I did manage to finish up replacing the brakes and studs least week, but I haven't posted on it as I've been busy with other things. The job isn't complete, but, I'll fill you in on the details in a bit.
I'm pretty sure I know why this whole mess happened in the first place. This is a close up view of the stock rim:
It is very difficult to get your fingers in the to start the lug nut by hand. This is very easily solved by using a deep well socket to start them by hand, then get your assistive tool on them and go to town. If you just slap the nut on the lugs and go, you will cross thread stuff. Some studs are designed to prevent this with an extended tip (like the ARP studs), but for normal studs and even the fancy ones, start the lugs by hand. Always!
To finish the job on the other side, I rented a hub puller kit. The only thing I used out of the kit is the smaller pulley adapter which didn't fit exactly correctly, but it worked well enough with my slide hammer to pull the hub out:
I got the axle out and re-bolted the spindle in place in preparation for getting the bearing out:
Dorman part number for the studs, also good for the CRX:
Everything was going smoothly until . . .
Yes, I pressed the stud through the square hole of the socket. Der!
I just used a CRX stud:
Now THIS tool is super useful:
Horrible Freight's wheel bearing puller. It wasn't cheap, even on sale, but it let me get the job done without pulling the spindle off the car, though it caused an unexpected problem, though that was my fault, not the kit's.
Installing the new bearing:
This part of the install went very well
The tool works as designed. The issue is that somehow the magnet in the back of the bearing got boogered up. I'm not sure how it happened. Mayhaps I should have selected a larger backing plate to draw the bearing in and it cracked the magnet? I was trying to avoid the ABS sensor as it sticks out into the space between the bearing and the axle so I choose one that gave me room. I likely could have gone larger. Or, maybe I should have gone smaller so that I just hit the inner race of the bearing. The brake warning light and the ABS light are now permanently on, which is seriously annoying I'll be replacing the bearing and both sensors soon. At least I know how to do this and it should take much less time.
Here's the part number for the replacement lug nuts I used:
They are made very well. They are not closed like the stock ones are, but for now, they work well and were not at all expensive.
So far, the brakes feel decent and stop well. The engagement point is a bit low, but I do want to bleed the brakes and adjust the rear drums. Both should help the feel, though that says nothing about the ease of stopping. When you get serious with the brakes, they work very well and are very quiet and smooth. Hurray for good brakes!
I'm pretty sure I know why this whole mess happened in the first place. This is a close up view of the stock rim:
It is very difficult to get your fingers in the to start the lug nut by hand. This is very easily solved by using a deep well socket to start them by hand, then get your assistive tool on them and go to town. If you just slap the nut on the lugs and go, you will cross thread stuff. Some studs are designed to prevent this with an extended tip (like the ARP studs), but for normal studs and even the fancy ones, start the lugs by hand. Always!
To finish the job on the other side, I rented a hub puller kit. The only thing I used out of the kit is the smaller pulley adapter which didn't fit exactly correctly, but it worked well enough with my slide hammer to pull the hub out:
I got the axle out and re-bolted the spindle in place in preparation for getting the bearing out:
Installing the new bearing:
This part of the install went very well
The tool works as designed. The issue is that somehow the magnet in the back of the bearing got boogered up. I'm not sure how it happened. Mayhaps I should have selected a larger backing plate to draw the bearing in and it cracked the magnet? I was trying to avoid the ABS sensor as it sticks out into the space between the bearing and the axle so I choose one that gave me room. I likely could have gone larger. Or, maybe I should have gone smaller so that I just hit the inner race of the bearing. The brake warning light and the ABS light are now permanently on, which is seriously annoying I'll be replacing the bearing and both sensors soon. At least I know how to do this and it should take much less time.
Here's the part number for the replacement lug nuts I used:
They are made very well. They are not closed like the stock ones are, but for now, they work well and were not at all expensive.
So far, the brakes feel decent and stop well. The engagement point is a bit low, but I do want to bleed the brakes and adjust the rear drums. Both should help the feel, though that says nothing about the ease of stopping. When you get serious with the brakes, they work very well and are very quiet and smooth. Hurray for good brakes!
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