Well let me start off with a little background first. i have done 4 protege wheel bearings thus far and all have gone flawlessly. The car in question right now is my g/f's 03 protege5 without ABS, car has been owned since new at 20miles and the left front of the car has never been damaged or repaired in any way.
The wheel bearing has been going out for the past several months and i finally had time at my shop tonight to fix it. We ordered the bearing from the mazda dealership she used to work for and based off her VIN. After battling some MD rust i got everything apart and pressed the new bearing into the knuckle. I am reusing the old hub because there is nothing wrong with it and i am not paying $160 for a new one. Well here is where the problems start.
The shaft on the old hub does not fit in the old bearing. The shaft diameter is quite a bit larger than the hole in the bearing. We took the hub, bearing, and knuckle over to mazda. We had them put the vin into the computer and checked a second bearing (the ONLY bearing it lists for this car) and same problem the shaft is too large. So maybe there is something wrong with the hub so they pull a brand new hub...the one specific to the VIN. The shaft on this hub is significantly smaller, so problem solved right? WRONG! The inner splines where the axle fit on the new hub is much smaller than the old hub so if i put the new hub in the axle wont fit into the hub.
So at this point mazda didnt know what to do (this is all happening at about 6-6:30 at night so cant really call around) i am stumped, my g/f who worked mazda parts for the better part of a decade has never seen this before, and in the meantime i have a disabled protege holding up my lift at work. There has to be a correct bearing to fit in that knuckle and the hub because i cant be expected to change the whole left suspension to fix a stupid wheel bearing. Anybody seen this or have a part number to help me out. Anything helpful is much appreciated
The wheel bearing has been going out for the past several months and i finally had time at my shop tonight to fix it. We ordered the bearing from the mazda dealership she used to work for and based off her VIN. After battling some MD rust i got everything apart and pressed the new bearing into the knuckle. I am reusing the old hub because there is nothing wrong with it and i am not paying $160 for a new one. Well here is where the problems start.
The shaft on the old hub does not fit in the old bearing. The shaft diameter is quite a bit larger than the hole in the bearing. We took the hub, bearing, and knuckle over to mazda. We had them put the vin into the computer and checked a second bearing (the ONLY bearing it lists for this car) and same problem the shaft is too large. So maybe there is something wrong with the hub so they pull a brand new hub...the one specific to the VIN. The shaft on this hub is significantly smaller, so problem solved right? WRONG! The inner splines where the axle fit on the new hub is much smaller than the old hub so if i put the new hub in the axle wont fit into the hub.
So at this point mazda didnt know what to do (this is all happening at about 6-6:30 at night so cant really call around) i am stumped, my g/f who worked mazda parts for the better part of a decade has never seen this before, and in the meantime i have a disabled protege holding up my lift at work. There has to be a correct bearing to fit in that knuckle and the hub because i cant be expected to change the whole left suspension to fix a stupid wheel bearing. Anybody seen this or have a part number to help me out. Anything helpful is much appreciated
. Hope you get it fixed!!
