I was working on a used Subaru Forester, and found that it needed a rear wheel bearing. It’s a bolt-in wheel bearing, which are usually easier to replace than press-in, because you just have to remove the bolts and take it off, instead of having to the use a press to remove and install it.

On a few Hondas I’ve had to use an air hammer to loosen bolt-in wheel bearings when they’re stuck in the knuckle, but this one was the worst I’ve had to deal with. After trying everything I could on the car, I ended up removing the whole knuckle so I could get access to the back side of the bearing.

Luckily all the bolts came out easily and I didn’t break anything like I have in the past. I took the knuckle over to the press to try to get the bearing out that way, but all I managed to do was bend the backing plate up.

The way I ended up getting it out was by giving it to one of the other techs who heated the knuckle with a torch, and then him and another tech both used air hammers on it at the same time, and it finally came out. I ordered a new backing plate because the old one was now destroyed, and put it all together once all the parts arrived.

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-Dan