Rear Bearing Removal Update/Pics… and Questions

TurboRuf · 04:59 PM

I’m making progress at a rather slow pace, work tends to consume most of my time.

The other night I removed the rear caliper and pulled the disk. The next step was the removal of the cotter pin and ‘castle nut’. Hopefully this will help other DIY’ers who have to tackle this project. Others have covered this topic in the past, I’m going to add pictures to help illustrate the process.

After removing the cotter pin, which required a Dremel with a cut-off wheel, to get the stubborn thing out… it was on to the big 30mm castle nut.

I went to the hardware store and picked up a piece of steel. I then proceeded to drill a hole slightly larger then the wheel stud. This was used to prevent the hub from spinning when attempting to break the castle nut free (see pic).

I applied a liberal amount of Liquid Wrench to help ease the process. Then I setup the breaker bar with a 30mm socket. I figured this would be sufficient to break the nut free but I was wrong… way wrong.

Next I grabbed my 3-ton jack poll and slipped it over the breaker bar (see pic). Now I would surely have enough leverage… wrong again.

It took my entire body weight, lifting myself off the ground, to get the nut to break free. I had a few good words with it afterwards as I stood in disbelief. So that’s what 231 ft. lbs. feels like.

I then pushed the rear driveshaft stub out the backside. I’ve included several pictures of the driveshaft stub to illustrate the wear I found. Is this normal? Should I replace the stub before proceeding? Also… are the castle nuts reusable?

To be continued…

Neilk · 05-22-2003, 06:54 PM

Couple of tips.

On the other wheel, remove the cotter pin, remount the wheel minus the cap, lower car, set parking brake and then loosen the castle nut. It looks much safer than the way you did it

I think Chuck Moreland recently wrote that you can used the dremel to start cutting the bearing race and then use a chisel to split it.

Joe Bob · Joe Bob's Garage

Yeah I echo that.....the best way to get the nut loose is use a 30mm socket, 3/4 breaker handle, a long cheater bar/pipe and the wheels on the ground, set the arm at 9 0'clock ......then jump on it....it should go CRACK and then it's EZ....

TurboRuf · 05-23-2003, 02:48 AM

I didn't want to re-assemble then disassemble everything just to remove the castle nut. That does sound like a good option if you know in advance that the hub must be removed. I didn’t know the bearings where bad until everything else was removed. The steel bar actually worked quite well and somewhat mimics Porsche's factory tool from the workshop manual.

Yes, Chuck did recommend a Dremel for the Hub bearing race., which I intend to use when I get the hub out. The photo above is actually the driveshaft extension that connects to the hub. The worn area doesn’t look like a bearing race that can be cutoff. Maybe someone could chime in to verify this.

Gav P · 05-23-2003, 09:55 AM

Hello TurboRuf,

I just posted on the 912 forum about the same job... I'm currently at work and havent got the parts in front of me, but with my '69 the problem wasnt getting the castellated nut off, its getting the hub out of the bearing. Stuck very solid...

From your pictures, is that worn portion of the drive shaft stub actually sitting in the bearing, or did your stub come out of a hub which sits in the bearing? I'm now guessing that your worn part is where the slop in the bearing has allowed the stub to foul, and that, like me, you still have(/had) the hub itself in the bearing. Have you any tips on getting hub out of bearing or bearing out of arm?

PS sorry to hijack your thread with extra qeries...!

TurboRuf · 05-23-2003, 11:31 AM

Gav,

I hi-jacked these answers from another post...

mikez wrote:
“The shaft of the hub is inside the bearing...."I" use a large socket on an extension that only hits on the hub.”

John Walker wrote:
“I use two three foot long snapon prybars,(looks like a long, square shaft screwdriver with a bent end), one on each side of the flange, with the tips on the bearing retainer, and yank it out. it takes a bit of effort, but usually gets them. if the car is on stands, be careful to not pull it sideways. even the ones that won't budge by pounding on the backside generally respond to this method.”

I plan to try both this weekend. I'll post my results once I get the hub out.

I would still like to know if I should replace my drive shaft stub and castle nut?

JTO · 05-23-2003, 12:08 PM

I did this job last year using the Sir Tool puller sold by Pelican.

It looks like the inner bearing race is still on your stub axle, like others have said. Is it bronze in color? I did like Chuck said and cut a groove in the race with a dremel and then split the race with a chisel and hammer.

Troy

TurboRuf · 05:00 PM

I need to take a closer look at the stub axel. If there is a bearing race on the stub axel, it blends perfectly with the axel itself. I don’t see any divisional line between the stub axel and the wear area.

The wear area is polished silver, not bronze. Maybe the 930 doesn't have a bearing race on the stub axel?

TurboRuf · 05-23-2003, 07:29 PM

Bump

JTO · 05-26-2003, 06:08 PM

I just don't know Turbo. I know my inner race game out on the stub shaft when I pulled them. I had to cut the race off. That's all I can say.

Troy

TurboRuf · 06:38 PM

Update:

The only thing good out of this whole experience is I believe I found my problem. It turns out the 930 turbo uses a spacer between the two wheel bearings. This spacer was designed to be shortened to length permanently when tightening the castle nut more than a certain torque (normally more than 217 ft.lbs.)

So apparently the PO or mechanic did over tighten the castle nut after all.

The spacer costs $86! Ack!

Also see...

The hub is out… but did I make a DIY mistake?