So let's loose the wheel nuts

Then let's raise the car, avoiding working with our hands close to the jack

Let's support the car with a suitable jack stand, finish removing the wheel nuts and remove the wheel. In this photo you could notice that the wheel arch is missing, that is because in the meantime I was also doing other works on the car

Then let's remove the free wheel hub, with a 10 mm wrench and putting a screwdriver between the cooling fins of the brake disc, so that the screwdriver hits against the brake caliper, to prevent the hub from rotating

 

It is useful to use a magnetic tray to collect all the unscrewed nuts and bolts, to avoid losing them, but it is useful especially for noticing, at the end of the work, if we forgot to reinstall something. In this picture there are also other bolts, because, as I said, in the meanwhile I was also doing other works

Here it is the removed free wheel hub

Let's remove the brake caliper, unscrewing two bolts with a 17 mm wrench

but probably a breaking bar will be more comfortable to unscrew those two bolts

 

Let's hang the brake caliper to a piece of wire to support it and not to risk to damage the brake hose

Then let's remove the brake caliper support, unscrewing two 19 mm bolts

And let's remove the brake caliper support and slide out the brake pads

With the opportunity let's check the brake pads wear. At the center of the pad there is a groove, when the pads are worn so that the groove is no more then the pads must be replaced

 

Behind each brake pad there is a small metal plate that can remove

Care must be taken at how those plates are assembled, because they are of different shapes; however the shorter plate is the one that must be in contact with the brake caliper piston.

Using circlip pliers, let's remove the clip that is in the groove on the halfshaft and keeps it in place

The clip should be replaced every time that it is removed, because it can deform, as can be seen in this picture

Then let's remove the washer behind the clip

 

After that let's unscrew the two screws that stop the perforated ring, which serves to stop the wheel bearings lock nut

and remove the perforated ring

Then we have to remove the threaded wheel bearings lock nut. To unscrew the lock nut it would be ideal to have the KIA special service tool (part number K95B-0001-U), that is sold for 75$, but normally you use a hammer and a screwdriver, because the ring should unscrew easily, as that should not be too tight, otherwise the wheel bearings wear out quickly. Maybe, if you have it, a flathead bodkin is better than a screwdriver, because it is more difficult to nick the lock nut

Whatever system you use, let's remove the bearing lock nut

The wheel hub lock nut of my Sportage has got a groove on its side, because once it was damaged as a result of a bearing failure, because of the infiltration of water into the hub; but the replacement lock nut that I bought is not good because its has a different thread, so I still keep the old lock nut, but I position it with its good side toward the bearings.

 

Let's remove the two screws that fasten the brake rotor; to avoid that the brake rotor pivots while loosening those two screws, put a long screwdriver between the rotor cooling fins, so that the screwdriver leans on the ground and prevents the brake rotor from pivoting. Be careful when removing those two screws because they could be rusted and hard to be unscrewed, and, as they are made ​​of soft metal, they can be easily damaged, in which case you could have to drill them to be able to remove the brake rotor, as once I had to do with one of those screws

After that let's remove the brake rotor. The brake rotor could be rusted and very difficult to remove too. The first times I removed the brake rotors they were rusted so I used a crowbar to pry them out; since then I always put copper anti-seize grease to prevent them from rusting again, that is why you can see a copper color on the brake rotors, on their brackets and on the screws that fasten them. Another way that seems to me very effective for removing rusted brake rotors is desribed in this video on YouTube:

At this point let's put in place the puller

To prevent the hub from rotating while tightening the puller screw, put a crowbar like in the picture, then let's tighten the puller screw to remove the hub from the halfshaft

 

And here it is the removed hub; on the ground you can see also the outer bearing that fell from the hub once I removed it. At the top of the hub you can see the oil seal

And here it is the halfshaft without the hub

Then let's remove the dust cover, which is filthy, unscrewing the four 12 mm bolts that fasten it

After removing the dust cover, let's remove the ABS sensor, unscrewing the 10 mm bolt, which fasten it

 

After removing the bolt that fastens it, let's remove the ABS sensor. I put copper anti-seize grease on it too

Let's slide out the vacuum hub hose.

Now let's remove the safety pin that is on the nut that fastens the tie rod end and let's remove that nut, with a 17 mm wrench, it seems to me

Let's position a ball joint puller on the tie rod end ball joint. While doing that, a lot of grease came out of the ball joint shroud, and unfortunately I cannot put grease back in it because it hasn't got a grease nipple, which annoys me a lot, because I changed that tie rod end only about a year ago, but I don't think there are aftermarket tie rod ends with a grease nipple for Sportages

And screwing with much force let's pull out the tie rod end.

