Turbo Brake Upgrade – Wheel Carriers and Bearings

Hi all,

Well as I mentioned I decided to replace the wheel bearings before I go about replacing the wheel carriers on my C2 with the Turbo ones.  However, the PIA thing about doing the job is getting it done 100% correctly and that involves special tools and heating them just right.

Although I’m not scared of doing the job, I do lack a torch and some of the puller tools handy so I’m going to pass this one off to a local independent shop I use called Scan Automotive.  They’ve done great work on my car in the past for things I couldn’t handle so I’m sure they will get these just right as well.

For anyone that is looking to do this, there was a DIY posted on Renntech that I’ll put up here for the sake of having all the information in one place.  This is a bit of a risky DIY, so please take it as information purposes only.

Cheers
Aaron

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Now let me say that this job was quite straightfoward, BUT I would suggest that you have a bit of experience in bearing fittting as well as presswork or you may really mess things up in a big way. You also need a ball joint service puller set, and yes you need ALL the tools in the kit.

I got mine from OTC/ msc industrial supply cat #78453842. You will also need a way to make some mandrels for pressing the bearings in and out. And a way to heat the carrier to around 150 degrees.

Now for the fun

1) jack up car and place on jackstands, remove front wheels
2) remove front plastic underpanel
3) have someone hold the brakes (hard) and remove the front large (1.25″) axel nut, this is TIGHT 340 ft.lbs. so get ready for a fight.

4) with a brass or aluminium mandrel and a hammer tap, (ok smack), the drive shaft to dislodge it from the splines of the hub (don’t mess up the threads!!!)
5)Remove the brake pads and the brake caliper (hex drive) tie it up in the wheel well out of the way
6)Remove the psm sensor, move it to the side (2 10mm nuts)

7)unbolt lower sway bar link
8)unbolt headlight sensor link
9)Remove the brake rotor
10) Remove tin brake shield (10mm bolts)
11) remove 18mm nut and press apart tie rod link with the tool

12) remove the 18mm nut and carefully use the tool to press apart the lower ball joint

13) Unbolt the clamp on the strut, then while pressing down on the lower arm slide the carrier off the strut and the front axel (gt2 remove axel-bearing retainer) and take to the bench

14) Now from the rear side carefully press the center hub out of the bearing, It will come apart with 1/2 the bearing attached to the center hub, it is TIGHT
and will take a bit of force to remove it. Be careful NOT to hurt the carrier as it is $$$ if you break it

15) With a puller remove the center race(the part that was left on the shaft) from the hub, set aside

16) take off the 4- 13mm bolts and remove the bearing retainer plate from the carrier
17) HEAT (and DO NOT skip this step) the carrier to 100 deg,F and with a mandrel press/drive out the bearing from the carrier, again BE CAREFUL when suporting the carrier!!!!
18) Clean all parts.

19) Now the bearing is about a .0035 PRESS fit in the carrier, you CANNOT just press it in cold, you MUST heat the carrier to get it in, there are 2 methods to do this

• heat carrier to 100 deg F and using a mandrell that touches only the outer part of the bearing press in the new bearing

• set a inside micrometer to .004 over the bearing size, then heat the carrier to around 150 deg F, at this point check size with the mike to make SURE the carrier is over the size of the bearing and drop the bearing into the carrier, it will slip right in with no force at all, HOWEVER if you goof up and it sticks 1/2 way you are screwed.

20) Replace the bearing retainer plate with the 4 bolts, if yours has it the small notch goes to the bottom, its a water drain, torque the bolts, 27 ft lbs
21) Very carefully suporting the inner bearing race only,press in the wheel hub to the stop, be careful not to hurt your new bearing. WATCH what you press on!!!!!
22) assemble in reverse order, center 1.25 nut torques to 340 ft,lbs.
23) make sure to torque all bolts/nut to the correct values and double check all bolts.nuts before driving

As you can see this bearing was SHOT, 26,000 miles and sounded like road noise, it did not respond to any tests like a bad bearing at all, so check your bearings!!! Thanks to Jeremy at Imagine Auto for the quick service and the tips, you guys are great !!

Good luck !! Do this repair at your own risk, this diy is just provided as a general guide.

Putting a 996/986/997/987 on Jackstands – First Place to Start

Hi everyone,

First off, I did not write these directions and the information and images below were taken from Renntech.org and put here for the purposes of supplying a single point of information.  The first thing I need to do is tackle the brake and suspension projects on the list so I need to get the car fully on stands… this is where it begins.

Cheers
Aaron

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One of the questions that comes up frequently is what is the best and safest way to put your 996/986/997/987 up on jack stands. The chassis and jack points are the same for all models, and lifting the car up off of all 4 wheels is easy. Here is a little DIY instruction on how I do it.

The 4 lift points as described in your owners manual are where you support the car with Jackstands. Here is the jack stand that I use. Any Jack stand with at least a two to three ton rating will do.

First, you put the front jackstands on by lifting the car from the rear lift point. Using a standard hydraulic jack, lift the car up on one side so that both wheels are off the ground, and the front is high enough to clear the jack stand.

Here is the front lift point.

After you have one jack stand placed, lower the jack, and do the other side. The car is so stiff, that the other sides front wheel will come up off of the ground. Other side is just like the first.

Note the orientation of the lift points and how the jackstands are arranged.

Next you have to lift the rear. There are 2 places that mechanics use as a lift point for the rear. One is the rear sub-frame cross member that is below the engine and the transmission, and the other is on the rear engine case just behind the oil sump cover. I prefer lifting from the engine case because my jack does not clear the engine oil sump to reach the crossmember.

There is a large metal stub that is cast into the engine case. That is where you lift, making sure that your jack does not contact the oil sump cover casting. Center the jack on the engine or on the subframe and lift the car high enough to put the remaining stands on the 2 rear lift points.

And with that you are done.

Just take your time and make sure that each jackstand is centered and aligned properly on the lift points and you will have no problems.

One last thing, it is to your advantage to break the torque on all of the lug nuts before your lift the car up off of the ground. Also when you are lifting the car, make sure it is on a level surface, and the car is in neutral and the parking brake is off so the car can pivot on its wheels as it is lifted.

Lowering the car is the opposite of the above. Once you get the hang of this, you can have your car up in the air in under 5 minutes.

ADDITIONAL DETAIL

Look under your engine, and find the oil sump cover. That is the big square plate that is held in with several bolts around its edges. It has a hex head bolt in the center of it which is the oil drain.

Now, looking toward the back of the car just behind the oil sump cover in the center of the engine case centerline there is an area where the case is very sturdy looking. That is where you place the jack. Notice that it is centered on the sturdy area, and not touching the sump cover.
If you are still unsure, just look at the centerline seam of the engine case behind the sump cover, find the thickest portion of the case just behind the sump cover, and put your jack there.

For the Saddle type floor stands, I place the front ones on the square part of the car’s lift point, with the saddle pointing left and right. By placing the saddle left/right on the lifting point, the car will pivot on the saddle as the car is lifted from behind.

The rear floor stand is positioned up/down on the round part of the rear lift point of the car. With the jack stands oriented this way, they lock the car in place, and make it very hard to inadvertently push the car off of the stands if someone leans on the car, or it gets bumped.