I replaced the wheel bearings of my 2016 Forester at home. Each bearing took 4 hours because they were all severely rusted. I broke two hammers. I replaced the two rear ones last year. This year, the front wheel made noise again. I was exhausted.

@@yayar8585 So the 2016 Forester (along with 2012-2019 Imprezas, Crosstreks, and Foresters) suffer from a design flaw that makes this job harder. Subaru made a technical service bulletin for an updated backing plate to extend the service life of the bearings. I did it myself and did not change backing plates since I didn't want to mess around with the parking brakes too much. I own a 2018 Crosstrek which uses the exact same backing plate and wheel bearing as your 2016 Forester. It was a terrible job.

@@yayar8585 I believe the front bearings are easier to do than the rears on the Subarus.

I would have put some never cease on the axle splines, not recommended but if the bearings ever go again it would be easy to remove.

My 16 was a nightmare. The car might have seen snow twice in Maryland and was seized. I used every trick and tool available.

Same dude going on 6 hours right now

I have to do mine and I'm also in the northeast. What did you guys do to get it out since this one just slid. How bad was it seized in?

my wife's 97 grand prix (which is clean car for it's' age, it sees annual fluid film and the car only has 57K grandma car special) i had a bad time getting it apart. i heated it up with a torch and used a 2 jaw puller

That is because you pay for the years the tech spent to do it that fast. You do not get a discount because It can be done faster than book time. These often do not come out at easily as shown in this video. This must be from the south where rust is not as much of an issue. If book time takes 1 hour for brakes and I can get them done in 25-30 mins. I am still charging that hour.

@@vikingdeity7562 lucky I ain’t blind, because that sounds like robbery to me. Shheeee.

He also pulled it out by hand. Any Subaru in the rust belt an additional hour of heating it and beating it out with a hammer

Where's 500 at 😂 it's 1500 at the dealer

Thank you! Definitely let me know.

How did it go?

Hey thanks! I’ve had several bad Subaru hub bearings back to back so I figured I’d finally make a video.

The car is only 5 years old and it’s from Texas. Therefore, no rust. If the car were from up north it might be a different story.

I literally tried to beat on my hubs with a 3lb hammer and never got them loose. I ended up having to pay a shop to do it. There's a world of difference whether or not the hubs have been allowed to rust into place.

I'm currently working on one that is also 5 years old. This would take less time than a brake job if I lived in Texas. Another reason to hate northern Virginia.

@@taysmode11Yep, I'm in Springfield and no amount of hammering would remove it.

Lol thank God you're in Texas. I'm in Illinois and it's never this easy

Thanks for watching!

Many tire shops need to learn to use a torque wrench!

Uggh! I live in the Northeast and have to do both rear ones.. did you end up having to replace the backing plates?

Here at the shop we’ll use Precision or MasterPro from O’Reilly. We also use Timken (which is supposed to be really good), or there is another brand called Durago (cheaper) that we use but honesty I haven’t really had a lot of issues with any of them.

You can hit rotors with a metal hammer as long as you hit the rotor in between the wheel studs (NOT on the part where the pads touch) and if you hit the rotor on the part where the pads touch then you need to use a plastic or rubber dead blow hammer.

No, just install them dry!

Yeah, I imagine it’s similar. Hammering the nut prevents it from loosening due to the rotation of the wheel.

As far as I know, there’s no reason to do that.

​@@jackhfletcherIf the bearing you installed last much longer then the one you replaced that would make this job harder the next time if not for you then someone else

It will be the same, or at least very similar.

​@@jackhfletcherI live in the Northeast and fear it's going to be seized in.. any suggestions on where to whack it or tricks to get it separated?

@carymgc I also have a 2019, how bad was it to do?

Yeah, it’s basically the same. After watching this video you should be able to do the front also.

@Jack Fletcher gonna try and do it tomorrow. I have never done it before, but after watching your video, it gives me confidence that it's possible to do it without any professional experience!

@@jackhfletcher what year is the crosstrek in the video?

How much do you like this friend? Lol. I’d probably do at least $150 labor but it’s up to you.

Technically, yes. But I’ve never seen anything bad happen from re-using an axle nut as long as the nut is in good shape and torqued properly.

@@jackhfletcher much appreciated , thanks for the reply .

I didn’t show the struggle because there was no struggle. It came off very easily for me.

That's practically a new car.

Boo hoo

Working on rusty cars takes a mechanic. Working on cake like in this video just needs a part changer.

Subaru's are very in expensive to maintain, do the work yourself. if you are going to a mechanic, no car will be inexpensive to maintain.

had my crosstrek from zero to 100k miles. ALL maintenance I did myself. The car is easy and cheap to maintain.