Wheel Bearing Madness

[Cerbin]

I knew i had a bad front wheel bearing(s) (a little play in the wheel and resistence when rotating).

So i checked it out... The outer bearing was actually bent in 3 places... cant be good. Luckily Porsche was very wise in choosing bearings that you can buy at your local auto store.

What was very tricky or shall i say exhausting was removing the "races" or pieces the bearing run on. It took me over an hour of careful pounding to remove them. I think the ones i removed where the originals! (German engineering ) amazing. The races are made of EXTREMELY hard metal.

Any how i came to find out that the reason they got bent was the allen-secured bolt that holds the rotor assembly had come a little loose and allowed excess play.

I then found out why sometimes my steering wheel would shake and sometimes it wouldn't. The bearing was actually popping in and out of place. I was overjoyed at the success of my project. lol

Just wanted to share my triumph!

Patrick
1970 T/S Widebody

[FishExpat]

Patrick,

How long did this take you for both R/L front bearings. I know mine are bad (play in one wheel and a groaning at low speed). I need to swap out rotors too so they are coming off anyway. Just need to allocate enough time.

I usually have to involve a friend who is not afraid to "hit harder" while I am chewing my nails worrying about how much this is goign to cost when it breaks.........the joys of DIY maintenance

[ChrisBennet]

The races come out easier if you heat the hubs up like you're supposed to. They are hard to pound out because you are destroying the nice press fit by moving the metal of the hub. They will come out easier next time.
-Chris

[Cerbin]

The whole process could be completed in one day. I had to get parts in the same day but it was a long day to say the least.

Heating the hubs would have been a great idea. I put the new races in my freezer before i installed them. Think it helped a little.

Patrick
1970 T/S widebody

[dickster]

How long did this take you for both R/L front bearings. I know mine are bad (play in one wheel and a groaning at low speed). I need to swap out rotors too so they are coming off anyway. Just need to allocate enough time.

give youself a day on that.

strip 'em down and give them a thorough clean. that grease stinks up the oven

definitely put the bearings in the freezer overnight, and the hub in the oven for 1/2 hour (for each side of hub). i made the mistake of trying to do both sides of the hub at once and it was tricky. better let the hub cool once one race is in, then back in the oven for the other side....

plenty of oven mitts required.

good luck

[john70t]

I went through the same thing a little while ago. After replacing the the races/bearings the gosh darn wheel loosened up a couple of times, even after cranking down on the on the allen adjuster. The trads on both looked good and I surmized that it was spiminning on the grease.
This last time I degreased the spindle and added a few drops of the blue(medium) locktight but it is a little too late. The bearings will "clump" a little before the play is totally removed. Just couldn't resist the temptation before fixing it .

There was a post about this before about making sure the pads are fully retracted before the adjustment.

Another trick is after driving the bearings very carefully out of the hot hub (get a long thin punch) is to grind a little off the outside of the old bearing so it slips into the old position. Flip it upside down and use it to drive in the new ones. Weld a plate on the back and add a center stalk and ya got a professional tool.

[Sam King]

Wow what a coincidense (sp?). I just finished changing my front right wheel bearings about an hour ago. It was actually a lot easier that I expected. It took me 2 hours to do it. I agree getting the races out are a pain but if you take your time it is easy. I ordered the inner and outer bearing plus the seal from Pelican. But as usual I found something else for the next project. A bad rear shock. Plenty of oil running out of it. Also a bad CV boot. Oh well just more things to order and fix..