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Front Wheel bearing replacement

chrisg

chrisg

Member
Morning All !

Whilst fitting some new brake pads last week, it became apparent that the front O/S wheel bearing had some play in it. Further investigation/inspection is it isnt too bad but has some wear (may be able to tighten up/ shim). However, for the sake of ~ £40 for new bearings, races & grease seal I'm thinking I should do the job properly.

Clarks give a fairly good job description, before I dive in and try their method, has anyone tried it before or got experience of:

1. Removing the grease seal
2. Tapping out the races and installing new ones
3. Refitting

thanks

Chris
 
Chris,

Not often you are asking for advice on here - you're the one who usually can offer advice on pretty much anything!

I've done both front bearings on my S2 and don't remember them being in any way unusual or difficult. I can't remember the details but it's as you'd expect it to be. Getting the pinch nut done up correctly at the end is about the hardest part and that's only 'cos I didn't have an allen key long enough of the right eize. (Don't forget to rotate the hub as there is a notch that will line up with the screw head.)

The old tricks of freezing the bearing and heating the hub always help in my experience.

Oli.

 
If you put the hub in the oven and the bearing races in the freezer, they just drop in. Not a difficult job at all... there is a good YouTube tutorial from a chap called van.

 
Follow this video, it's very good and has helped me do the job twice now.

[link]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjFY7-IHgvQ[/url]

 
Rob & Oli

thanks both for your sage advice !

I usually don't have any issues or worries, I just wanted to check I wasn't missing anything particularly as 2nd hand hubs aren't cheap or readily available.

Luckily Van's video (as suggested by Rob) is very detailed and although he uses a specialised race installer, the hot/cold temp difference of the hub & race will work.

I'm also (much to Mrs G's dismay...) planning on heating the hub up in the oven prior to extracting the old races !

I know from previous experience of doing work on the calipers that large lumps of aluminium (in a cold garage...) take a lot of heat input to raise them up to a decent expansive temp.

Will update you all once I'm done [:)]

 
Tips for heating the hub up in the oven:

1. Do it while the mrs is out. Give her £100 and tell her where the nearest shoe shop is if necessary. (You'll save more than £100 doing the job yourself so think of this as an investment).

2. Clean the hub very throughly before putting it in the oven; dirt and grease will smell when heated and the smell is what will give the game away when Mrs G arrives home with her new shoes.

3. Use a baking tray but cover it with foil beforehand, for obvious reasons.

4. Don't dispose of the foil in the kitchen bin when complete - take it straight to the dustbin (or garage bin).

All these tips have been personally tested by me and I can attest to the fact that they work better in combination (i.e. don't just try one of them - do all of them.)

Oli.

 
Quick update, great covert instructions from Oli - used these to great effect this afternoon...

After 2hrs at >200c in the main oven, both bearing races and the grease seal popped out very easily with gentle persuasion from a drift.

Interesting to note that theyd clearly been in there for a long time and well compressed = you can still see some writing marks embedded in the aluminium hub from the inner faces of the bearing races !

So, new parts orders from Eurocarparts will fit next weekend, using the recommended Heat hub to 200c, races & grease seal to -18c should make a big difference

Thanks again for advice [:)]

Chris

 
Chris I have a Gucci bearing install toolset which you are welcome to borrow (I'm just down the M11 from you). Even with hot hubs and cold bearing races, I still found that serious pressure was needed to squeeze the little blighters in.

 
Most kind and keen to take you up on this !

Whereabouts are you ? (PM me with details or ring me 07540 193874)

thanks

Chris

 
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