Noob question

[kodioneill]

i use a small chisel and hit it from behind working around the cap

[flatsixjunky]

kodi,

I'm going to try that tomorrow.

What about my bearings? Do you think they're toast.

thanks.

[RWebb]

any parts shop should have the Valvoline Synpower

[SteveinTO]

Shoot, I'm glad we got the BFH explained. Handy tool.

The best way to tell if a bearing is "toast" is to eyeball it.....well unless it seized.

You've done the hard part, blocking the car & getting the wheel off in 32 degree weather. Wrestle that cap off. Loosen the allen bolt on the nut. Back out the nut. The big flat washer & outer bearing will fall out in your hand. Clean them up in a coffee can of paint thinner. The tumblers should appear shiny and smooth and be a little loose in the cage. No discoloring, like turning blue. Blue is bad & indicates too much heat/no grease. Do a search online to see pics of all the myriad ways bearings can fail.

The inner bearing is a little more difficult because the brake caliper must be removed. There's a whole dance you do to retain as much brake fluid as possible, but undo a brake line fitting, undo the two caliper bolts, remove caliper, remove hub & brake rotor (bolted together), hang caliper with a coat hanger in a position where you can reconnect the brake line to conserve fluid.

Pry out the seal and the inner bearing will be revealed, just like the front. Do a similar exam. Clean the gorp out of the hub and examine the races.

Now, you either re-pack and reassemble or replace races and pack new bearings. Don't forget to bleed the brakes when you're done.

Sorry for being so basic, but I sense it's your first time. Post some pics if you can. I think there's 4-5 guys here looking over your shoulder to help.

[flatsixjunky]

Thanks RWebb.

Steve-

Well the parts are still on their way here, and to be honest I'm still hoping that a wheel bearing adjustment might take care of the knocking sound.

The reason is that right now I don't have a garage, I'm parking my car in a public parking on my neighborhood. So what I've been doing everyday it's driving to a rest area, right under the Verazzano bridge on the belt parkway and trying to take care of this there.

Starting Feb 1st I'm taking a garage space two blocks from my place. If the bearings are shot then I'll have to deal with that once I have the garage.

thanks for the advice, I'm pretty sure I'm going to need it.

[SteveinTO]

I admire your curiosity, driving to a parking lot to work on your car under the bridge. It's been a long time, but I recall field stripping a Hewland Mk-8 gearbox in a howling dirt storm, at night, at Willow Springs 35 year ago. Mercifully, it started to rain mud later in the evening. Remember it as kind of fun, in a bizarre way.

But I wouldn't do it again.

Recommend you not dig into the wheel bearings much further than an adjustment until you have a permanent garage, although I guess you could clean & repack the outer bearing without much disassembly. The condition of the grease in the outer bearing will give you a clue as to the condition of the inner bearing.

[flatsixjunky]

This is kind of an embarrassing post. All in all I haven't change my wheel bearings. First, I was never able to take out the grease cap , I know, I'm such a noob. The thinh is that I tried the rubber mallet, and I also tried the chisel. The chisel was starting to dent the grease cap and it never moved, so I stopped trying that.

I then went to this place "Formula Motorsports" in Queens, about 40 min from where I live. One of their mech's climbed into the car and we drove off, he was driving. He zigzagged the car at about 50mph, he also drove it in tight circles at about 15-20mph. He didn't hear the noise and he told me that it was not the wheel bearings. The problem is that you can only hear it when the car is cold, like overnight cold and when you are driving it at very low speeds, like 5mph. I noticed this after the visit.

Basically he said that I should leave him my car overnight for a more thorough checkup. When I told him about the chisel and the grease cap he looked at me like I was a savage beast and he said I should not do that and that there is a special tool for removing grease caps.

What the heck should I do?

Should I take the car back to him for checkup?

Should I buy the special tool?, if so where?

I haven't used my car much since, but the noise is getting on my nerves.

I'm sorry for a lame post, but I can't hit the grease cap any harder without damaging it.

Thank's for any help.

[kodioneill]

if you decide to proceed . attach a muffler clamp to the cap.( use the right size of course) then pry it off using a long screw driver.

[dgmark]

I agree with the mechanic that looked at your car. A wheel bearing will very rarely cause a knocking noise in a front suspension. A failing wheel bearing will growl first and give a lot of advanced warning of it's impending failer. I can rattle off a dozen things that think it can be and a wheel bearing would be way down on the list. Your money would be well spent having the mechanic diagnose the actual problem. He must be able to duplicate the noise on a consistent bases to help you out.

[flatsixjunky]

Thank you both,

Kodi, muffler clamp..., I should have thought of that. Anyway, I bought a muffler clamp today, If I can't get it out using a screwdriver at least I will feel better whacking the shat out of the $4 muffler clamp instead of the grease cap.

dgmark, since I already have the new wheel bearings I'm going to change them anyway, the ones on the car are 20 yrs old. If that does not take care of it, I will take it to the mech in queens.

Thank you guy's.