Some of you know that I bought an '08 Fit Sport in what I'm calling ugly orange, though it isn't really too ugly or too orange. This is intended to be a simple, efficient and bearable daily driver, allowing me to have the time to fix my CRX correctly. I had it inspected on Saturday and it was given a clean bill of health with the exception of needing new front brakes, which I already knew from the pulsing pedal and overall poor condition of the rotor faces. No biggie! I ordered my favorite Centric Premium rotors and some Stoptech pads to try and set to work after work installing them.
Normally at this point in the story, everything gets really boring. A simple rotor and pad change should take less than half an hour. Queue dramatic music! But then, as you may have surmised from the title of this post, I sheered of three studs on the driver's side and one in the passenger side.
Blankity blank blank blank blankety blank blank blank. Blank. I've used all my sick/personal days this year, and now with work being slow and having a car note to pay, I really don't want to be taking time off, especially dealing with a supposedly simple daily that will receive correct but really minimal attention, just like a good toaster. So much for that idea.
I made a bunch of calls and managed to find a store with two wheel bearings in stock. My dad picked them and a bunch of studs up on his way home after work. Meanwhile, back at the farm . . .
I got to work cutting the darn rotor screws of the hub. Ugh. I really don't like those things.
A view of how things looked at that point:
By the time my dad had returned with parts, had managed to pull the hub off with my basic slide hammer kit but couldn't get the bearing out.
I really didn't want to take the spindle off as usually the camber is set by camber bolts at the bottom the shock mount on cars with struts. Meh.
This almost always gets stuck on the hub when pulling the hub:
Notice the form of the hub:
I'm guessing they ate trying to cut down the weight of the hub by doing that, but man, that looks really thin overall compared to earlier hubs. I just wonder how close is too close!
Another discovery:
Stock CRX studs are the same as the Fit studs.
After getting to this point:
I spent some time trying to find a wheel bearing puller kit. I wasted a lot of daylight on that mission, including making a very wasteful trip to see if someone at a parts store actually had a clue. She didn't. All they had was a hub puller kit, which I don't need with my slide hammer. Grrr . . .
While I was making calls, I took a look at the SKF wheel bearings and made a discovery:
A magnetic ring! Inside the box was this notice:
I have no idea how to rotate that on my phone. Sorry. Anyway, that's pretty cool that a simple magnet it used for the ABS and traction control. I'm betting it is cheaper and likely even more reliable that a classic tone ring/toothed wheel.
New studs pressed into to the hub:
After the wasted trip to the parts store for something that no one has, I decided I'd just go ahead and take the spindle out, camber bolts be darned to heck! I did scribe a live in both bolt heads, but I was pleasantly surprised that no camber bolts are present in the shock mount. I'm guessing that they are actually on the inboard side of the list control arm. The only other issues was that the ABS sensor was not coming out. At all. I cut the wire and had to drill out the remains of the sensor:
After that, things went mostly smoothly. I pressed the old bearing out and the new one in:
The hub was pressed in. Everything was bolted back together. Driver's side done!
Have I mentioned how much I hate these screws?
I had no choice but to grind those heads out. I honestly don't know what time it was, but it was late and I hope I didn't cause any sleepless nights . . .
I got the new rotor and pads installed. You'll notice I am not saying anything about fixing the broken stud. I didn't. I was too tired wanted to not have the whole neighborhood string me up for waking them up. For more, I have three nuts on that wheel. I'll survive.
After a final check, I bedded the pads in, cleaned up and . . . Slept straight through my alarm. Ugh. At least I didn't wimp out and take a day off.
The brakes are smooth and quiet. They work better than the crusty old stuff. They'll be even better when they finish bedding and curing the resin, but I'm satisfied with how they are now. Yay.
Now I have to figure out how to stay awake at work today . . . Ugh.
That tread plate has been cracked for months. I had some time to fill, do I ground out the crack, turned my welder down as low as I dared with the thick flux core wire we use and slowly welded it back together after clamping it back into place and knocking things around with a hammer. Nothing complicated, but a useful way to spend my time.
While being technically road legal (not this one, but in general), it is really just meant for efficient shuffling of trailers in a trailer yard. The rear has a hydraulic lift built in to the shoe that locks onto the trailer pin, so instead of having to lock on then get out and raise the landing legs if the trailer, you simply push on a lever and the trailer is raised enough to clear the ground. This saves a lot of time and effort.
