Rear hub disassembly
 

Hi everyone,
I am trying to fit a set of 10th anniversary rims to my 88 GXL, the back needed a 5mm spacer to clear the wheel well.

With 5mm less threads for the lug nuts to engage there is a problem when my wheels are mounted with an impact wrench. The threads are stripped off!

I would like to replace the stock lug bolts with ones that are 5mm longer.

How do you separate the hubs to allow that to happen?

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...06c7238f22.jpg

Any advice will be appreciated!
Thanks

I just had mine off over the summer and spent a lot of time cleaning them and adding a new bushing.I would hesitate to recommend pullling the hubs apart. It will be very easy to crack the aluminum.
The dust sheild will come off, if I am remembering correctly, there is clearence then to remove the studs.
Look at the sheild, find the thinnest part at the bottom. You will clip the sheild here after removing the retaining bolts. The sheild will kind screw off then. Like a corkscrew.
I can post a video if needed. Also, if the bushing is worn, I reccomend replacing it to. I shredded a new set of tires in a few thousand miles before I finally changed mine.
If you have never put a hub back on after removal, it can be tricky. Let is know if you need some pointers. Best wishes.

There is a thread below this in recommended that writes about extended length lug nuts.

first you shouldn't need a spacer to put 10AE wheels on.
second Mazda usually gives you room to change a stud without pulling anything else apart, although ive never done it on an FC, so this is a maybe

and third to take the hub apart you need a press. and a new bearing. its like a typical FWD hub setup, so any shop will have done thousands of similar ones

I do remember this being discussed before on here and he might have larger tires. I was confused at first too as the parts for this part of the car are identical between the two besides the wheels and tires.

This sounds solid and good, maybe on the bottom part. I didn't like dealing with the sheild, so I removed it first. I really wish that I would have taken pictures of the before and after cleaning for mine, such a major difference. Some disassembly is required.

Sweet, very nice. I am a novice....

For anyone that searches this for disassembly, this video is pretty good. However, I did not clip a large part of the shield out, just one clip through. Also, I don't recommend hammering out the bushing unless you have some soft support for the hub and a good aim with a hammer. Your hub will get damaged this way. I used 3/8 all thread and deep sockets or a ball joint removal kit and parts. You can use 1/2 inch all thread and pipe pieces or just buy a press. The bushings that i bought weren't metal so heating and the cooling wasn't needed. The cooling of the part might be suggested though. It is a neat trick for these types of installs and freeze plugs.


It would be nice to see a hub bearing removal video.

I found my set of 10AE rims with 215mm wide tires mounted on them, this is the recommended width tires for these rims.

I went to get them swapped out for my original 205mm tires and they said that the 215mm tires would not fit on the back!

So I installed the 5mm spacers to accommodate the extra width, also to move them out towards the fender lip!

I will try to remove the dust shields and find someone willing to replace the stock length lug studs with 5mm longer ones.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong but I thought the 10th AE wheels were the same size and offset as TII wheels. My 89 GTUs came from the factory with TII wheels which are a different style but same size and offset as the '88 TII wheels. I say this to reinforce what j9fd3s said. That the wheels are interchangeable and you shouldn't need a spacer. Also that shop is wrong. I used to run 225/50-16 tires on the stock rims in the rear and they fit just fine with no spacer so a 215 in the rear shouldn't be a problem. Also one of my rear hubs came off of an '89 GXL( which should be the same part as an '88 GXL as far as I know) and everything fit just fine with my TII wheels.

Maybe the shop has the front and rear mixed up. Plenty of room in the rear. In the front though a 215 may barely clear the strut.

+1 the 10AE wheels are the same size (16x7) as every other t2 wheel, just white. stock tire was a 205/55/16.
in the rear there should be plenty of room for more tire, i'm also running a 225, and it looks tiny in there, lol

we did have a thing at work where our two vendors couldn't agree on which one was front and which one was rear, which is kind of funny, but sad too.

Thanks for the reply, you are probably correct! I will visually see how much clearance I have in the front and back. I have 10mm spacers on the front with longer lug studs installed!

Is there any downside to running 225mm tires on a 7" wide rim? I'm trying to get the tires kinda flush with the stock fenders. That would look sweet.

