How to replace front hubs

I have gotten quite adept at taking my front end apart of late due to a blown passanger side CV boot, and then a wobbly driver side half shaft, so I figured it would be a good time to take some detailed pictures on how to remove you hub assembly from the front wheels of our GPs.

1. Loosen the lug nuts on the wheel to which the hub needs to be replaced. But to do it while it's still on the ground and not jacked up in the air. (obvious one there )

2. Jack up the car and use jack stands to support sides of the frame underneather the engine. I also go a step further and leave the jack still still propped up against the front cross member of the frame. That way if one of the jack stands fail, the car won't fall over on ya

3. Once jacked up, remove the lug nuts completely from the wheel and take off the wheel.

4. The next step is to take axel nut off the axel. There are several methods to do this. I used this method below.



The old ratchet extension stuck in the brake rotor vein trick. I used a 36mm socket with a nice long breaker bar to get the axel nut started. Once loosened I was able to undo the rest with just the socket wrench and then finally my fingers at the end.

5. Once you have the axel nut off, you need to remove your brake caliper AND the caliper bracket from the back of the knuckle. There are 2 bolts you need to take off, the bolts require a 15mm socket. Remember, you only need to remove the 2 bolts securing the caliper bracket. The caliper is obviously connected to the bracket so you do not need to undo those bolts. As shown below.



6. Once you have both bolts out, you need to store the brake caliper out of the way. I find the bunge cord method works quite well. A coat hanger would also work, but its a bit more time consuming having to bend and shape the thing.

7. After you remove the brake rotor from the hub, you will have the hub assembly staring you dead in the face.



8. There are 3 bolts securing the hub to the knuckle of the car. Remember to disconnect the ABS plug before removing the hub from the knuckle. As shown below.



9. Once the ABS connection has been unplugged, you can remove the 3 bolts securing the hub. The bolts are 13mm in size. One at the top, and two at the bottom on both sides of the bottom part of the knuckle.

The Top Bolt



The bottom front bolt



The bottom rear bolt



10. Once you have all 3 bolts removed. You can safely remove the hub from the knuckle and axel.



You should only have 2 bolts removed from your brake caliper and 3 from the hub itself.

Once you have replaced your hub, you go backwards in order 10 through 1. I use lock tite, the red stuff, to rescure the bolts inplace. And I use anti seize on the axel nut when I put the nut back on. The driver side requires 118lbs of torque and the passanger side requires approx 108lbs of torque to tighten.

Very nice. Good work.

Is the axle nut a different size on 03? I have an 01 and its 36mm.

I guess it must be if your's is 36mm. Past that I can not say. I thought they were pretty much standard?

i just changed my drivers side wheel bearing on my 98 and the axle nut was definitely bigger than 23 mm. i think it was 36.

wow. that looks much more easy then other write ups i have seen for this project

Sorry for taking so long to correct the axle nut size. I don't where I was getting 23mm from My apologies

Thanks for the write-up with the excellent pictures. Makes it much easier to jump into something you haven't tried before.
I would add to this that GM recommends replacing the (3) hub mounting bolts when changing the hub:

Caution: These fasteners MUST be replaced with new fasteners anytime they become loose or are removed. Failure to replace these fasteners after they become loose or are removed may cause loss of vehicle control and personal injury.

The hub mounting bolts are GM Part No. 11570580 and come with red loc-tite already on them. My local "stealership" charged me $3.51 each plus tax. The new hub bolts get torqued to 96 lb ft.

The two bolts on the brake caliper bracket get torqued to 133 lb ft.

The 36mm wheel driveshaft nut gets torqued to 159 lb ft, not 118 as mentioned earlier.

Thank u so much i did my pass side and i took off the ball joint and axle and tie rod didnt know it was that easy

My axle nut on my 04 was 34mm, Now that I know that I'll just go buy one for the future instead of renting one from advance.

Where can you get new hubs?

rockauto.com, local parts house...dont go cheap or you'll regret it later. Make sure they have a warranty

I need to do this on my wife's '01 GTP. I've looked at RockAuto and there appears to be more than one design for the front hubs. How do I know which one is correct for her car?

TIA.

Rob

Have any of you guys had a problem getting the hubs off an 04? (the 04's are a 34mm nut btw)

I had my brakes off, axle nut off, and a 2-ton gear puller on the hub (wrapped around the back of the hub with the "bolt" of the puller pushing on the axle) and I stripped out the puller before the hub let loose.
I've done hubs on my K1500 chevy before and all I ever needed to get the axle shaft out of the hubs was a quick smack with a hammer. I thought this would be easy but so far I've wasted an entire afternoon and a $50 puller on the project.

Also, hubs were roughly $130 from 0'reileys for the better ones with a 1 year warranty.

To make it even more complicated I need to leave for a trip by sunday at the latest.

Originally Posted by AT7WE2

I need to do this on my wife's '01 GTP. I've looked at RockAuto and there appears to be more than one design for the front hubs. How do I know which one is correct for her car?

TIA.

Rob

If I had to guess the only difference would be with or without the abs tone ring. Abs ones cost a little more but are required if you want abs (obviously)

Originally Posted by chevy man

Have any of you guys had a problem getting the hubs off an 04? (the 04's are a 34mm nut btw)

I had my brakes off, axle nut off, and a 2-ton gear puller on the hub (wrapped around the back of the hub with the "bolt" of the puller pushing on the axle) and I stripped out the puller before the hub let loose.
I've done hubs on my K1500 chevy before and all I ever needed to get the axle shaft out of the hubs was a quick smack with a hammer. I thought this would be easy but so far I've wasted an entire afternoon and a $50 puller on the project.

Also, hubs were roughly $130 from 0'reileys for the better ones with a 1 year warranty.

To make it even more complicated I need to leave for a trip by sunday at the latest.

Mine was the original factory hub when i changed it a couple weeks ago..it was seized on there so tight...if you can use like an air chisel on it, do that...otherwise smash the hell out of the back of the hub to get it to seperate

Originally Posted by chevy man

Have any of you guys had a problem getting the hubs off an 04? (the 04's are a 34mm nut btw)

I had my brakes off, axle nut off, and a 2-ton gear puller on the hub (wrapped around the back of the hub with the "bolt" of the puller pushing on the axle) and I stripped out the puller before the hub let loose.
I've done hubs on my K1500 chevy before and all I ever needed to get the axle shaft out of the hubs was a quick smack with a hammer. I thought this would be easy but so far I've wasted an entire afternoon and a $50 puller on the project.

Also, hubs were roughly $130 from 0'reileys for the better ones with a 1 year warranty.

To make it even more complicated I need to leave for a trip by sunday at the latest.

I too had a bunch of issues removing the hubs on my 04. I started by whacking them with a big hammer, didn't work. I then used a gigantic slide hammer that attached to the lug studs, rapped on it a few times, and I thought my axle was gonna fly out. That knocked it loose enough that I could use a fairly large punch in the center of the axle spindle and release the hub. Now my problem lies in the passenger side where one of the bolts has rounded off..........anyone have any suggestions, its the forward most knuckle to hub mounting bolt.

Need a twist socket.

I hate changing hubs, I just done mine yesterday as a matter of fact. Its not really hard its just aggravating.

Thanks GTP01. Picked some up today, I'll give em a shot tomorrow. If all else fails watch for a how to on Steering Knuckle Replacement. This is The only issue with living in Alaska. Our rides age fast and get really stuck together.