Another Front Wheel Bearing thread

[scrounger]

My 86 Jet has been making a lot of noise on our unimproved roads. Lots of rattling. I have owned it for 4 years and it always has made this kind of noise. The prior owner said it was the brake pads.  Last spring I found a damper weight on the drive shaft on the rt side was loose so I cut it off.

Removing the damper weight helped. I never at the time quite understood where the red grease came from. It doesn't look greasy now. Could the drive shaft CV joint be damaged as well.

 If I would put the brakes on lightly the noise would stop.

I decided to look at the "loose brake pads" and took the rt wheel off, took off the brake caliper and put it back together. To my amazement the wheel had had about a 1/4" or more play. The spindle was tight but the hub and driveshaft  were wallowing around together.  The drive shaft could additionally be moved in and out along it's axis another 1/4".

Do I need to pull the entire bearing holder?

[fatmobile]

Yes, the whole thing comes off, gets pressed or hammered apart and a new bearing needs pressed in.

[TylerDurden]

Bearing change can be done in-car... easy with the strut disconnected to get the axle splines out, then slip a bolt back in for leverage.

Like this pic (not mine)


Takes about an hour each side. I have the Schley tool, but the Azone loaner tools work too.

[ORCoaster]

Tyler where was the caution to not use that crescent wrench?   Box ends or two sockets or you are going to bust knuckles, it takes some torque to get that in there. 

[scrounger]

I think I got it.
Take out big nut.
Pull wheel hub from shaft.
Remove strut bolt to tip axle to get it out of the way.

Remove bearing then reverse for install.
 

[TylerDurden]

My order of ops:

Remove axle nut
Remove caliper (hang to side) & rotor
Remove strut to knuckle bolts
Tip knuckle to slide out axle.
Tip knuckle back and use one bolt to hold in place
Pull out hub from bearing using long bolts & backer (part of Schley kit). One inner race stays on hub.
Remove snap rings
Use bearing puller to extract remaining bearing
Put hub in vise and use blunt chisels to make gap between race and hub
Use two-jaw puller to completely remove race from hub
Drink coffee before continuing

Here is the schley kit, notice the two bolts and backer plate. (not my pic)



Install one circlip and press/pull in the new bearing with a large diameter die.
Install second circlip
Press/pull in the hub:
The key to safely installing the new bearing is to not press the hub into the bearing without backing the opposite inner race with a small diameter die.

If I can find my old instruction sheet, I'll post it. I've moved a few times in the 20+yrs I've owned that tool.


As for the c-wrench... I'd do it, if I didn't have that size. Hell, I'll use a pipe wrench if needed.

[scrounger]

As usual you GTD owners are great.

LIke a lot of people I have acccumulated tools. I buy them when needed, I sometimes improvise them. When my Dad and father in law passed, I got other tools.

 Am in my 60's now and my main problem is strength. I am in good shape but a full pull just isn't as good as before. Extension pipes and heavier air tools are an important part of my tool kit.

Have had my car 4 years and this is the first time I have had to do anything major.

[scrounger]

A little update.
Today I went  to both autozone and o'rielies  parts store. Both could get the bearing over night but neither offered any tools for sale or loan.

I came home dejected so thought I would dig into it. Took the wheel off and decided put my 30 on the center bolt. It wasn't tight at all. Turned it down tight with my half inch ratchet. Put my torque wrench on it, my wrench goes to 140 so I turned it down till the indicator rod hit  stop at 155 then a bit further

The end play on the wheel is gone. It had not made any bearing noise so maybe all is well for a while.

[air-cooled or diesel]

if your talking of the big center nut, the axle nut, thats about 300ftlbs, i dont even use a torque wrench; 3/4 breaker bar and a pipe and turrn, an air impact works good, then add some with the bar. if its been loose a bet your wheel bearings may have had enough; it may be only some time before your getting into that; axles you can find for $50; and i love to rebuild the front end and stuff like brakes and things. all that 'red grease' is grease thats been contaminated and got all over the place, somethings going under there; most likely the cv's.

[scrounger]

300FT PDS, I am not even close.

[TylerDurden]

if your talking of the big center nut, the axle nut, thats about 300ftlbs,...

Axle nut spec is 195 ftlb. 

I just put a lot of my weight on the 18" breaker bar. Done.

If the nut was loose, the bearing will likely fail... never seen one survive, since the seal gets damaged. Once dirt and water get in, it doesn't take long.

[scrounger]

I looked in my Bentley after I replied, yes 195.

Right, the bearing is on it's way south. I'll keep an eye on it.