3 replies to this topic

[Nug]

The howling up front was only getting louder, so it's time to swap some wheel bearings. I decided to take pics.



Take the nut off. 36 mm or 1 7/16, ususally.



Take the caliper off and suspend it with some coat hangers so no stress is put on the brake hose.



Remove the rotor. This one basically fell off.



Remove backing plate. One 12mm bolt.




Take the cotter pin and 17mm castellated nut off, and bash the steering arm as shown with a hammer. It'll pop right out. Brass hammer good. It takes a lot to damage what you are wailing on.




Told you so.



Remove the bolt that secures the lower ball joint to the steering knuckle and pry it out.




It's starting to come apart.



Remove the two bolts that attach the strut to the steering knuckle and tap it right off of there.



And it all hits the floor.



Remove seal.



Remove other seal. I had to use a chisel for this one. Note the lovely rusty notes in the grease.

Continued below.

[Nug]

Slide the center spacer over a little.



Run your punch down in there and pound it out.



Greasy chunks stain the floor.




What the hell kind of grease is this, anyway? Buy a parts washer, everyone. Seriously.



I cleaned the grease out of the new bearings, and packed them with Valvoline Synthetic. By the way, these are the $8 Partsamerica.com bearings.




Find something that contacts just the outer race of the new bearing and pound it in. You can use an old bearing or a piece of a 2x4 or something similar if nothing good is available. Just don't get a pile of crap mixed in there. By the way, if your grease has dirt or hair in it, try to stick it to the side of a mailbox on your way to the auto parts store for some fresh stuff.



Make sure the inner spacer isn't forgotten!



Add other bearing and seal.



Just taaaaaap it in.



Pull the knuckle back and slide the axle in.



Pry the A-arm down and slip the ball joint in.




Clean the crap off of the seal surface on the back of the disk.



Add backing plate and disc. Around this point, I got a metal splinter, and my wife called me in for dinner. You guys can figure out the rest.



A picture of the carnage on the way out of the door.

USRM anyone?

[cobcob]

I'd like to propose a small addition to NUG's "Wheel bearings: A Photo Essay" in the USRM...
A small note at the bottom or top listing the P/N or ID number for the bearings used in the fronts (6207) should help people out with sourcing the correct bearings.
Incidentally, the specs on the bearings that O'Reilly Auto Parts has listed for the fronts are as follows:
I.D. = 1.3780 (35mm)
O.D. = 2.8346 (72mm)
Width = .6693 (17mm)
9 x 7/16 balls.

[ErikAnderson]

Car: 1983 DL

First off, thanks to Nug for his great photo write up.

I found i was having a hard time with pounding the bearings back in to place. I was worried about damaging them and was lacking a proper tool to hit them evenly.

All i did was take a old wheel bearing and run it over a wheel grinder (use safetyglasses!!!! and gloves, i know gloves are bad on a wheel grinder but the bearing gets HOT!!) for about 10 min. Let the outer race of the bearing slowly spin in your hand, this helps with a nice even grind. This brought the outside diameter down about 1mm or so, just enough for it to push the new bearing in to the hub assembly without getting stuck.

This also works good for pounding the seals in because the gap between the inner and outer races of the bearing make a fine spot for the raised lip of the seal to hide while you are beating on it.

If anyone happens to be doing wheel bearings and is without a wheel grinder i would be willing to ship my little bearing off to them as long as they paypal me 5 bucks or so for shipping and return it when they are done.

Thanks, hope this helps.
Erik