make it even easier! Before taking off the spalsh guard (dust shield), mark it in one corner so you’ll know how the thing goes back together. And yes, you’ll have to pound it flat since you will inevitably bang the thing up when hammering the hub out.
Here’s the most helpful part; I was banging on the hub from all sides with a rubber mallet for at least 20 mins. Nothing would move! Then I found this little helpful hint from youtube. Put the 2 lower hub bolts back halfway into the hub again. Then take the correct socket with just right amount of extension to wedge it on the frame of the vehicle and onto the lower bolt. Use the car’s power steering to push the hub out a little (pushing the extension against the frame). It should loosen up, then go hammering at it again, it makes things a lot easier!
Lastly, no one here mentioned how to get the hub off the spline when it was freed from the steering knuckle. Spin the axle nut back on where it can grab enough thread, and put the 32mm socket onto the nut. Start hammering on the socket inward, this will eventually push the spline in and have the hub off.
Also, to correct the original instructions, the brake caliper 2x bolts are 19mm and the 4x hub bolts are 17mm.
Good Luck!

[RayH]

No need to go crazy with a hammer or puller to remove the bearing.

Just get a bolt and matching nut that will go freely through the upper caliper mount hole (I used 19mm x 6cm), temporarily re-attach rotor and while holding the nut with wrench, turn in the bolt against the back of the rotor and it will pull the bearing out. If it doesn't come entirely free when it breaks loose, you may want to turn the rotor a bit before trying again so that it pulls out evenly. I posted a pic of the setup a few posts up.

[Carguy75]

I also had an hard time removing the press fitted wheelbearing hub assembly from the knuckle. I ended up tapping the metal dust shield back and gave each side of the hub assembly a hard whack with a hammer repeatedly until the hub assembly came off. Hit both sides of the hub while using alternating side to side whacks, then the hub assembly will come off after a several hits. Word of advice, use a 20in breaker bar to remove rusted bolts. Without a breaker bar the rusty bolts will take forever to remove, I know. It took me three hours to remove the first wheel bearing due to trying everything under the sun to remove the rusty bolts, but after I went to the parts store and bought a 20in breaker bar the bolts came off instantly. Therefore, the second wheelbearing took me only 15 min. to do. The rusty bolts was the time consumer for me. P.S. Use a metal hammer to remove the old bearing because you should not be concerned about damaging a worn bearing and you will need the impact force of a metal hammer, but use a rubber mallet to install the new hub assembly because the new bearing assembly will be damaged by a metal hammer, plus the new assembly do not have any rust so it will not need to be whacked that hard to be fitted into place.

[Muhley]

Thanks for write ups.
I did driver side yesterday, broke the sensor (damn!). BUT, my bigger worry is this:
With the old hub, the axel nut was on 1 thread past the hole where the cotter pin goes. I've replaced it with a Timken, and now my axel nut is on the shaft about a 1/4" past the hole for the cotter pin. Does that make sense?? Anyone experience that? Seems to drive fine, but don't understand it?? THanks in advance.

[RayH]

Originally Posted by Muhley

Thanks for write ups.
I did driver side yesterday, broke the sensor (damn!). BUT, my bigger worry is this:
With the old hub, the axel nut was on 1 thread past the hole where the cotter pin goes. I've replaced it with a Timken, and now my axel nut is on the shaft about a 1/4" past the hole for the cotter pin. Does that make sense?? Anyone experience that? Seems to drive fine, but don't understand it?? THanks in advance.

Possibly some variation in design between stock and Timken allowing the axle to go further into the bearing? I don't think 1/4" is significant as long as there's still enough range in the CV joints to go the full range of steering lock to lock.

[Carguy75]

Originally Posted by Muhley

Thanks for write ups.
I did driver side yesterday, broke the sensor (damn!). BUT, my bigger worry is this:
With the old hub, the axel nut was on 1 thread past the hole where the cotter pin goes. I've replaced it with a Timken, and now my axel nut is on the shaft about a 1/4" past the hole for the cotter pin. Does that make sense?? Anyone experience that? Seems to drive fine, but don't understand it?? THanks in advance.

Maybe the old hub wasn't torqued down properly or became looser over the years, and when you tighten down the new hub it is sitting properly now. You did use a torque wrench to install the new hub, right?

[Muhley]

Originally Posted by Carguy75

Maybe the old hub wasn't torqued down properly or became looser over the years, and when you tighten down the new hub it is sitting properly now. You did use a torque wrench to install the new hub, right?

