06 Mazda 5 Project

macuserman

macuserman

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Lately I've been working more on my Mazda 5 which is my $2,000 commuter car that I picked up back in 2021 or 2022. During Covid we ended up down to just 1 car and afterwards needed a second so managed to pickup a Manual Transmission 06 Mazda 5 with just over 200K miles, for 2,000. Until this year I drove it as is without ever doing anything to it other than oil changes. I drive 50 miles each way for work so have been racking up the miles steadily and in the past couple months starting having wheel bearing noise in addition to lots of clunking from the suspension, and the clutch started slipping. I bought the car from the original owner who gave me a stack of paperwork and I believe the clutch has never been changed I've got around 250K on the car now so that clutch is long overdue.

So I decided to just dig in and refresh everything in the front end.
 
Apologies for the non Suzuki content but I figured I'd share what I'm into at the moment in the off topic sub. As I tore into it I found more and more stuff that was just totally shot so I've a massive list of new parts to go into it with the wheel bearings and hubs being the only part I've actually installed so far after which I then removed the strut assemblies.

Current status is I have the front end torn down to just the engine, I still need to remove the flywheel and a sway bar bolt that has been giving me fits, then I'll be ready to start reassembly in earnest beginning with the rear main seal.

Full list of new parts:
Rear Main Seal
Both Axles
Both Control Arms
Tie Rod Ends
Both Strut Assemblies
Sway bar end links
Sway bar bushings
Transmission mounts
Engine Mount
Flywheel
Clutch
Throwout/pilot bearings.
Oil Cooler

That's all I can think of for now but I'm sure there is more.... This project turned into a well let me just refresh the whole thing I had to take most of it off anyways to get to the clutch so no point in not replacing all the things that are end of life.
 
its a big process but worth it in the end. a person does not realize how accustomed they get when parts are worn-it will be like a new car.
i like the fact that it doesnt have the failure prone unitized front bearing assemblies like new vehicles. seen SO MANY of those fail at lower than expected mileage...

the OEM tapered bearings in a co-workers truck have almost 1 million miles on them- the difference? every brake job he pulls the bearings, cleans and re-packs them with fresh grease.
cant do that with the new, disposable parts / cars. just buy and replace.

looks good so far !!
 
92GT said:
Do you know your Swift's previous owner works at Mazda if you are looking for OEM.
Click to expand...
Oooh! I did not know that actually, and I do need to order an OEM rear main seal, and some bolts that I had to cut to get the battery tray out.
blueturbofly said:
its a big process but worth it in the end. a person does not realize how accustomed they get when parts are worn-it will be like a new car.
i like the fact that it doesnt have the failure prone unitized front bearing assemblies like new vehicles. seen SO MANY of those fail at lower than expected mileage...

the OEM tapered bearings in a co-workers truck have almost 1 million miles on them- the difference? every brake job he pulls the bearings, cleans and re-packs them with fresh grease.
cant do that with the new, disposable parts / cars. just buy and replace.

looks good so far !!
Click to expand...
I've never changed front bearings before so this was a new job for me, they were an absolute dog to change even with the bearing press tool. Hopefully they will last as long as the first ones.
 
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