front wheel bearing replacement-don't try this at home!

[dickster]

ok, did it today. saved myself £150 labour, now that can't be bad.

i checked out some threads before i did it, but i'll just add from own experience!

you'll need: plenty of rags, suitable drifts (i found large sockets to be just right for putting in new bearings), grease, heavy gloves (i had to use two pairs) those hubs get damn hot, wooden surface to place hub on for working. oh yeah, plasters for cuts, grazes and burns. among other stuff....

1. put new bearings in freezer for 24 hours.

1a. get the hub off! i used bentley for guidance.

1b. put the oven on full blast (at least 1/2 hour)

2. clean up the hub and get all traces of grease out. not a nice job! have plenty of old rags handy i found brake cleaner to be excellent.

3. prise out the seal on rear of hub-mine was a b*tch and had to resort to crowbar!

4. remove lose bearings.

5. you are now left with the bearing races stuck in the hub. put clean hub in oven (when missus has gone shopping).

6. after half an hour remove from oven. take a drift and hammer to the races and carefully remove them.

7. put hub back in oven for 20 mins.

8. remove hub place in suitable position. go and get one bearing from freezer, and put in hub. my first bearing went straight in on its own.

now at this point i waited 5 mins so i could turn the hub over and get to the othe side without the new bearing falling out. big mistake. the hub had cooled sufficiently that the second bearing was fairly tight and required a drift to knock it home. i was at the point of no return.

what i should have done was:

9. put hub back in oven for 20 mins (with one new bearing) and then put the second bearing in. it should be much easier.

i also later found that where i had used a drift on the second bearing the force had moved the first one by a couple of mm. by the time i found out it was in tight, so i ended up using a drift on that one too!

now have a beer

[Ted Stringer]

This is one of those jobs when a welding glove is most handy.

BTDT

[dickster]

damn right!!

first pair of gloves i was wearing had a hole that i spotted AFTER i picked the hub out of the oven

[Jim Smolka]

FWIW, if one must 'tap' on the new bearing's race, use the old race to tap on. Using a grinder, remove aprox 1 mm of metal off the outside diameter old race. Make the perfect tool for tapping in bearing races.

[dickster]

FWIW, if one must 'tap' on the new bearing's race, use the old race to tap on. Using a grinder, remove aprox 1 mm of metal off the outside diameter old race. Make the perfect tool for tapping in bearing races.

now he tells me...............