Well, when I took the old one off, it was on pretty tight (needed the impact gun). I did torque the new one to about 100 lbs, and on closer review, it's more like 1/8" rather than 1/4", so I think I'm OK.

After replacing the driver side, I hardly noticed a difference in the noise (although my wife says she does). Hopefully when I do the passenger side there's a BIG improvement... I can feel the grind/vibration it in the gas pedal! It's really hard to tell which bearing is the culprit (at least for me). If after replacing the passenger side, and breaking that ABS sensor (sure to happen!), the noise is still there, I'll be out about 5 bills, and likely take it to my mechanic assuming it's the CV joint.
Thanks for all advice/replies... this is fun!

[Carguy75]

Originally Posted by Muhley

Well, when I took the old one off, it was on pretty tight (needed the impact gun). I did torque the new one to about 100 lbs, and on closer review, it's more like 1/8" rather than 1/4", so I think I'm OK.

After replacing the driver side, I hardly noticed a difference in the noise (although my wife says she does). Hopefully when I do the passenger side there's a BIG improvement... I can feel the grind/vibration it in the gas pedal! It's really hard to tell which bearing is the culprit (at least for me). If after replacing the passenger side, and breaking that ABS sensor (sure to happen!), the noise is still there, I'll be out about 5 bills, and likely take it to my mechanic assuming it's the CV joint.
Thanks for all advice/replies... this is fun!

I hope you will good after the passenger side is done. P.S. the old hub bolts could have been hard to get off due to corrosion, but not torque down to specs. Because it is hard to remove do not mean that it was installed properly from the start. I believe that nothing have been done right 100% unless I do it myself.

[Muhley]

Originally Posted by Carguy75

I hope you will good after the passenger side is done. P.S. the old hub bolts could have been hard to get off due to corrosion, but not torque down to specs. Because it is hard to remove do not mean that it was installed properly from the start. I believe that nothing have been done right 100% unless I do it myself.

SO TRUE!
FYI... finished passenger side last night... that bearing was TERRIBLE! Runs like a watch now. I can't believe how it felt like left side but turned out to be right side (mostly). Anyway, glad to to have BOTH done at 165K.
FYI... right ABS sensor was sooo seized... I put penatrating oil on the day before and let it soak... still, no chance I was getting that out without breaking it. My advice - if ABS is sev severely corroded, do the trick previously mentioned to leave sensor in and peel back metal and patiently remove hub. That worked for me, so job was done with only one broken sensor - $85 on ebay, so I'm happy!!!
Thanks again to ALL!!

[Carguy75]

Congrats. P.S. Try using PB buster next time on the rusty bolts if you have not already. It saved my rusted wheel sensors. PB buster eats through corrosion in about 5 minutes compared to WD40 which seems to take a lot longer to penetrate.

[pomerlo]

I did mine last saturday..... took me the afternoon to do both side. I almost broke driver side sensor.... I stop and decided to peel the dust cap from behind instead of tying to remove the sensor. Pushing back the new bearing when the sensor still in place was pretty easy by the way. IMO is faster using this path instead of taking the risk of breaking a $90 bucks sensor. A long flat screwdriver can be used to peel the metal. When peeling the metal cap be careful for not breaking the sensor from there. Remove wider than the sensor itself to make sure you dont pry on it. I did use some PB a few days before doing the job. I crawled under and spray the 4 bearing bolts and the sensors if you wish to remove them. While there why not spraying the 2 caliper bracket bolts. Be careful for not spraying the rotor.

Thanks to this forum for precious infos...Now my ride so smooooth !!

Here is a few pics for those who want to see how it looks when the bearing is removed.

[fuzzbutt]

I replaced my drivers side about 6 months ago. Thanks to this forum, after about an hour of fighting with the sensor, I notched out the bearing and voila, i was able o remove the hub without any issue. That gave me better access to the sensor which I was able to tap out of the hole. I cleaned it and applied anti-seize in case there is a next time. It seems to me that any bolt I ever try to remove on the 04 murano is froze. The stuff they are putting down on the roads in the winter in the northeast is killing the underside of our cars.

[biggun]

Originally Posted by Carguy75

Maybe the old hub wasn't torqued down properly or became looser over the years, and when you tighten down the new hub it is sitting properly now. You did use a torque wrench to install the new hub, right?

There is a TSB regarding that noise, which also provides a REVISED recommended torque for the axel nut (I beleive its 125 ft/lbs).

Basically, you should be greasing the axel shaft and the bearing were they seat before reassembling.