Yeah...not as easy as I thought it would be. Couldn't be like every other car where you just hammer them out the back of the spindle, oh no. You have to take the axles out and remove the spindle, then probably use a machine to press them out. I figure I can probably get as far as getting the rotor off and breaking the axle nut loose, but then I have no clue what to do after that...it'll probably be stuck, and I'd rather have someone around who knows what they're doing before I hurt myself trying to take it off Not to mention you also have to replace the wheel bearing, and I've never done that before. Is there anyone in the Denver area who's done this job and would be willing to help out? I need to do both rear wheels...can't really afford to have a shop do it right now...

Ranger wrote:Yeah...not as easy as I thought it would be. Couldn't be like every other car where you just hammer them out the back of the spindle, oh no. You have to take the axles out and remove the spindle, then probably use a machine to press them out. I figure I can probably get as far as getting the rotor off and breaking the axle nut loose, but then I have no clue what to do after that...it'll probably be stuck, and I'd rather have someone around who knows what they're doing before I hurt myself trying to take it off Not to mention you also have to replace the wheel bearing, and I've never done that before. Is there anyone in the Denver area who's done this job and would be willing to help out? I need to do both rear wheels...can't really afford to have a shop do it right now...

Bahahaha..... It's like the 8. You have to use a hydraulic press.

Ugh. Moral of the story, don't break a wheel stud on a Mazda. Maybe I should just take the entire rear suspension apart and also do the bushings like I've been talking about forever...

napa does it for like $40 per bearing. thats if they have a machine shop

So you broke a stud, that's why you're doing this? I was about to ask you why you didn't read up on this before doing it, because this is why I didn't do mine, I just got Project Kics spacers instead HAHA. I've never done the job, but there might be a writeup on 7club. I've replaced studs before and I've replaced wheel bearings, but most of the time it's been on equipment at work. Should generally be the same though. Not that hard. The wheel bearing I mean haha. Once you get the spindle out, if you can put it up on a vise or something you should be able to hammer the stud out.

Broke three, actually...one was from when I first bought aftermarket lug nuts, I got one that was the wrong thread pitch. Of course it was only slightly off so by the time I realized it wasn't right, it was too late, the stud was stripped. The other two, I have no clue what happened, but they're also stripped, from old age and lack of lubrication I guess.

I haven't really put much time into it, so it'd be easy enough to put it back together...I only got as far as taking the caliper off before I realized it was going to be a PITA. But having three stripped studs sure detracts from the value haha. I suppose I could try re-threading them...dunno if I could find a tap and dye set that would work, though. With this job, I'd just be worried about not putting the axle back in right, or breaking the flange in the process of getting it out...I've never done it and from reading the FSM, it's pretty complex. I imagine you want to be as precise as possible with a job like this.

cuz you don't want this to happen:

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=baa_1182877617

idk about the fd but on an fc it is actually pretty easy replaced all of mine after they started to break from the wear and tear need to do the fronts still but it didn't involve that much work other than putting the new ones in was pain since you have to line everything up just right and don't have much room to work with.

FC is different, you can press the studs out without having to take the spindle off the axle, like most cars.

Haha, I remember seeing that video long ago. I don't understand how he could've torqued the nuts down if they were the wrong size, though.

geo2maz wrote:cuz you don't want this to happen:

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=baa_1182877617

that still kills me

because he did it on purpose... loooong story.... not really, the guy is just an idiot. its on 7club somewhere

^He wanted to lower his car? Car-lowering-fail.

perhaps he was thinkin it would be a brilliant way to achieve instant weight reduction on the fly but forgot about that whole needing tires/wheels to drive thing...

or perhaps his hover car upgrade mailfunctioned... road, where were going we dont need roads...

BRC wrote:... road, where were going we dont need roads...

I was just watching that a few days ago. I love the Back to the Future trilogy.