Then let's unscrew the nut of the bolt that fastens the upper control arm to the steering knuckle

 

Let's remove the bolt that fastens the upper control arm, to do that let's help ourselves pushing down the upper control arm to free that bolt and let's remove the upper control arm from the steering knuckle.

Then let's unscrew the four bolts fastening the ball joint to the lower control arm

And after we have removed those four bolts, we can slide the steering knuckle out of the halfshaft. In this photo, inside the steering knuckle, it can be made out the bearing through which the halfshaft passes

At this point, be careful not to pull the halfshaft, because it is no more stopped, and it would come out of the differential and the differential oil would fall on the floor.

 

Excellent tutorial. A couple suggestions to simplify things: You can remove the six freewheel hub bolts before removing the tire so you don't have to stop the rotor with a screwdriver, and you can leave the rotor attached to the hub when you remove it if the screws are stripped or you don't have the proper driver to remove them. You can also leave the tie rod end connected if you don't have the tool to pop it loose, just make sure the spindle's weight is supported by something else.

In my experience a puller is not required to remove the hub, a gentle tap with a rubber mallet or a firm tug will bring it off.

The nice thing about the way our Sportages are set up is that this work can be done without the special tools, although they make things much easier.

 

Thanks a lot for your comment and suggestions, which I take in great consideration because coming from a professional. Your suggestions were very useful to me, that is also one of the reasons for which I posted my guide: to receive suggestions or corrections.

 

In this photo you can see, inside the steering knuckle, the halfshaft bearing and the hole through which vacuum passes to activate the free wheel hub

To remove that bearing a sliding hammer, with a 30 mm bearing puller, is necessary.

To remove the inner bearing from the hub, I used this system to try not to damage the oil seal

I supported the hub between two bricks, then I plugged in the hub the handle of a hammer, placing it on the bearing, then with another hammer, I hit on the head of the first hammer to pull out bearing and seal; it worked, and they were not damaged.

And here they are the wheel bearings, cleaned out of the old grease

The smallest one is the outer bearing and the largest one is the inner bearing.

And here it is the hub oil seal

It can be noticed a layer of white Teflon to improve the sealing.

 

At this point let's check the free wheel hub gears, removing, by inserting a screwdriver into the slot, the retaining ring that stops them

Here they are its gears, cleaned out of the old grease, in the order they have to be installed

The gears appear undamaged. Long time ago it was discovered that if the spring is placed on the bottom then it forces the free wheel hub to stay always connected, that gives us the confidence that we can always have four-wheel drive in case of failure of the vacuum system, all you need is a screwdriver and a 10 mm wrench to disassemble the free wheel hubs and change the order of their gears to have the free wheel hubs connected (in this case it is better to unplug the 4WD solenoid valve, to avoid any vacuum leak to the engine).

We can notice that the genuine KIA vacuum hubs are manufactured in USA by Warn

 

...Long time ago it was discovered that if the spring is placed on the bottom then it forces the free wheel hub to stay always connected, that gives us the confidence that we can always have four-wheel drive in case of failure of the vacuum system, all you need is a screwdriver and a 10 mm wrench to disassemble the free wheel hubs and change the order of their gears to have the free wheel hubs connected (in this case it is better to unplug the 4WD solenoid valve, to avoid any vacuum leak to the engine)...

Hello Galf. Nice tutorial, thanks!
About permanent connection of 4x4 system: is not a problem with the cornering? I mean the different ratio of the front wheels when turning? Whats happen, is not an issue?

 

I am doing this to both sides right now and this tutorial has been highly prized. Also I am reversing that spring-the vacuum will not operate the hubs anymore. (Yes I replaced the shot hoses). Why take chances going off road miles from pavement?

 

If you are talking about reversing the gears order in the vacuum hubs to have them always engaged, the only issue about that is that you will have the front differential always working, so it will slowly wear out; I do not know if you can still insert the 4WD with the car running. As long as the 4WD lever in the passenger compartment is not activated your Sportage is not in 4WD, but on our Sportages the 4WD can be activated only on slippery ground, because our Sportages do not have a central differential. If you activate the 4WD on a not slippery ground, then you are going to break something in your Sportage drivetrain.

