Front wheel bearing replacement

[mbcamper]

One of my front wheel bearings has begun to make unwanted noise - kind of a deep wah-wah-wah which is related to the van speed. Pretty sure it's a bearing started to give up.

I've jacked up front and the wheel and it's not showing signs of play, but I guess its only a matter of time. It has only just started to get noisy.

I've had a quick look at what is involved and wondered if this is going to be an easy task. The manual mentions pressing things out and pressing them back again and I don't have a press!

As the hub/ disk is the same bit of metal I'll inspect and possibly replace this whilst I'm at it, but my question is if I'm likely to get myself into trouble with removal or replacement of the bearings. I do have a big engineer's vice, so I can do light pressing operations.

[937carrera]

A quick search throws up this thread

http://forum.club8090.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=37&t=168437

You're right to assume it's going to be difficult, rather than easy. Large sockets can also be used

[mbcamper]

Thanks - I'd not spotted the itchyfeet post and pictures.

It looks achievable with tapping in place with a hammer. I was worried that I'd need a big press to do the job. I can make round press surface as shown if I don't have a suitable big socket; have access to a lathe if needed.

Van is in for it's MOT today and I suspect they might fail me or give me an advisory for the bearing.

[itchyfeet]

if it fails or not you should still check and replace if that's the problem, could or course be the splash guard rubbing or a stone in between splash guard and disc, had that before.

easy with a hammer just need the right size piece of metal.

[Mr Bean]

Hope not teaching granny but:
Careful not to over tighten retaining nut as this will run the bearings. Correct retaining nut adjustment is achieved by tightening while spinning wheel, backing off then tightening until the thrust washer can just about be moved by screwdriver/finger pressure (ref. both Haynes and Bentley's manuals.) .
My bright young MOT tester had to be educated on tapered roller wheel bearings.

[mbcamper]

Well whilst I was replacing suspension springs I inspected the bearing which was making a rumbling noise.

On removing the hub / disk the inner bearing just fell apart and came out in bits:



The subject of replacing the bearing is well covered in other posts, but I thought I'd share how I managed to press the new bearings in place. I decided that the disks were okay, so having removed the old bearing, I used them to tap the new ones in place. Okay that sounds just silly doesn't it! What I did was use an angle grinder to slice a slit in it. This allows it to drive the new bearing in place, but the old bearing case can be easily removed once you are done:

[itchyfeet]

The subject of replacing the bearing is well covered in other posts, but I thought I'd share how I managed to press the new bearings in place. I decided that the disks were okay, so having removed the old bearing, I used them to tap the new ones in place. Okay that sounds just silly doesn't it! What I did was use an angle grinder to slice a slit in it. This allows it to drive the new bearing in place, but the old bearing case can be easily removed once you are done:

Brilliant.
I wish that was my idea.

[Mr Bean]

One of my tricks and it will ring on for ages if you balance it on your finger and give it a gentle tap with a spanner.
Hope I don't collect enough for a wind chime .

[itchyfeet]

One of my tricks.

A bit late now.