My front wheel bearing on my 2002 windstar is howling. Had to buy entire front hub bearing assembly. Is there any special tricks to changing? What is the torque spec for the actual drive shaft nut & is there a special procedure to tighten this drive shaft nut?
Thanks.

First, buy a repair manual, Haynes or equivalent. It's a fairly straight forward job. You have to remove the brake caliper, control arms, tie rods, stabilizer bars, etc. Most requiring special tools or a BFH. Then put it all back together and get the front end aligned.

whats bfh?

Big Flippin Hammer.
Or as I like to call it, the Ford diagnostic tool!

I belive he was referring to the Break Free Handle.

Easy to use... just wrap it around the "thingamajig" and then pull on the "whatyoumightcallit" untill the "whatsitsname" breaks free.

hi I just did this job myself....its not too bad hub spindle nut torque is 157 to 212 thats what the hayes manual said...while the tire is still on ground, loosen hub nut...raise and take wheel off.Next take caliper off and bracket that holds caliper to the steering kuckle. you need to do this to get the rotor off. after the rotor is off, take hub nut off and then take pinch bolt out of bottom ball joint. and open the pinch up a little with a screw driver then take a long pry bar/pipe and pry lower control arm down until the ball joint comes out..then get a three arm puller (you can rent these at autozone, as well as the 30mm socket for the hub nut and a torque ratchet that goes to 200 or 250 ft pds) you need this to push the axle shaft out of the hub.....then you can pull the strut foward and get the axle spindle out. be careful not to over extend the cv joints. now you can get to the three bolts from behind that hold the hub to the knuckle

now the hub can be a bit stubborn, I used a cold chisel to wedge in the hub /steering knuckle crack and the hub moved a bit and then got easier and fell out. you may have to clean the opening with wire brush or sand paper to clean it up....then bolt new hub...I used a little lock tight on the bolts... then push spindle into hub and put washer and nut on and start to tighten nut to draw spindle into hub .I drew it up about half way then I slipped ball joint back into place..then it was a matter or reassemble... finish drawing spindle with hub bolt, dont torque final torque until tire is on and on the ground......bolt in ball joint...rotor and caliper bracket.....caliper and tire....any questions??

by the way...I torqued my hub in the middle...about 195 ft pds and if you use the same nut ( which is ok) put some lock tight on four or five treads I also was careful not to let the caliper hang ( wire it up to the coil spring) and try to keep the axle on the control arm( not to hang as well as to extend it to far ) I actually wired mine to the control arm so I wouldnt bump it off.kinda cramped down there