01 Oldsmobile Alero Axle Replacement Guide
That clicking noise that your front-wheel-drive car makes as you accelerate around low-speed righthand corners has been getting a little louder for weeks. One afternoon, just as you pull out of the parking lot, there's a loud banging noise and a series of crunches. Then all forward thrust drops off, punctuated by vibration and the occasional ping of tortured metal. Your CV joint has failed. THEY DON'T MAKE THEM LIKE THAT ANYMORE The wheels of your front-drive vehicle are connected to the transaxle via axles that have constant-velocity-type universal joints at each end. There is an inner and outer joint on the left and right axles.
All else being equal, the outer joints fail first because they run with the highest angularity-when the wheel is turned, the joint has to redirect the torque from the engine around a corner. The more angle, the more strain. And it's usually the right side that goes first because here in the lefthand-drive US of A, we turn sharper around righthand corners than lefthand ones. Sometimes the rubber boots covering the joints fail from age or are torn by road debris, letting the grease out and dirt and water in. As recently as 10 years ago, the repair meant removing the pertinent axle and taking out the failed CV. You'd then replace it and the boot, lubricate the new and old joint with fresh grease, reinstall and go.
Nowadays it's difficult to find a CV joint for sale at a parts store. The industry has made it standard procedure to swap in a complete new or remanufactured axle, with the boots installed and prelubricated. No mess, no fuss-which is good because the molysulfide-doped grease specified for CV joints is the blackest, nastiest, most thixotropic (you know, sticky) goop you can imagine, and it will stain your cuticles, your tools and your work clothes worse than printer's ink. You'd never get the stuff out of the washing machine. You can save some money by buying a remanufactured axle, which will be virtually as good as new.
The refurbishing process involves regrinding all the grooves in the inner and outer halves of the joint to a standard oversize, and replacing the cage and ball bearings with new oversize ones.
This automotive maintenance guide was written specifically for replacing the front wheel bearing hub assembly on a 6th generation (1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002 & 2003) General Motors Pontiac Grand Prix GTP FWD (front wheel drive) four door sedan. It also might be useful for owners of other GM brands such as Chevrolet, Buick, Oldsmobile, Cadillac, GMC, Holden, Opel, Hummer and Saturn. Specific cars or trucks that might have the same basic procedure for replacing the wheel bearing hub assembly include the Regal GS, Grand Am, Monte Carlo, Impala, Lumina, Intrigue, Cutlass Supreme, Eldorado, Riviera, Century, Monaro, GTO, G6, Bonneville, Firebird Trans Am, and the Fiero.
Basically any owner of a GM car, truck or SUV with FWD in the E-Body or W-Body chassis family should find this guide helpful. Please Note - This guide is not to be used as a replacement for a professional mechanic's education and assistance. The guide creator and this website take absolutely no responsibility for any vehicle damage or injuries. A few compatible replacement front wheel bearing hub assemblies with their part numbers are as follows:, Dura International 29513179, Precision Automotive 513121, Callahan C513179 and Raybestos 713179. Please verify the correct replacement part number for your vehicle by using the website. The correct part may vary depending on the model year, trim level and whether it has an ABS (anti-lock) braking system or not.
My brother and I had previously replaced a front wheel bearing hub assembly on my Pontiac Grand Prix GTP about a year ago. We used a 'Made In China' DynaPak brand hub that immediately caused a loud popping noise during low speed parking maneuvers. Recently the other GM OEM wheel hub began to wear out and cause a loud droning inside the car from the friction of the worn metal bearing. The sound of a wheel bearing that needs to be replaced is similar to the road noise created by low quality tires but much louder.
We researched the different wheel bearing brands online and read consumer reviews. It seemed that most people disliked the Chinese made replacement parts due to their lower quality. We removed both of the front Torque Star wheels on my 2001 Pontiac Grand Prix GTP and also took out the spare tire from the trunk. Removal of the front axle nut on GM E-Body and W-Body cars requires a.
Cv Axle Replacement
The axle nut socket wouldn't fit through the hole in my wheel where the 'Pontiac' center cap pops in so we had to use the spare tire instead. Lowering the spare tire in contact with the garage floor kept the wheel from spinning while removing the axle nut using a breaker bar. If you own an electric or air powered impact wrench, it makes this part of the procedure much easier. It's also possible to remove the axle nut without using the spare tire and lowering the car.
You can place a large screwdriver in one of the brake rotor's vanes and it will hold the wheel hub in place against the brake caliper while you remove the axle nut. While using a breaker bar to loosen the axle nut, be careful not to scratch your paint. During the upward rotation, the bar came very close to making contact with the pristine Galaxy Silver Metallic paint on my beloved Grand Prix GTP. After removing the axle nut, you can then move on to taking off the brake caliper and brake rotor.
The front brake caliper is held on by two 15mm bolts that may require a small breaker bar to loosen. We rested the brake caliper on the car's shock tower so that it wouldn't hang down and place stress on the brake lines. The next step is to slide off the brake rotor and place it out of the way. Then we popped apart the ABS (antilock braking system) wire connector that is attached to the wheel bearing hub assembly. Next the three 13mm bolts on the back of the hub can be removed, again with the help of a small breaker bar. We had rented an axle puller from the auto parts store but it was unnecessary since the old hub came off easily without much effort. The hub on the other side of the car just required a small tap with a common hammer to free it from the spindle.
Once the old wheel bearing hub assembly is removed from the drive shaft and spindle, you'll see a thin metal bracket. The old OEM GM hub pictured in the row above and below had about 73,000 miles on it before it began to make noise. I recommend buying the OEM General Motors front wheel bearing hubs since they have excellent reviews on Amazon and seem to last a long time. Now we had both front wheel bearing hub assemblies removed and were ready to go return the defective DynaPak hub and purchase some higher quality parts.
Rear Axle Replacement
I mentioned above that the Chinese made DynaPak hub was the cause of a loud thump, clank, pop or banging sound in the front end of my car during low speed turning such as in a parking lot. Since my DynaPak hub was less than a year old, we were able to return it to AutoZone, but unfortunately they didn't have any American made replacement parts in stock. We visited a few parts stores before finally buying two wheel hubs from CarQuest that were assembled in Korea but contained American made bearings. The CarQuest Korean brand hubs appeared to be of a much higher quality than the DynaPak brand and but not better than the General Motors original equipment manufacturer parts. The grand total for the two assemblies was slightly less than $400 with a one year replacement only warranty. I unpacked the new wheel bearing hub assemblies from the CarQuest boxes while my brother placed some on the car's spindles.
We guided the ABS sensor wire through past the axle and pushed the hub onto the spindle. Make sure that you don't forget to reconnect the antilock brake system at this point. Also be sure that the hub was mounted with the ABS wire at the bottom of the assembly so that it won't rub the axle boot.
Cv Axle Replacement Cost
To keep the bolts from vibrating loose, apply a small amount of high strength. Then you can line up the metal bracket, re-attach the three 13mm wheel hub bolts, put on the brake caliper with the two 15mm bolts, replace the brake rotor, and tighten the axle nut with a torque wrench. I read on a message board that the torque settings for the caliper and hub bolts was about 100 foot pounds. Finally, the wheels can go back. Use a to tighten the lug nuts to about 100 ft-lbs. I hope you found this guide useful for your wheel bearing hub assembly replacement. If you also need to replace a or perform an, click on the preceding links.
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