Front Wheel Bearing Replacement

Here's some good repair guides for your Tercel :) Look here for help first!
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MorToy
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Posts: 49
Joined: Wed Aug 04, 2010 2:47 pm
My tercel:: 1983 4WD Wagon.. Added Inclinometer
Location: Eugene, OR

Re: Front Wheel Bearing Replacement

Post by MorToy »

Hey sdoan,

I am installing the bearings without any major trouble when I hit the FSM note: "Do not interchange the inner and outer races when installing" in Step 4. I assumed the Koyo bearing (I'm installing the one you pictured) was symetrical and did not matter how you installed it so I did not pay attention when I pressed in the races. I measured the inner-inner and inner-outer races and they sure seem the same to me. Is there a true inner-inner and inner-outer and should the lettering on the outer race face out or in. Does any of this matter? Thanks!
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Mad_Marx
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Posts: 429
Joined: Fri May 22, 2009 8:52 am
My tercel:: 1986DLX (K.I.A. by a Texting Driver, currently being uses as a parts car) 1986 SR5 AC, Cruise, Sunroof a.k.a. TERC II Electric Boogaloo (restoration in progress). 1984 SR5
Location: Boise, ID

Re: Front Wheel Bearing Replacement

Post by Mad_Marx »

Hey, thanks for posting this. About to do this on Terc II, your pictures and info are very helpful!
PapaKilo
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Posts: 2
Joined: Tue May 08, 2012 3:16 pm
My tercel:: 1985

Re: Front Wheel Bearing Replacement

Post by PapaKilo »

Thank you for posting such well lit photographs with detailed commentary. I feel much better about tackling this job myself now. I am replacing front half shafts, wheel bearings, rotors and brakes. After 333,000 miles they are overdue.
PapaKilo
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Posts: 2
Joined: Tue May 08, 2012 3:16 pm
My tercel:: 1985

Re: Front Wheel Bearing Replacement

Post by PapaKilo »

Thank you again for the great photos and descriptions. I was able to replace my wheel bearings with much more confidence thanks to your posting. Also, I was able to complete the work without removing the dust shield and I did not find it necessary to heat the races to install them.

After paying $40 for a shop to press one bearing on another car a few years ago, I bought a 12 ton press from Harbor Freight for about $100 when it went on sale and used a 20% off coupon too. It certainly paid off on this job!
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garyfish
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Posts: 889
Joined: Sat Nov 19, 2005 4:22 pm
My tercel:: 1985 Tercel SR5, stock; 1987 T4WD DLX wagon, manual tranny
Location: North Coastal California

Re: Front Wheel Bearing Replacement

Post by garyfish »

What happened to the photos in the original post?

None of the images are showing up for me. :cry:
1985 Tercel SR5 4WD wagon, 300K
1987 Tercel DLX 4WD wagon, 6-speed manual, 274K -- got this one running Jan. 2015 (had been sitting for 2 years); this has been my daily driver since 2016
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ARCHINSTL
Goldie Forever
Posts: 6369
Joined: Sat Apr 30, 2005 1:52 pm
My tercel:: Goldie is a 1986 SR5 attualmente con Weber/also owned the first T4WD in STL in late '82
Location: Kirkwood, a 'burb of St. Louis

Re: Front Wheel Bearing Replacement

Post by ARCHINSTL »

I tried to edit sdoan's post to make the pix show up - to no avail
Perhaps they went through our site and were lost in the switch of servers a while back? I'm pretty sure they were not via Photobucket or from his own 'puter.
What the OP revealed:
[img]_ followed by
http://tercel4wd.com/upload/files/284_p ... G_7126.jpg
_ followed by_[/img]
Neu?
Tom M.

P.S. Sorry for the cumbersome way of stating the link; a direct copy and paste resulted in another of those little boxes with an "X" in it.
T4WD augury?
"Oh, do not ask, 'What is it?' Let us go and make our visit."
T.S. Eliot - "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"
"Now and then we had a hope that, if we lived and were good, God would permit us to be pirates."
Mark Twain
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ARCHINSTL
Goldie Forever
Posts: 6369
Joined: Sat Apr 30, 2005 1:52 pm
My tercel:: Goldie is a 1986 SR5 attualmente con Weber/also owned the first T4WD in STL in late '82
Location: Kirkwood, a 'burb of St. Louis

Re: Front Wheel Bearing Replacement

Post by ARCHINSTL »

Addendum to above post...
I listed the (cumbersomely-written) link to see if anyone could make sense out of it; I should have mentioned that.
I tried what I could think of to get them to pop up, but I ain't no 'puter maven.
That which I listed was just the first to his series of photos.
Tom M.
T4WD augury?
"Oh, do not ask, 'What is it?' Let us go and make our visit."
T.S. Eliot - "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"
"Now and then we had a hope that, if we lived and were good, God would permit us to be pirates."
Mark Twain
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sdoan
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Posts: 392
Joined: Sat Jun 23, 2007 2:02 pm
My tercel:: 1983 Tercel 4wd DLX 2nd owner (sold), 1984 SR5 3rd owner (sold), 1984 with 4A engine and factory sunroof SR5 3rd owner.
Location: Bellingham, WA

Re: Front Wheel Bearing Replacement

Post by sdoan »

Hi Tom,

These photos were on Chad's photo uploader and host. It sounds like servers were changed and the photos were lost or the location of the photos changed. My old link to the uploader doesn't go anywhere (404 Not Found error) and I couldn't find it via the site. Chad probably knows what happened, but he's probably got bigger fish to fry.

