00:00Is it cheaper to fix a wheel bearing yourself or have a shop do it?
00:03For 1263 bucks, a shop will replace your wheel bearing, which gets you a Keurig that survived
00:08the apocalypse, a waiting room couch where you're fighting for the best stain, and no clock so you
00:12have no idea if they've even started on your car yet. But how much would I cost if I did
00:16it myself?
00:16To start I got a pair of bearings and hugs shipped straight to my door for 109 dollars.
00:20But I have no tools so I'm heading to my local parts store to grab a jack for 270 bucks,
00:25a ratchet for 23 and a pair of jack stands for 18. I'm somehow getting the car safely in the
00:29air
00:29so I can finally remove the wheel and see what we're working with. Then I'm burning three cents
00:33of internet to become a complete expert on the subject. Hey guys! So I'm using a $22 wrench and
00:37this $4 hammer I wish I had laying around to loosen the two bolts holding the caliper to the rest
00:42of
00:42the car. The parts store guy, okay sold me on reusable zip ties to keep a hanging caliper from
00:47stretching out my brake lines. Now I'm finally removing the brake rotor itself because I need
00:51to find a way to get this giant nut off. This should be easy after removing this cotter pin with
00:56a good
00:57set of pliers for 20 bucks because the tool guy sold me an impact gun which was missing something
01:02important for 250 bucks so tack on another 218 for good measure. But of course my socket set doesn't
01:09have one large enough or the axle nut so one giant 32 mil and six dollar socket later this nut
01:15is popping
01:16right off. After the 16th trip to the store and 75 bucks on this giant corded impact the nut is
01:23popping
01:23right off. Now there's just one thing left between us and the axle itself. These six bolts. So my new
01:30best friend was kind enough to sell me another perfect tool for the job for about 400 bucks. Oh great
01:36a battery. Just like that the axle will slip right out. Now I could spend hours trying to get enough
01:42leverage to remove the last four bolts standing between me and great success. But with just one more
01:47new tool I can take full advantage of the tools I just bought. And with that I'm halfway done. I
01:54can
01:54hear it grinding and it feels like you're rolling over marbles where the new one is smooth as butter.
01:59So I'm cleaning the knuckle with 47 cents of brake cleaner and 18 cents of shop towels. There's one
02:04less thing that could completely derail our entire fix. Something we can fix with a torque wrench because
02:10I've never done this before but with this I'll never have to worry about it. I'm cleaning the axle up
02:14and
02:14adding about 14 cents of anti-seize to the spline. Then the axle slides right back into place. The
02:19inner bolts go right back in. Then the brake rotor and the caliper. We know we won't be finishing
02:24without a fight because this torque wrench tops out before the spec of this giant nut. So after one
02:30final $177 trip to the store I'm tossing my wheel back on lowering the car and finally I can torque
02:36the
02:37nut without it. Can't forget a new 15 cent cotter pin. And with the lug nuts torqued I can finally
02:41admire
02:42my work. That brings our DIY total to $1729.81 plus way too many trips to the store. That's 466
02:50bucks
02:50more to fix my car myself. It sounds like a terrible idea but fixing it twice now that I have
02:56all these
02:56tools. I think I'm starting to believe.
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