Has anybody replaced the front wheel bearings DIY?

Has anybody replaced the front wheel bearings yourself? If you have: is it doable, yay or nay? Thank you!

I've worked on all my cars: brake pads & rotors, replacing springs, struts, and shocks; installing anti-roll bars, which on a 1995 GTI VR6 required drilling through the 1/4" steel beam axle of the trailing arms suspension; taking out the dash to get to & fix the heater core; etc.

I can't find anything on how-to in here nor on the InterTube. The closest I found is a vid on replacing the front wheel bearings on a 2003-2009 Nissan Quest. At least that gives me a ballpark idea of the sizes of fasteners, the torque, the steps, etc. It all seems pretty straightforward. I can probably handle the 147 ft-lbs axle nut; just use my long lead pipe extension for the flex handle. The only parts that gave me pause is the 150 ft-lbs bolts holding the hub to the upright, which bolts have to be accessed from inboard of the upright, and getting the hub off of the axle.

[ I (still) don't see a maintenance/DIY forum in here?!! ]

I've replaced them on other vehicles, but not on my Leaf yet. I wouldn't expect there to be any issues.

Here is the relevant section from the 2011 service manual.

garsh said:

I've replaced them on other vehicles, but not on my Leaf yet. I wouldn't expect there to be any issues.

Here is the relevant section from the 2011 service manual.
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Thanks! That's very helpful, and it reminded to go Google for "2011 Nissan LEAF Service Manual"!!

Given that the quotes I'm seeing for front wheel bearings replacement run in the $500-$600 range, I'm definitely going to attempt to DIY this. I'll post an update if/when I do that.

Looks like standard Nissan suspension, so should be quite doable indeed

Based on the service diagram it looks fairly similar to the hub assembly that was on my '07 Titan. So you'll be replacing the assembly, not just the bearings. Doable for sure. Hopefully you don't live in a state with a lot of salt used on the roads. Spray the bolts holding the assemble to the spindle with some penetrant to (hopefully) make it a bit easier. A good sized hammer or sledge is often needed to encourage the assembly to come out of the spindle. There's also a trick using the bolts to force the assembly out but I don't remember the details. I did use a gear puller to help the assembly off.

When you reinstall the assembly, clean the spindle hole with sandpaper and put a light coat of anti-seize on the edge of the hole. It'll help the assembly to go back in a bit easier and should you need to remove it in another 80,000 miles it will come out easier. At least on the Titan the bearings were good for about 100,000 miles. Considering how I used my Titan I got 90,000 miles out of them and was thankful to get that much.

Good luck!

HRTKD said:

Based on the service diagram it looks fairly similar to the hub assembly that was on my '07 Titan. So you'll be replacing the assembly, not just the bearings. Doable for sure. Hopefully you don't live in a state with a lot of salt used on the roads.

Click to expand...

Thankfully, I live in Texas. I thought I'd never actually say that! . (Austin is great; it's the rest of Texas that's... challenging.) . Plus, the car only has 72K miles on it, but I drive it pretty hard in the twisties. My GTI's front wheel bearings, as well as those on my S.O.'s BMW 528i, also only lasted about that long.

HRTKD said:

Spray the bolts holding the assemble to the spindle with some penetrant to (hopefully) make it a bit easier. A good sized hammer or sledge is often needed to encourage the assembly to come out of the spindle. There's also a trick using the bolts to force the assembly out but I don't remember the details. I did use a gear puller to help the assembly off.

When you reinstall the assembly, clean the spindle hole with sandpaper and put a light coat of anti-seize on the edge of the hole. It'll help the assembly to go back in a bit easier and should you need to remove it in another 80,000 miles it will come out easier. At least on the Titan the bearings were good for about 100,000 miles. Considering how I used my Titan I got 90,000 miles out of them and was thankful to get that much.

Good luck!

Click to expand...

Thanks for the tips! I've been wondering if I should get a gear puller. Which type/size/brand gear puller did you use, do you remember?

aqn said:

Thanks for the tips! I've been wondering if I should get a gear puller. Which type/size/brand gear puller did you use, do you remember?

Click to expand...

Someone gave me the one I have. I don't think it's anything special. It has three legs/arms on it. Go to your local auto parts store and borrow one from them.

I had two bearing replacement job done in my 2017 Nissan Leaf SV. Both of them covered under warranty.
The first case happened when I made a sharp right turn and went over the curve side walk that impacted my pasenger side bearing to get damage. You may think that this is the owner's fault; but, it is also related to the design of the vehicle that has a thin performance tire that absorbs little the impact from the road. This is why you will see a lot of leaf owners experiencing almost all with wheel bearing replacement.
I know this is design-related issue. To prevent future wheel bearing damages, I ended up replacing the tires 215/50/R17 to 215/55/R17 when my old tires gave up. This adds 0.5 inches to your tire thickness and makes it safer for wheel bearing or to absorb more shocks.