BTW still driving both Tercels and have had offers from two different people "If you ever want to sell one..."

One needs an oil change and the other a valve adjustment.

Cheers,

Shawn
tysonhazard
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Posts: 2
Joined: Mon Oct 29, 2012 5:21 pm
My tercel:: 1985 4wd

Re: Front Wheel Bearing Replacement

Post by tysonhazard »

How sad that the pictures are gone :( I found this wonderful write-up a couple of months ago and am finally ready to do it. So I came back and... no pictures.

A quick question though: I know our Tercel is a 1985 4wd Hatchback, but nothing else (and it's parked far away; I'd like to order parts and THEN drive out there). I'm looking for a front passenger bearing, and there are 9 different front bearings listed on RockAuto.com including:

Timken 88506BR -- $17.43 [Amazon says this won't fit my Tercel]
Raybestos 713002 -- $32.89 [$32.79 w/ ship on Amazon]
SKF FW104 (says "assembly for STD, DLX, SR5") -- $55.79 [$75.48 w/ ship on Amazon]

Are all of these parts the same thing? Or are some just the bearings and not the entire assembly, while others are the entire hub assembly with all needed bearings already put together? Are some inner and some outer bearings? I've done front bearings on other cars, but this is my first time doing a car with a hub assembly so I don't really know what it looks like yet.

Also, what seals need to be purchased separately?

I also need to do a 1993 Toyota Previa AWD so would prefer to do this all at once by myself, buying tools as needed, since I'm guessing the same tools can be used for both cars.

Thank you in advance for any help/explanations.
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sdoan
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Joined: Sat Jun 23, 2007 2:02 pm
My tercel:: 1983 Tercel 4wd DLX 2nd owner (sold), 1984 SR5 3rd owner (sold), 1984 with 4A engine and factory sunroof SR5 3rd owner.
Location: Bellingham, WA

Re: Front Wheel Bearing Replacement

Post by sdoan »

Hello,

The Timken 88506BR is NOT a front even though one entry says it is. Look at the pictures, the fronts look different.

All 83-86 Tercels should have the same front wheel bearings, but the rears are different depending on 2 or 4WD. The rear 4wd bearing is a ball bearing and locking ring while the 2wd version is inner and outer tapered rollers.

All the Tercel front wheel bearings should fit provided they are recommended for the correct year. I believe there are 2 designs - but both do the job. I seem to remember getting the wheel bearing seals from NAPA and that the box contained 2 rubber parts or a seal and steel splash ring. This ring is thin and really hard to get in without tweaking it. The seals need to be ordered separately.

Even a big bench vice is not quite up to the task of pressing the bearings in and out. A cheap harbor freight press or your friendly shop can really help.

Here's a link to most or all of the pictures on photobucket. They're not in order, and they have no captions but they should help.
http://s305.photobucket.com/albums/nn23 ... Tercel4wd/

I asked about the missing photos but never got a reply from the webmaster. Frustrating loss.

Hope this helps.
lurvemytercel
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Posts: 17
Joined: Sun Oct 09, 2011 4:22 pm
My tercel:: 1988 Tercel Wagon AutoTrans 4wd
Location: Los Angels, CA

Re: Front Wheel Bearing Replacement

Post by lurvemytercel »

This is the next project I need to get done right away - the car makes the same noises and vibrations as described in the original post. The boots are cracked so my mechanic said it's an axle job -- but I'm not sure what exactly we need -- though I'm sure he does.

Having already run into the near fubar experience with the radiator (finally finding it listed under 1986 instead of 1988 which is the year of my car) wondering if I'll have the same problems again finding the correct parts to do the front wheel bearing replacement. I did a cursory look at the O'Reilly parts site inputting my cars info and got a couple of pages of different tie rods, etc. If the parts aren't on site then they'll have to be ordered so don't want to have wheels disassembled and then find out the parts we ordered don't work and we have to order and lose another day or two.

My car is a 1988 Tercel SR5 Automatic with 4wd and a 3AC engine.

