Front wheel bearing

[Meka]

Seems like I was able to find allot of information on replacing rear wheel bearing. But really nothing on fronts. I'm hoping this is because front wheel bearing replacement is so straight forward no one has had the need to ask the question. So lay it on me. How big of a job is is. I cant find my Bentleys manual, so I have no idea what to expect when I start digging into it.
Any help would be great. Can anyone direct me to a thread that goes into detail on this. Especially one with pictures.

[moneymanager]

You're right. Pretty straightforward. On my 74, two bolts liberate the caliper after the brake line itself is loosened, then the hub comes off and the bearing falls out. There are two challenges: getting the cover off the hub loose (use 2x4 and big hammer, turning wheel as you give a good whack to the cover at an angle,) and getting the bearing adjustment right (tighten the nut holding the bearings and hub in place quite tight, say 5 ft lbs, then back off the adjustment until you can move the little washer under the nut back and forth with the tip of the screwdriver.)

[Mitch Leland]

Howdy,

I'm in the process of replacing my front bearings as we speak. I gave up on the rears at this time since you would have to remove the CV joints, and since I just redid the CV joints I decided to pass on the rear bearings.

The front bearings are just like any other car. You have a pinch nut that sets the bearing tension. It takes a metric alan wrench through the axle hub to loosen it. Naturally you have to remove the two large alan socket heads that hold the calipers on. You'll need a 3/4" drive breaker bar to remove the alans socket head bolts. Pull the calipers off the rotor, remove the rotor from the axle. remove the hub from the axle.

I would wash and clean the bearings, take a close look at the rollers and races. I bought new bearings and races for $46.00 at the local Auto Quest parts house. If you replace the bearings I would go ahead and replace the races. To remove the races you'll need to use a drift and a big hammer to knock them out. To install the new races I first put them in the freezer which will reduce their diameter a tad, I put some grease on hub where the race goes so the install goes a little easier. I borrowed a special tool for setting the races in place. I would at this point go to your friendly auto repair shop and ask them to install the new races otherwise you could do some damage to the hub or races if you drive and drive them into place with a drift. You need the perfect diameter plate to pound on.

Also you'll need a new grease seal, I would also check your front struts. My front struts didn't show any leaking, but I wanted to be sure they were OK since I was this far into my brake job. I removed one strut, took soapy water and found that when I depressed the shock and release it I got escaping air and bubbles around the seal, so as all things go, one thing leads to another...

I'm sure there are others with more experience than I who add to this...

[sagolfer]

The Bentley manual explains the procedure fine and there are a few posts here with more info.

The hard part, as others have mentioned, is getting the old races out and the new ones in. I banged the old ones out with a punch. I got the new ones in by putting them in the freezer the night before (a suggestion I found on this very web site) and using the proper sized Race/Seal drive to drive them in. The Bently manual says to use heat on the hub before driving in. I had my torch standing by but didn't need it. They went in easily frozen.

Good Luck.

[richde]

Out of curiosity, are the bearings from PP pre-packed with grease?

[tonythetarga]

I would suggest that races and bearings are matched and meant to be replaced together. I am sure you could put in new bearings into old races but that is not a recommended procedure. Do it correctly the first time to avoid problems and ruining a set of good new bearings.