Grade 9 Master FWD Wheel Bearing Press Adapter Kit

This is the press kit for pulling and setting front wheel bearings with the steering knuckle still bolted to the strut and the tie rod still connected. Because the knuckle never comes off the car, you are not chasing an alignment afterward, and you are not hauling a knuckle across the shop to a 20-ton press. Pull the wheel, caliper and rotor, break the axle nut loose, get the hub out with a slide hammer, drop the lower ball joint, pull the axle clear of the knuckle, and pop the bearing snap ring. From there the kit does the rest.

What separates this one from the $60 kits is the forcing hardware. The drive bolt is 7/8 inch thread built to US Grade 9 (Class 12.9) spec with a 1.25 inch hex head, instead of the 3/4 inch Grade 5 or Grade 8 rod most sets ship with. Instead of stacked flat washers under the nut it uses a 7/8 inch thrust bearing of the type used for semi-truck lug stud installs. That thrust bearing is the reason a modern high-torque 1/2 inch impact actually moves the bearing instead of just heating up the threads. The cups and adapters are forged and machined, then zinc-chromate plated.

Common failure this solves: a rusted-in bearing race that will not start moving, and the cheap kit answer to it, which is a stripped nut, a galled forcing rod, or a cracked pot-metal cup. Grease the drive threads and spray lube into the thrust bearing before every job and the set stays serviceable. One note from the bench, drive the nut with a deep-well socket. Short bearings let a standard socket walk off the nut before the bearing is fully seated, and that rolls the corners of the nut.

The kit is a master adapter set, not a vehicle-specific tool, and the included guide charts which cups and adapters go with which application. It covers common front-drive passenger cars and light trucks, and the same adapters carry over to hub-into-bearing installs once the new bearing is seated. Ships in a blow-molded case, 26.9 lb.