Front Wheel Bearing Replacement

[RogerT]

Are synchro front bearings more difficult to do than 2wd rear bearings?

[garyd]

RogerT asked - Are synchro front bearings more difficult to do than 2wd rear bearings?

Yes, they are a double row ball race, pressed into the hub upright. You have to separate the upright from the upper & lower arms, driveshaft and track rod to remove it from the vehicle and get it under a press with the right sized tools to remove/refit the bearings.

Syncro rear hubs are the same as 2wd ones.

********

Thanks for the pointers guys. I have now discovered that the slight movement was due to the hub nut being a fraction loose! Half a turn on the nut and all is well. New nuts ordered though.

[RogerT]

Thanks, but I see now I should have been more specific with my question...
What I want to know is, is it more difficult to fit the race into the hub? I’ve done a 2wd rear just carefully hammering it in with a soft drift on the outer race, would a similar approach work on the syncrow, or does it NEED a press? The reason I’m asking is there is a sync to down the road from me that hasn’t moves in donkeys, and it’s tempting... (and I know there’s plenty of other reasons to steer clear...)

[garyd]

If you read my first post you'll see that I have never done this job.
Maybe one of those offering press tools can answer your question.

[clift_d]

My understanding is that you need a decent press to put the front Syncro bearing in as it's a snug fit, and that you really need to do it with the proper mandrels to avoid damaging the bearing.

The order is different from 2WD in that the hub goes inside the bearing which goes inside the steering upright.

[Aidan]

broken down many hundreds of miles from civilisation having a spare bearing but only basic tools you might be able to do it using heat and cold and care and cunning (jack etc...) but after 20plus years and rusted in place I have needed best part of 10 tonnes of press force and heat to shift a really stubborn one out; the bearing is 80mm od and 50mm thick that is a lot of surface area to press in and it must go in straight, and if using temperature differences needs to be done fairly quickly and right first time

some things are easier on syncro than 2wd, most are pretty much the same but some are slightly more involved and or difficult/awkqward 'ffs who designed this' sort of jobs

the VW tool to support the bearing carrier to press the bearing out and in is simple but shaped to fit so the press job is safer/predictable and robust enough for the job but it's not massive wall thickness, I guess it's modern HT steel so not too heavy

[RogerT]

Cool, thanks Aiden, I’ll not give up on my dreams of Syncro ownership yet then! It’s a white panel van that has been sitting outside the same house for 5+ years, and DVLA notes it as never having been MOT’d...

Garyd, sorry for the hijack, and good luck!

[silverbullet]

Achtung! Duck and cover!

Oh dear lordy its AIDAN

Do spell it right, it's not difficult...

Sent from my S60 using Tapatalk

[Aidan]

Achtung! Duck and cover!

Oh dear lordy its AIDAN

Do spell it right, it's not difficult...

Sent from my S60 using Tapatalk

automatic spell checking on most mobile devices responsible for the mispelling I fear though why spellcheck doesn't give options for proper names and assumes it knows best is beyond me - iPhone thinks we Aidan's are all northern irish protestants (that's where the en version comes from)
daft thing it is now in top 100 names, and especially popular in US since the millennium, and most people get it wrong because it's now not the most common spelling of the name

[RogerT]

Sorry, hangs head in shame...

I’ll not blame my phone, just witlessness.

[garyd]

I thought that I'd been back and posted a closing comment on here but apparently I didn't.

If you are waiting for me to report on how easy/difficult I found it or any tips/comments then you'll be disappointed. I didn't actually need to change the bearing!

Turned out that the hub nut had worked slightly loose and allowed a tiny bit of movement. Half a turn on it and all was well. I did get two new nuts though and replace both sides.

Thanks for your contributions.

[silverbullet]

A syncro quick and easy fix? Surely not!

Sent from my S60 using Tapatalk

[Simon Baxter]

I thought that I'd been back and posted a closing comment on here but apparently I didn't.

If you are waiting for me to report on how easy/difficult I found it or any tips/comments then you'll be disappointed. I didn't actually need to change the bearing!

Turned out that the hub nut had worked slightly loose and allowed a tiny bit of movement. Half a turn on it and all was well. I did get two new nuts though and replace both sides.

Thanks for your contributions.

Which hub nut have you used as we find this quite often, you're better off using the deep original one rather than the ones supplied with CV joints.

https://www.brickwerks.co.uk/t3-parts/t ... yncro.html

Like so.

[garyd]

Thanks for your comment Simon.

I think the one that loosened was a 'thin' nut which probably came with the CV fitted years ago. It is now replaced with one of your 'deep' nuts.

thanks