Rear wheel bearings on 84 944

[Paul Fraser]

Post fitting a set of 41mm spacers and Cup wheels I am now getting a wuh-wuh-wuh sound from the rear offside (yes I know spacers are tough on wheel bearings but it has been years since they have been done anyway). There is slight lateral play on the wheel but not much vertical (surprisingly).
1. Is this likely to be the wheel bearing? (I am told CV joints are more of a clicking/ticking sound.)
2. Best way of getting these out? (Tracked down a wheel bearing removal tool in the US but this seems to be for 86- cars only -- what is the difference as the offset on my '86 is the same as my '84, I thought it was 87 on the ABS late offset thing started.)
Have searched on this but no really conclusive answers.

PS Had the Jesus nut off a couple of years ago (for why I can't remember, think I might have been going to change the bearings as routine maintainance till I saw the race buried deep inside the hole...) Obviously torqued it up as best I could after, but is it worth getting breaker bar out and torquing further or is the bearing just gone...?)

 

[Guest]

Hey I've just changed mine, check out my post asking for help. I found there's not many people on here that would change there own bearings, rather take it to a garage and stump up £400 or whatever than get muck under their nails. But I changed both sides on my own in under 3 hours and it's all stright forward stuff really. If they're due a change anyway then you might aswell do it. If the sound is still there then that's one thing off the list but at least they're done. My set cost £50 of ebay Plus 3 hours of my own labour.
If you do do it and need any pointers, guidance, encouragement then just ask me. I only did it the other day so it's all still fresh in the mind. But I'm a novice home mechanic and found what i thought would be a pain in the arse to be a quite simple job, so if you're the same you'll be okay.
If it's not that then I'd buy a good second hand drive axle/cv joints unit and try it on. New ones cost a bomb and if that's not the problem you'll be pissed off. A second hand one is about £20 and they really are a doddle to change, just 12 easy to get to bolts, undo, replace, tighten. Half and hour. If there's a change then you can decide whether to keep the second hand unit or buy a new one. Or you could swap the ones you've got round, see if the noise goes with it or stays.
Good luck mate, let us know how you get on.

 

[Diver944]

ORIGINAL: Darren

I found there's not many people on here that would change there own bearings, rather take it to a garage and stump up £400 or whatever than get muck under their nails.

Actually I had a rear bearing replaced a couple of years ago and it IIRC it was an hours labour at £40 and about the same for the bearing. I spent the other £320 on a fresh manicure for my nails [][][]

I take my hat off to you doing it yourself but ,my expertise stops when it's a simple unbolt and bolt back on again.

 

[Paul Fraser]

Thanks for both of your useful replies.
Darren, what type of bearing did you get off of Ebay (I saw two that were advertised for a 1984 944) and how did you get the race out of the control arm? Was it hard to fit the new one?

 

[Guest]

You don't need to remove the entire race from the control arm, just leave it on and take the bearings out. Remove the wheel, brake calipers, disc and everything else yeah. Then disconnect the drive shaft coming from the gear box. Just six bolts hold it onto the hub, leave the other end attached to the box and move it out the way. You then knock the stub axle out, the bit that the castle nut was attached to. Use a hammer and a block of wood if needs be but mine just pushed out.
Then you're faced with two seals, inner and outer, these can be a pain but if you get a full kit you'll get new ones so don't worry about destroying them to get them out. After that, on the inner side (from under the car) there's a circlip holding the bearings in, remove it. Then the bearings will come out. Sometimes they'll just pull out, sometimes they need persuading. I persuaded mine by using a hammer and screwdriver to tap them out from the opposite side. IE, for the outer bearings i got under the car, and used the hammer and driver to walk them out, tap from side to side. And that's it man. clean everything, replace and regrease and then stick it all back together.

I dunno if that makes any sence to you but get under the car and have a look, familiarise yourself with everything. It really is easy though mate, you can defo do this. You've get the exact same set up as me so i can talk you through stuff if you get stuck anywhere, but you shouldn't. It's one of those jobs that just explains itself really once you start taking things apart.

The bearings of ebay were 944 pre 86 rear wheel bearings. But they were advertised as 924, but they're exactly the same. All 924s, pre 86 944s, and a load of VW models including the old Karmann Ghias. The bearings are all the same. Get a full kit if you can, inner and outer bearings, new seals, O-rings, new castle nut and splitpins, all for 50 quid..

The feeling of pride afterwards is worth the money alone. The car feeling and sounding much better is just a bonus.
Go on, do it man!!

 

[peanut]

the rears need to be pressed out which is why I got my local garage to do mine. I am not sure if you can do it in situ with a lot of bashing or best to remove arm , take it to an engineer and get them to do it in a press

 

[Guest]

What are you talking about? How come i did mine on the drive then? No press involved, no engineers, no bashing. Just a lad with basic tools and the courage to have a go.
I think the later, post 86, models had a different set up. I've no experience with later models so maybe they need pressing out, i don't know. But mine's a 82 and Paul's is an 84 so they have the same set up, and i know from experience that it can be done, and it's quiet easy too. Paul, you don't need to go to a garage.

Mine failed it's MOT on Saturday, bulb out and door mirror insecure. They quoted £45 to fix this, £9 for the bulb alone!! I changed the bulb and tightened the bolts holding the mirror onto the door. But i think a lot of folk here would have paid the £45, which is crazy. Just have a go people. When i first got my 944 i was a bit worried about how to go about fixing stuff and what garage to take it to when it went tits up. But when i got underneath and started poking around, they're almost as simple as my old Beetle. The electrics are very complicated but mechanical things are quite straight forward. I haven't been to a garage yet, 'cept for the MOT of course.

 

[Paul Fraser]

Darren iirc it is the race that was the problem the last time I looked at doing this. I thought that a new race came with the bearings? If you don't replace the race, aren't you running new bearings with an old, possibly worn race? Is this a problem? Which part tends to cause the rumbling? Worn bearings, race or both?

 

[berg944]

Darren will have replaced the whole bearing

used the hammer and driver to walk them out, tap from side to side

I usually turn a bar down to a loose fit in the bearing then drift them out evenly.

Better still make a simple puller using a large threaded bar.

A kettle of boiling water is usually enough heat on the housing, you could try "freeze" spray on the bearings.

When putting new bearings in I use hot water on the housing and put the bearings in the freezer.

Mike[:'(]

 

[Paul Fraser]

Mike, did you remove the race or just the two bearings?