Rear wheel bearings and other issues

[fairwynds]

Good morning all, and a happy new year!
Just found that my van has a dodgy rear offside wheel bearing.
I am planning the following jobs for January eves (brrrrr!):-

1) Replace rear offside and nearside wheel bearings
2) Service both outer CV joints
3) Remove and refurb both rear trailing arms
4) Renew rear trailing arm bushes

Will post up pics as I go along and hope all the knowledgeable ones who have done this type of work before can help with advice as we go along!
Fingers crossed for some reasonable weather, or I will be erecting a tent to work in!

All I DO know is that I need to find a scaffold pipe and a fat bloke....??!!!!!

[Mickyfin]

Interested to see how you get on my friend as those are jobs that I may well be carrying out this year too.

Good luck, and Happy New Year!

[lloydy]

Hopefully doing mine this week, will be taking lots of pics. Just waiting for the 46mm socket and T bar that I ordered to turn up. Luckily I have a local expert to offer advise/help/a shoulder to cry on

[axeman]

make sure that buy new (and correctly rated) nuts and bolts for the trailing arms as you wil probably end up cutting them off. they are still available from vw at about £5 each, in my opinion there is only one way to properly referb the trailing arms and that is to have them galvanised and then re bush them.



good luck neil

[fairwynds]

make sure that buy new (and correctly rated) nuts and bolts for the trailing arms as you wil probably end up cutting them off. they are still available from vw at about £5 each, in my opinion there is only one way to properly referb the trailing arms and that is to have them galvanised and then re bush them.

good luck neil

thanks buddy - could you let me know who/where you got the galvanising done, and cost? Thanks

[fairwynds]

Hopefully doing mine this week, will be taking lots of pics. Just waiting for the 46mm socket and T bar that I ordered to turn up. Luckily I have a local expert to offer advise/help/a shoulder to cry on

Where did you get the tools?
Like you, I am also lucky enough to have a (ex) VW mechanic on hand -

[lloydy]

Got them from http://www.toolbox.co.uk/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Only site that did both tools I wanted. My expert is a very helpful member here (jed) would be knackered without the help he's given

[fairwynds]

Got them from http://www.toolbox.co.uk/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Only site that did both tools I wanted. My expert is a very helpful member here (jed) would be knackered without the help he's given

cheers...

[axeman]

make sure that buy new (and correctly rated) nuts and bolts for the trailing arms as you wil probably end up cutting them off. they are still available from vw at about £5 each, in my opinion there is only one way to properly referb the trailing arms and that is to have them galvanised and then re bush them.

good luck neil

thanks buddy - could you let me know who/where you got the galvanising done, and cost? Thanks

http://www.medgalv.co.uk/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

they have a min charge from memory it was £70+vat, but for that you can have up too 100kg. the arms cant weigh more than 15kg each. may be worth talking too lloyd and sending them down together, i will be needing some more suff galved soon once it get made up but i dont think that will be for a while.

neil

[fairwynds]

thanks axeman and lloydy
I have emailed Medgalv.....
will update with their reply.
Planning to start the job by next weekend at latest. Got to order parts from Brickwerks this eve, but unfortunately they are out of stock of FAG bearings, which I gather are the best to use?
Dont want to go to all this effort (in this frickin' weather!) to use wrong bits....
Jonathan

[lloydy]

Could be interested in galvanising my trailing arms, don't know if I fancy trying to undo the arms though if I do take them off, it will be this week I try (as I'm doing the bearings). I got the budget ones from BW one half is still fag and the other is febi, so still good

[fairwynds]

Could be interested in galvanising my trailing arms, don't know if I fancy trying to undo the arms though if I do take them off, it will be this week I try (as I'm doing the bearings). I got the budget ones from BW one had is still fag and the other is febi, so still good

will pm you....

[fairwynds]

Well, at last the weather is better, so got home from work and got started. I wanted to do as much of the noisy work as possible this evening, as I plan to have an early start in the morning, and didnt want to disturb the neighbours! i always seem to be working on my bus, and they are quite....errr, 'understanding' !

So, onto my pictorial 'how to', in case it assists anyone else in the future:-

After removing hubcap, time to remove the split pin. These can easily be broken off and be left with an annoying piece stuck inside the axle. To avoid that, first straighten the split pins splayed ends, then tap the pin gently through, until you can get a flat bladed screwdriver through the 'eye' at the other end. Then just continue tapping out the pin by hitting the shaft of the screwdriver.

Next, use a 46mm socket (or special hubnut tool - heritage do em, amongst others) and a breaker bar. They are tight, so you may need (a) a length of scaffold pole and (b) a fat friend! Both nearside and offside undo the 'normal way', ie: anticlockwise as you face the nut.
IMPORTANT NOTE!.....Although the picture doesnt show it, start this task with the wheel on, and the van on the ground, with the handbrake fully on and the van in gear

When the nut is loose about one turn, you can carry on with jacking up and SAFELY supporting the rear of the van with axle stands, after chocking the front wheels. You will, of course have choosen a flat, firm surface! Remove road wheel and hub nut. It is a good idea to count the number of complete turns taken to remove it. I am replacing the bearings, and will be using new nut and split pin - so should you.

There should be two 11mm bolts retaining your rear brake drums, remove both of these.....

....followed by the brake drum. (there is plenty of info on how to remove stubborn drums in the Wiki above, and in the various VW service manuals)

I then went on to give all the fastening I will be attacking tomorrow, a good soak in PlusGas (not WD40, as that drys out). I imagine that this will have absolutely NO effect whatsoever, and I will have to resort to using an angle grinder/disc cutter to remove them tomorrow! (hence the bit earlier about the 'forgiving' neighbours!)

Lastly for today, I cleaned off all the paint and rusty crud from the trailing arm bolts, in a vain attempt to use a (18mm) spanner! Hahaha, eventually snapped my socket wrench, when I got too eager with the aforementioned scaffold bar!
Still.....there's always tomorrow.....

[fairwynds]

...today, unsurprisingly, Ive had to resort to the angle grinder...

[fairwynds]

...todays pics....will put the words up later, as going for a pint now, and hopefully, you will understand why!??!!!
Pics in no particular oder!
Showing just the trailing arm left to remove now - the stub axle/brake backplate and driveshaft all out:

The whole 'unit' as it came out. I removed the complete driveshaft like this as I new the gearbox end CV bolts would be ok (having done those a couple of years back) - didnt want to risk shearing the outer ones, although the do look ok now I can get at them, fingers crossed. Handbrake cable wouldnt budge, so I disconnected that at the 'spreader' plate, mush easier to do:

A view of everything disconnected, just before complete removal:

Handbrake cable disconnected, just before I found that the 'push fitted' where it goes through the backplate was seized - a common issue, that may resolve itself on the workbench, I hope! :

Showing the stub axle 22mm bolts loosened. One was a right pig, the rest ok:

Home made brake line 'bungs'. I didnt want to crimp the flexi hoses as they would have to stay crimped for a couple of weeks whilst work continues:

Close up of the flexi to rigid brake pipe union. This is the one you can see on your van which sits on top of the trailing arm, viewable from just in front of the rear wheel. It was also jammed, so when undone (14mm open ended spanner on the flexi end and an 11mm brake pipe spanner on the metal end) the metal brake pipe twisted and will have to be replaced. Fortunately a cheap fix, and worth doing anyway: