Oldblue

ouch, that sucks, too bad the knuckle won't fit that bearing is a lot beefier than the stock HHR

Grizzly old man

When I replaced the front bearings and hubs I used my 3/4” drive breaker bar and socket.

I took the wheel off first but had not removed the brake rotor or caliper yet. My brother held the brake while I broke the axle nuts loose.

I realize that not everyone has a 3/4” breaker bar and that buying one might be a little cost prohibitive. The 30mm deep well impact socket for the bar was around $17.00 itself. I suppose I could have gone to Harbor Freight and bought a 1/2” drive breaker bar and socket but I was unsure if a 1/2” tool would hold up.

The breaker bar I have was my dads and is an SK Wayne tool. The new 30mm socket is a MAC so I was reasonably certain that they would hold up to the job. Little over kill maybe but that's just me.

Those axle nuts are indeed pretty tight but I did not need my piece of pipe cheater bar with the breaker bar.

After that job I did go to Harbor Freight and bought a 1/2” electric impact wrench and a set of deep well sockets to make future jobs like this easier for me.

I had them on hand along with a bearing tool from HF when we changed the bearings on the Neon. That job went quite well with the proper tools on hand.

I did have to use the big breaker bar to loosen the axle nuts on the Neon but the impact handled every thing else just fine.

While I was at HF I also bought a new 1/2” click type torque wrench. It only goes to 150 foot pounds but I figure that is close enough.

wmsburghhr

picture of the hubs from his gallery

Dewey

This is all good info, thanks!! Especially since I found out today that the warranty stopped covering this repair with the 2010 model, which is what I have.

I didn't see any links to the best prices on a hub? The local O'Reilly's has one for $115, but thought I'd check out here if you guys know of a good source. Thanks.

donbrew

Ebay.com. That's a good place to start looking for auto parts prices. Just type "HHR front hub bearing" into the EBay search box.

oatesnotes

I have a 2010 with 43k miles. Horiffic rumble above 40 mph. With the help of this thread I boldly replaced both front hub last weekend. Piece of cake! Shopped Ebay for the parts. Found a website offering TWO hubs for 76.00. Made in China but are working perfectly. Why spend more? My local Chevy dealer quoted me ~$1000.00. Thanks to all the contributors to this post!

deve

thanks op and all just did my right side and was done in 40 min... could this have been the cause for my inside tire wear???

Lucky

Only if the wheel bearing was loose. If it was just making noise it wouldn't cause tire ware.

Oldblue

loose ball joint, loose LCA rear bushing, or loose tie rod end would all be probable tire wear culprits a good alignment shop or the search tool will help you identify which one is the cause!

donbrew

Depends on how bad the bearings are. If there is a lot of end play then inside wear is possible, because that could change the camber / \. If they are not that bad then you could get a bumpy outside tread pattern, because the wheel can wobble like loose LCA or tie rod ends (continuously changing toe).

And then throw in you may have gotten an alignment with bad parts, now all bets are off.

As to the Chinese parts; I have had 2 rear bearings come out of the box with 1/4 inch end play (no hassle return). That said, I still use them because they are a third of the price, and I find no convincing evidence that they are not exactly the same. Maybe just lower grade QC. But I can replace 3 for the price of one.

Please note all of the conditionals, may, could etc.