Since the 225mm fits better on a7.5" or 8" rim the bead gets squeezed in a little to mount on the 7" rim. It sort of balloons out just a touch. I think it's mostly cosmetic as I ran 225's on the stock 7" rims on the rear for several years with no issues. May just have to play around with your spacer size to get the tire where you want in relation to the fenders.

I run 215/50r16's all the way around no spacers on +38 offset wheels. . .. .But it is close to the strut on the front. . .. Rear no problem. . ..

It should be noted that I do not know at this second what stock offset is for OEM 16" wheels .. . I think it is +40 but double check that.

Just a little history in that the OEM tire size was to be 215/55-16, but at production time
the 215/55 was not a very popular size, so they went with the 205/55-16 that was used
by various manufacturers.
I actually run 215/55-16 and 235/50-16, but as I don't put many miles on the car, hopefully
the second set of 235/50-16 will last for a while as they've been out of production for over
a decade.
If I'm still around when they are done for, it'll be time to move up to probably 17" wheels.

Using a press to remove the hub
 

Thanks for all the info, my question is it possible to press out the hub from the aluminum housing without any damage?

That would be a good thing for installing the 5mm longer lug studs like I did with the front hubs ( added 10mm to the stud length for these).

Or should I just remove the dust shield to gain access to replacing them?

I've done mine many times to replace the bearing(s). The bearing will be destroyed in the process. You will need to replace the bearing, oil seal, and maybe the retaining ring. I've always done this job using a hydraulic press and a bearing separator. The inner race is split, so the inner half of this race will remain on the neck of the hub at its base. Some people chisel it off, but I've found that a large bearing separator woks best. Never had any problems removing and installing new RWB's. You'll need to be careful when installing the new bearing. If it's not pressed on using the proper technique, than you will ruin it. The Mazda FSM should have more detail on this.

its also basically the same as any FWD car, so every shop on the planet has done thousands that were very similar

Thanks Hot Dog,
Where can I purchase the rear wheel bearings, seals and the retaining rings? Do you have a part number for these?

I definitely had to disassemble the hub and install new bearings to get extended wheel studs in. Maybe this depends on the length of the studs, but the rear doesn't give you much room to play with.

Here are the p/n's:
RWB's FB01-26-151
RWB Seal FB01-26-065
RWB Clip GE4T-33-048

You might not need the clips, but sometime they get rusted in and cannot be removed without destroying them. They're pretty cheap anyways.
Try Googling the p/n's to find the cheapest price. RockAuto has a good selection at reasonable prices (https://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog/...l+bearing,1672), Atkins has them, Amazon has them, Ebay has them (https://www.ebay.com/itm/186242453107) as well as various dealerships. It used to be that the Japanese or US made bearings were the highest quality, but nowadays it's hard to tell where they are manufactured.

Current Mazda number for the bearing is FB01-26-151F, Mazda is very expensive, but you'd get the OE part.

Aftermarket is way cheaper, but do need to do some homework to get a Japanese or US made bearing.

I purchased Timken branded rear wheel bearings. When I opened the box, they were stamped as Japanese Koyo's.

In 2015, I replaced my RWB's with p/n FB01-26-151A, which I believe I bought from a Mazda dealer. The most recent p/n is FB01-26-151E. Apparently, there's been a lot of design changes to this bearing over the last several years. And, as you pointed out, the bearings are now very expensive. The last time I replaced my RWB's was in 2017. I used Timkin bearings that I bought from RockAuto. Timkin bearings were originally manufactured US, but now they are a global company. The bearings that I bought I believe were manufactured in either South or Central America. You never know what you're going to get.

Thanks for the part numbers, I will start my search for these soon!

Once I get a set of these parts I will rebuild the pair of hubs I have.

I am amazed that the people on this forum have access to this info after all these decades! You are the best!

I bought a NSK from RockAuto because I thought I was going to need to replace the one I didn't replace with a new one (I used the hub assembly off my parts car) when I did my rear end swap but never have. I just looked at it and though it isn't branded on the bearing itself it does have Japan stamped on it. The one I did replace I used a Timken from RockAuto. I don't recall now what it had stamped on it. It's got around 19,000 miles on it now. I think I got the clip from Jim Ellis Mazda. They have pretty good prices sometimes. Sometimes cheaper than Mazdatrix on some things.