Wheel Bearing/Hub Replacement DIY - Help

[A2andres]

My 2017 Audi Sq5 has developed a distinct hummmm that seems to be coming from the drivers side wheel. It is speed dependent and not RPM dependent and everything I have read online suggests that the bearing is going/has gone bad.

The car has 105K miles on it lowered on 034 springs with matching length Billstein shocks.

I found this great little garage in Austin that rents out bays with lifts and provides "all needed tools" (impact tools - breaker bars etc) for an hourly rate - plus the have certified mechanics on hand if you need assistance during the repair job; https://diyatx.com/

All this to say are there any specific tools, bits, nuts or bolts that would be needed to replace the wheel hub and bearing? I purchased this kit off FCPEuro;
https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/aud...-7136109700kt1

I also purchased some Liqui-Moli long life grease;
https://www.fcpeuro.com/Audi-parts/S...rds=MOL-LM2003

Does anyone have the service manual instructions for this job? I've been watching plenty of youtube DIY videos etc but I just want to be prepared as possible to complete this job myself.

Thanks in advance.

[Ur20v]

This is a very straightforward job and doesn't really take very long, either. You need a 17mm socket for the wheel bolts, a 19mm hex and a breaker bar for the axle bolt, a number 12 xzn (aka "triple square") for the bearing bolts, T25 torx for the rotor keeper, and a 21mm socket for the caliper bracket. A pocket screwdriver or mini prybar is handy for disconnecting the wheel speed sensor cable and you'll need either a 5mm hex or the earlier mentioned T25 torx to remove the sensor from the knuckle. Last but not least you'll need a 1/2" drive torque wrench to torque your caliper bracket bolts, wheel bolts, and axle bolt.

[mkQ5]

The link for the kit isn’t working for me so not sure if what you’re ordering is a wheel bearing and hub already pressed in. On my regular q5 3.0t I couldn’t find a pre-assembled kit and took the bearing and hub I got from FCP to a local shop and gave them 20 bucks to press them together for me. If the garage you’ll be using has a shop press you can do it on your own, otherwise I would plan for that. If you’re reusing the old hub you’ll need to remove the old bearing and press in the new, then you’d need a way to get to a press mid job. Also you want to be careful when pressing them together, bearing has a magnetic black strip you don’t want to damage to much.

Pretty sure the repair manual calls for removing the knuckle but on fronts you don’t need to. Long triple square sockets would help getting around the knuckle with it still on the car to get to those hub bolts. For rears pretty sure you need to remove the knuckle (but I haven’t done rears so not sure)


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[Smac770]

Assuming we're talking about a front wheel bearing,

There's no need to remove the wheel bearing housing. You'll remove the pinch bolt so you can pop out the upper control arms so you can tilt it outward to remove the axle, then you'll put the arms and bolt back into the wheel bearing housing for the time being (don't let the axle free hang; remove the wheel speed sensor before starting any of this). Then you just remove the four bolts and remove the wheel bearing from the wheel bearing housing (after you've already dismounted the caliper and removed the rotor).

There's no reason to not have the workshop manuals for your vehicle: erwin.audiusa.com, pay for a day, get all the PDFs for your VIN. This stuff will be in the "running gear", as Audi terms it, manual, aka suspension, steering, wheels.

There will be a number of "replace if loosened" bolts and nuts in doing the job. The workshop manual will detail all that in the overview diagrams.

The manual is explicit about never setting the wheel bearing down with the wheel speed sensor ring (the dark band) downward.

[Ur20v]

Assuming we're talking about a front wheel bearing,

There's no need to remove the wheel bearing housing. You'll remove the pinch bolt so you can pop out the upper control arms so you can tilt it outward to remove the axle, then you'll put the arms and bolt back into the wheel bearing housing for the time being (don't let the axle free hang; remove the wheel speed sensor before starting any of this).

No need to remove either the pinch bolt, the upper ball joints, or the axle. The heads of the bearing bolts are easily accessible with the axle in place. If your bearing assembly needs some motivation separating from the knuckle, thread the old bolts back in a few turns and give them a little tap with a punch and hammer. It should come out of the knuckle and off the end of the axle fairly easily.

[A2andres]

I appreciate everyone’s advice, I’ll be going in tomorrow to do the job, I’ll report back how it goes!


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[A2andres]

Success!

Rolled into Austin DIY Shop https://diyatx.com/ and had my car up on the lift by 9:30AM. Rolled out of the garage at 2:30PM. For those of you that said this was a simple repair, you were correct but it sure wasn't easy for me! I cannot imagine trying to do this type of repair in your driveway... The fact that most of the work is taking place behind the wheel hub makes for a tough time getting sockets, pry bars and extensions into the right place. Kudos to anyone that has tackled this on their own without access to a lift.

All that being said - it was a very straight forward and just took awhile to find the right angle of attack etc.

I will point out on thing that did not come up in any of the DIYs I read and watched online. In order to access some of the Hub bolts, I needed to turn my steering wheel either locked to the left or locked to the right more than a few times. The issue I ran into was that when the car is not running the steering wheel is locked and I couldn't turn the hub at all. I even tried to turn the hub by pushing/pulling the opposite sides tire/rim. It wouldn't budge. Now this might be from me being too careful and worried I would break something but the only way I could turn the hub was to lower the car, start it and then turn the wheel where I needed it to be for whatever Hub bolt I was trying to either loosen or tighten.

The issue with this is that we need to press our Brake pedal down in order to start the car. Well, when you press the brake pedal and you have your brake Caliper removed from the Rotor, the pistons activate and "close" the pads together. This is not something I realized happened until I tried do put the caliper back on the rotor. Luckily this garage has all the tools. so they had this ratcheting tool that slipped in between the two pads and ratcheted them open.

Oh that and as pointed out above, the FCPEuro kit does not come pre pressed - So you would need access to a press for this part of the install regardless.

Thanks again to all of you that provided the information to help with this install.

If you live in the Austin area and like to do you own repairs/upgrades, I HIGHLY recommend the DIY Shop. It was only $35 per hour for access to a lift and literally every tool you can imagine. On top of that they have certified mechanics on hand that were extremely helpful (especially when that brake pad situation took place). You can pay $129.00 per hour, in 15 minute increments for them to "take over" the repair and then tag back in when they're done helping you. The two mechanics I worked with helped me a few times but did not charge me anything at all.

[Smac770]

You only need to turn on ignition ("start the engine" without pressing the brake so just the ignition comes on) to release the electronic steering lock (ESL). Interestingly, the B9 seem to no longer have an ESL.

[A2andres]

You only need to turn on ignition ("start the engine" without pressing the brake so just the ignition comes on) to release the electronic steering lock (ESL). Interestingly, the B9 seem to no longer have an ESL.

Well, shit…. Good to know for next time!


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