 

Yes, I'm talking about reversing order for permanently coupled hubs. My concern is about the spinning of the wheels, the situation when you turning corners and the wheels rotation are different, the wheel from exterior of the road, then outer rev will be more than inner wheel.
Is it possible to damage something because of permanent locks of the hubs when the lever is in normal 2H position?

 

There is no problem, the front differential is there for that.

 

Thanks mate! You're just spare me for a new buy session. I found that my Sportage has no vacuum pipes, the previous owner has ripped out all the tubes and vacuum kit. Also he welded the hubs that be permanently blocked. Right now, my front hubs are brocken and must be replaced.
So, if I buy a pair of them and i will reverse position of the spring, I will have solve the problem right?

 

The vacuum hubs are not designed to be used with their gears in reverse order, so I do not know how much you can trust them used that way, but I think that you will solve the problem that way. Of course there is no reason to keep them locked until snow arrives where you live.

 

In your opinion, for best off-road capacity, is better to restore all the system to the original status?

 

No, you cannot trust the stock vacuum hubs system, you need vacuum hubs with reversed gears, or better manual hubs.

 

Thank you Galf.
Now you give me a new research theme: „vacuum hubs with reversed gears”
Must to google it... see you later.

 

Thank you Galf.
Now you give me a new research theme: „vacuum hubs with reversed gears”
Must to google it... see you later.

With "vacuum hubs with reversed gears" I meant "vacuum hubs with reversed spring position"; I am sorry, I was not precise. The hubs on your Sportage should already be vacuum hubs.

 

Now I understand what you mean... You're right, my Sportage already have some parts of vacuum hubs. I say „some parts”, because the previous owner stripped out the system and welded the hubs.
Right now, I have that:
cam type hubs (first model) welded so they can't engage or disengage.
metallic pipes on the body (firewall)
metallic struts on the wheel
also, I buy the vacuum tank and the three way solenoid valve (circled on image)
In your opinion, what is the best way to go further?

 

By the way, I found this:
In this article, we’ll start with the early systems on the 2000 Sportage.

The most common complaint you’ll encounter is no 4WD operation, which can usually be traced to problems with the vacuum-actuated front hubs. Kia requires that the driver shift the transfer case into four-wheel-drive, choosing either high- or low-range gearing. The driver must then flip a switch that opens a vacuum-control valve, sending vacuum to the locking front hubs and engaging them to the drive axles. If there’s a weak link in the system, it’s the hubs.

The hubs can cause a couple of problems. The first, and most common, is no engagement. Many times, these troubles can be traced to the vacuum supply, rather than a mechanical problem with the hubs themselves. The first step is to be sure you have vacuum at the hubs with 4WD engaged and the engine running. If not, work backward looking for the vacuum leak; a convenient test point is the “T” fitting by the master cylinder where the lines branch off to the left and right sides. This “T” is downstream of the control solenoid and vacuum storage tank, so if you have vacuum here, you should have it at the hubs.

Many times, the problem is as simple as broken or disconnected vacuum hoses leading to the hub. But, there have been reports of problems with the steel lines running to the wheels. Over the years, these lines can rust, restricting flow and, in the worst cases, causing leaks. There are updated parts available, and Kia has issued a TSB on the subject (see sidebar below), but line replacement can be a tedious task. Many techs report good success with alternate methods of repair, but you’ll have to make the choice as to what’s the best course of action for your situation.

Another problem you can run into with the hubs involves engagement when it’s not called for. Usually described as a noise, in this case the hubs are sticking, and the wheels are engaging and disengaging the drive, the axles and front differential while the transfer case is in the two-wheel-drive position. Many times, simply backing up the truck will take care of this problem, but often it’s an indication that the hubs should come apart to be cleaned and lubed.

Depending on the condition of the original units, replacement hubs may be in order. In the case of the Sportage, road grime that’s finding its way into the hub through the previously discussed vacuum system can cause this problem. If the 4WD isn’t used very often, the broken or disconnected vacuum lines could have been overlooked for quite a while.
SOURCE
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Automechanical Locking Hubs: Warn part number 61918. These are a much improved version of the automechanical hubs originally installed on 1995 - 1997 Sportages. They can be engaged at much higher speeds and don't require vacuum for engagement. Disadvantages is that they are more expensive than manual hubs and they cannot take much abuse. They are for light 4 wheel drive duty only.
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