How To Replace Jeep Front Wheel Hub and Bearing

Hub3Is you Jeep making a humming noise from the front end while you are driving down the highway? If so you may have a wheel bearing that is going bad and it should be replaced as soon as possible.

This “How To” is not Mustang related but I’m sure it will help a few people with their quest for information to figure out what it is they need to do to get the job done.

Diagnosing the problem

First of all I have a 1999 Jeep Cherokee 4X4. My Jeep started getting this humming sound, it progressively got louder and eventually it went from a hum with a vibration added that I could feel through the steering wheel.

The first thing I did was rotate the tires to see if that was the problem before I went and purchased a hub. The tire rotation didn’t solve the problem so it boiled down to the wheel bearing in the hub, and I new it had to be this since that particular wheel had experience a brake lock-up issue that caused excessive heating and probably damaged the bearing.

Tools you will need

This is a pretty easy job once you know what tools you will need, I took my wheel off more than once before turning to the web for answers.

  • 13 mm socket to remove the brake caliper
  • 13mm – 12 point socket to unbolt the hub
  • 36mm socket for the main hub nut
  • Pliers (side cutter/dyke) to remove the cotter pin
  • Torque wrench
  • Breaker bar or Impact gun

Finding the parts

I found a lot of hubs available online for a decent price but I wanted to get the job done so I started calling the local parts stores. The first parts house said they had it available, the second Napa Auto Parts said yes also but…. here is the kicker, there are two types of hubs available: One for a full-cast brake rotor and one for a composite rotor. At this point I figured Napa would be the place but I didn’t know what type of hub and wheel bearing assembly I would need to purchase; full-cast or composite?

Here is how you can determine what type of hub you have; the wheel studs will tell the story. A hub for a full cast rotor has wheel studs that are 1 1/2″ tall and the hub for a composite rotor has studs at 1 1/8″ tall. This is what I was told and it worked out and I ended up with a hub for the full-cast rotors.

How to do the repair

The repair job takes about an hour to perform, I didn’t take any photos or even do a write up for you to read. What I did do is find an existing write up while I was  searching the web for torque specification for the main hub nut. Finding this write up before I started would have been very helpful – Jeep Hub Assembly Replacement Instructions

If this post was helpful please leave a comment

1 thought on “How To Replace Jeep Front Wheel Hub and Bearing

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.