Need advice on replacing my wheel hub
 

I have some play in my right front wheel hub. I had an indy shop check it out and confirm. Also have a bad right front ABS sensor. So I bought a new hub from rovahfarm, and I'm going to replace it tomorrow. Last night I looked over the RAVE and printed out the relevant pages, took my wheel off and inspected my hub. My questions are:

1. What size socket do I need to remove the outer locking nut? Its a big boy, looks to be about 1 1/2" SAE or 38mm. I can't find my caliper so I can't measure it, and I buy my 3/4" drive sockets individually, and do not have a socket to fit it, so rather than take my wheel off in the sears parking lot and run back and forth to the store trying to find the right one, does anybody know or could you please check and tell me? Thanks.

2. The outer nut appears to be a special type of locking nut. The RAVE says you must discard it and use a new one. Is this true, and where can I find an equivalent locking nut, or can I reuse the old one?

Thanks very much.

I dont know the size off the top of my head, I bet a Rovers North catolog would list the size. The nut is simular to a nylock they are one time use, can be reused if nessasary if it can be helped. You could probably get a new one at LR in Norwell and go across the street to Sears at the Hanover mall for a socket.
Who is out by framinghan for Dealers?

I just called Hanover, they have it for $13.95. I'll pick it up today and do what you suggested- bring it to Sears and match it up that way.

Nobody out here for dealers. Closest is Sudbury. Man, I'm dreading that Cape traffic down Rt. 3 today.

Just out of curiousity, do you know any way to increase the range of my torque wrench? I have a huge craftsman wrench that goes to 250 lbs/ft, and a variety of smaller ones, but I can't find one that goes as high as 360 lbs/ft. Or perhaps a place that rents big-ass torque wrenches?

Yeah I ended up buying a 3/4 inch drive torque wrench...it's huge! Worth it to make sure your hub doesn't get loose

"I dreading that Cape traffic down Rt. 3 everyday" when down to Dennis last Friday what a freaking mistake that was.

360 lbs thats rough even my 3/4 drive i think only goes to 300 lbs, I have a 3/4 impact but there is no why to control the lbs.

Is that rental place still there on beale street across from the T, next to wally wine?

Yeah, U-Rent-It is still there, but I have a running feud with the owner. Went to the barbershop next door one time, and the guy started yelling at Joe the Barber about something stupid, so I told him to "pipe down," and we got into a little tiff. Needless to say, he lost my business.

A 3 arm puller is your friend to remove the hub. The wheel speed sensor comes out of the hole with a stand philips screw driver. I rented a 300lbs torque wrench and reused the bolt. I put a extra crank on the torque wrench probably got it to 320lbs. Regardless its not going anywhere. I removed the bolt with a 1\2" breaker bar plus my floor jack handle on the end. 2 hours with no "dead in your tracks" situations and you can be done.

Well, it got replaced. Took about 30 minutes to remove the stake nut. I had to put the car in low gear, then have my GF step on the brake while I wrenched it off. It took a 25" breaker bar with another 2' cheater bar on the end to get it off. Using a small pin punch, I was able to hammer it into the slot on the driveshaft bolt to undo the stake. I then used a 3-jaw puller to separate the hub from the knuckle, and it came off nice and easy. One thing tho, I bought the All-Makes hub from Rovahfarm, and the ABS sensor was slightly different than the stock one that was in there before. The wire doesn't line up will all the looms when replacing it. I had to skip the lowest loom when doing the sensor wire. As for torqueing it, I used a 1/2 drive torque wrench that went up to 280 lbs/ft, then put the breaker bar/cheater bar back on and wrenched it as hard as I could to go the rest of the way. With the loctite and stake nut, I doubt it will ever come loose. If I ever come across a torque wrench that goes that high, I'll just redo it again. Taking the nut off definitely wasn't the hardest part of the operation. I also bought a new stake nut from the dealer, cost me $14, and the socket size is 1 1/4" (thanks Drowssap for that. I took the nut over to Sears at the Han. Mall and matched it up). Overall, not the toughest job, but definitely not the easiest either. It was a 3-hour job, but I had to stop twice (once for a rain shower than came thru, and another time to walk down to the package store for more road sodas).

I would like to thank everyone for their help. I wouldn't have been able to do it without you guys.

glad to here you got it done, after your post i when searching for tw that would go up to 360 lbs. it looks like you have to go to a 1 inch drive.
Needless to say when the time comes to do hubs they are getting slammed on with my 3/4 in gun.

I'd be careful doing that. I chewed up the end of my driveshaft using the puller. The puller bolt actually chewed into the driveshaft like a screw. I had to put a socket over the end of the bolt to prevent any further damage. The point is, that threaded portion of the driveshaft is very soft metal. I think it's high time I invested in a good set of 3/4" drive tools, so if I come across a torque wrench that goes up that high, I'll let you know.