Ford Explorer Front Wheel Hub Assembly Removal & Replacement

If your 1995 4×4 Ford Explorer is making a loud noise from the front end that sounds like something grinding and it gets worse the more you drive, you could have a bad wheel hub assembly. If you have a 2×4 Ford Explorer you do not have a wheel hub assembly but instead have a bearing that you can replace instead.

The Front Wheel Assembly for the 1995 Ford Explorer will cost you between $124.99 – $188 + tax depending on where you buy it. You can buy the hub assembly from a website online or even from a local auto parts store like Advanced Auto Parts, AutoZone and Pep Boys. You will also want to replace the front half shaft nut Ford part # N808985-S100 or you can use some lock tight.

You will need some tools as well to remove and then replace the Ford Explorer Front Wheel Hub Assembly.

The tools you will need are:

1/2 drive breaker bar, 1/2 drive 32mm socket, 3/8″ drive ratchet, 3/8″ drive 15mm socket, 3/8″ drive 8mm socket, lug wrench, pipe for breaker bar.

You will also need a good jack, jack stands and safety glasses.

The first thing you will want to do is to first loosen the front axle shaft nut with your breaker bar and your 32mm or 1 1/4 inch deep socket. You will need to use a pipe bar that will fit over the breaker bar to give you some extra leverage. This front drive / half shaft nut can be pretty tight and you may need a good sized bar to help you break the nut free.

Once you break the nut free you will want to loosen all of the lug nuts before jacking up the truck. Once you have loosened the center drive nut and the 5 lug nuts you can take your bottle jack and place it under your a-arm or under the frame of the Explorer. You can also use another kind of jack if you like. You will also want to place jack stands under the frame once you have the trucked lifted off the ground. Then you can lower the truck onto the jack stands while you work.

Once the truck is off the ground and secured onto jack stands you can take your 15mm socket and remove the two bolts that hold on the caliper and brake pad bracket. These bolts could be really tight as well and you could need to use a small breaker bar or pipe on your socket handle to help you remove these bolts. There will be two bolts that hold the caliper bracket into place. Once you have loosened them you will then want to remove the caliper from the brackets and then remove the bracket from the spindle. Once you have removed the caliper and the bracket the brake rotor will slide right off the hub assembly. You may need to tap it a bit with your rubber mallet and after doing so just pull the rotor forward and it will slide right off.

You will also want to loosen the three 8mm bolts that hold on the brake rotor shield and then you will want to remove the brake rotor shield. Now that the rotor and the brake shield are off the hub assembly you will want to loosen the three 15mm bolts that hold the front hub assembly into place. These bolts will also be tight so you might need to use a breaker bar as well to help loosen them up. Once all three bolts have been removed you can tap the hub assembly a few times and it will just fall right out. You will want to loosen the 8mm bolt that holds the ABS brake sensor wire to the spindle and then up plug the wire from the harness.

Once you have removed the brake rotor shield, hub assembly, caliper & bracket, you will be ready to install the new front wheel hub assembly in your Ford Explorer. You will want to make sure you clean the area where the new hub assembly will sit before installing the new bearing assembly.

Once you have cleaned the surface where the new hub assembly will sit you will want to take your three 15mm bolts and bolt them into place. Make sure to tighten then hub assembly bolts nice and tight. Next place your rotor back onto the lugs and then reassemble the caliper bracket and bolt on your caliper. Make sure to hook up your new sensor wire to the wiring harness and then bolt it into place with the 8mm bolt you removed earlier. Once everything is put back together and completely tight you can put the wheel back on and then tighten your drive shaft nut. You will want to use some lock tight on the threads if you are not using a new half shaft nut.