850 Front Wheel Bearing rplcmnt, G*%D@&$eD e14 Torx bolts!!!

[mercuric]

A lift would be magical indeed.

Seems torx was a bit of a fad in the 90s. I call BS on the no-strip thing too!

Wikipedia has an article on Torx, of course..
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torx

Rather than rely on the tool slipping out of the screw head when a torque level is reached, thereby risking damage to the driver tip, screw head and/or workpiece, the driver design achieves a desired torque consistently. The manufacturer claims this can increase tool bit life by ten times or more.

Seems the concept was more about assembly costs than anything else -- If the tool bit life is increased, the factory cost of tooling goes down, thus reducing assembly overhead costs. It's probably more about that than anything else.

Curse them!

[Matty Moo]

I found it easy to pop the entire knuckle out and the mount it on the vice and grind the head off. It took maybe an extra 15 minutes tops.



A regular hex head will fit and not interfere with the tone ring as long as it is oriented properly. I didn't have any choice as it was on a Saturday and it had to be done right then.

[noelus]

Hello,
The red part is the tone ring? Or just where the tone ring slides?
Thanks,
Noel

[abscate]

Take the whole strut assembly off and take that assembly to a garage for a "while you wait" repair

You save the reassembly time, and you stay on schedule.

When doing this job, start applying PB Blaster a week before you crack the bolts - apply daily and tap the bolts to ring them and get the penetrant into the threads.


..and never reuse the bolts - they are stretch torqued so they are single use. You don't want these loosening up.

[cn90]

I am the 3rd owner of my 1998 S70 GLT with 166K miles, but I believe the front bearings are stock.
They seem OK, no noise yet.

Question: those of you who replaced your FRONT bearings, how long did your original bearing last?
Is it at 150K, 175K, 200K etc.?

[abscate]

My 1999 driver side FWB went out at 16 years, 160k miles. It growled for about 6 months before I replaced it. I could not tell old from new once it was out or on inspection - no difference in play, noise, or corrosion. Noise was the only symptom

[erikv11]

I have still never had a front or rear bearing fail on a P80 car, knock on wood. Five cars past 175k. A good thing is they pretty much always give plenty of warning (get noisy while they can still be used). I will just wait it out.