Specifically, would like to know what parts will we need to do this job and what the exact part numbers are? As noted before on the radiator thread, I'm in a time crunch and every day I don't have a car is a day less I have to deal with preparing for an upcoming move first week of April. My mechanic has all the tools at a garage to do the work but having skimmed over the text, which I'm not fully comprehending, I want to be sure a half day job doesn't turn into 2 or 3 day searching for the right parts.

I downloaded the pics and the text from this thread on the step by step (he's done a lot of similar work but not on my car) so really it's just about the parts at this point (and any special surprises we might encounter).


Per the above post, Sloan says, "The bearing was $48 and the seal kit was $15 at NAPA. I was out the door with a tub of grease and no special discount for $70. It was a real Koyo bearing and everything appears to be good quality." So are these something that are in stock in shops or did you have to special order?

I'm going to ask my mechanic to look at them tomorrow and be more specific what needs to be replaced but just want to put this out -- will edit once I have more specific info on the job.

Any advice would be helpful.

Thanks!
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Petros
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My tercel:: '84 Tercel4wd w/extensive mods
Location: Arlington WA USA

Re: Front Wheel Bearing Replacement

Post by Petros »

often the local autoparts stores will stock these parts, or can get them next day for a nearby shop. You should order all your parts for a 1986 auto trans Tercel4wd. They are all identical, the part houses are not always aware the '87 or 88 wagons are differnt from the sedans for those years.

These parts should be all the same for all of the 4wd Tercels from '83 to 88, and mostly the same for the 2wd Tercels '83-86.

Good luck.
'87 Tercel 4wd SR5 (current engine swap project)
'84 Tercel 4wd (daily driver, with on going mods)
'92 Mazda MPV 4wd (wife's daily driver)
'85 Tercel 4wd DLX auto(daughter's daily driver)
'01 Honda Civic (other daughter's daily driver)
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dlb
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My tercel:: '87 sr5, '83 dlx parts car
Location: bc, canada

Re: Front Wheel Bearing Replacement

Post by dlb »

lurvemytercel wrote:This is the next project I need to get done right away - the car makes the same noises and vibrations as described in the original post. The boots are cracked so my mechanic said it's an axle job -- but I'm not sure what exactly we need -- though I'm sure he does.
when you say "the boots are cracked," you must be referring to the boots on the front driveshafts, which are totally different from the wheel bearings. it's possible that you need new driveshafts AND wheel bearings but you should confirm this before you go ahead. no point in replacing stuff that is still good.

are the driveshaft boots split open and spilling grease, or do the boots just show signs of aging?
lurvemytercel
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Posts: 17
Joined: Sun Oct 09, 2011 4:22 pm
My tercel:: 1988 Tercel Wagon AutoTrans 4wd
Location: Los Angels, CA

Re: Front Wheel Bearing Replacement

Post by lurvemytercel »

UPDATE EDIT: I'm so overwhelmed with this move that for some reason I thought I had the SR5 Model but what I have per my car registration (and a physical check of the car and the insignia) is the 1988 TERCEL SW 4WD DELUXE model with automatic transmission and power steering.

Logo/Insignia Back: TERCEL
4WD

Logo/Insignia FRONT: TOYOTA
4WD

The engine tag reads:
TOYOTA MOTOR CORPORATION
MADE IN JAPAN
35731
MODEL AL25LG-ZWHDCA
C/TR /A/TM 4G8JA462312A55F followed by a large B

================================================
UPDATE: Spoke with my mechanic this morning and he said based on sounds it makes, especially when turning right or left, and the condition of the boots which are cracked (split open) and have been for some time, he feels we should replace the drive shaft axle on both sides. He said it not just the bearings -- the whole thing needs to be replaced. I bought the car new in 1988 so I'd rather error on the side of caution and put in new drive shafts (assuming they will be as good as the originals) and not have to worry about those going belly up like the radiator.

As noted, he's been my mechanic for several years -- he put in the used Japanese engine for me in 06/07 and knows my car quite well. He's been a mechanic for 30 years and has done a lot of axle work. We're just concerned about finding the correct parts after going through the problems with finding the correct radiator because of the problems in the parts databases for the 1988.

If the front right and left drive shafts parts are standard on all years of the Tercel SW 4WD Deluxe model with automatic trans and power steering models, we should have the parts distributor search for the drive shafts using the year '86 rather than '88, yes?.


Thanks for your help!
Last edited by lurvemytercel on Thu Mar 14, 2013 3:53 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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dlb
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My tercel:: '87 sr5, '83 dlx parts car
Location: bc, canada

Re: Front Wheel Bearing Replacement

Post by dlb »

yes, all 4wd tercels used the same driveaxles from '83-'88 so using '86 when ordering them should be fine. and yes, if the boots are ripped open and you are getting clunking on turning, the driveaxles should be replaced. it sounds like your wheel bearings may be fine, since worn axles and front wheel bearings can sometimes present similarly. you might have your mechanic just do the axles and see if that solves your problem since it would save you a lot of money if that were the case.
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