Front wheel bearing replacement

[Diezel Weazel]

Check on here there maybe somebody nearer to you (your neck o' the woods) to help ...
http://www.scottishmudclub.com/forum/index.php

Write up here Keith ....
http://www.off-road.com/trucks-4x4/t...ent-18322.html


11+ years of Surfs .... n Faultless to a "T" is my Yota !!

[poseidon]

OK - watched (and learned) from the 4 YouTube clips that Nev gave on the link above. Really useful. I think I'll sleep on this, although I didn't see anything too seriously difficult. Only odd bit was the driving out of the inner bearing seat and chiseling marks on the inner hub face to stop it spinning. And I didn't much like all the fannying around to re-attach the caliper and knuckles and all the torquing and spring balance rigmarole to set up the refurbished hub. I don't have the 55mm socket for that and had thought the bearing nuts were taken in and out with careful use of chisel. I might just go for a prelim check of outer bearing first, which seems to be the more likely failure, as that just involves splitting the outer hub casing away to reveal the bearing adjustment nuts and tab washer etc. If its dry and slack I can lub and tighten it. If it's goosed I can think about pulling the whole hub off or getting somebody to do it.
Thanks for help (and the discouragement)....k

[NiftyNev]

I've yet to find any sort of chisel with calibrations for wheel berings.

Nev

[Diezel Weazel]

I've yet to find any sort of chisel with calibrations for wheel berings.

Nev

[NiftyNev]

Bugger. BEARINGS. There, fixed the spelling.

Nev

[poseidon]

yeah, your right - bugger bearings....
Thanks diezel weazel for the link to the write up at off-road trucks site. I've printed that out as it pretty much describes the whole process that the you-tube videos show and I can keep it by my side if/when I break the hub out.... peeing rain here today, so the gutter is a river again, and I'd need scuba gear to work under the truck today. And the bearing kit hasn't arrived from Milners, 3 days after first class posting.
Interesting tensions emerging in this post between those who think it's right to find low cost diy solutions to keeping these old trucks running, and those who think less skilled diy mechanics should just give up and submit to £50 an hour charges in professional workshops that are trying to keep their incomes in line with their lawyers. If I have to pay pro workshops more than £500 a year, including parts to keep this old truck running, then it's a scrapper, I'm afraid. I have to do as much repair work as I can myself to keep it viable and if that diy process involves less than perfect attention to finer detail on brakes, steering, suspension etc., then that's a risk I have to live with. Or I have no truck...... keith

[Albannach]

I have to do as much repair work as I can myself to keep it viable and if that diy process involves less than perfect attention to finer detail on brakes, steering, suspension etc., then that's a risk I have to live with. Or I have no truck...... keith

You're kidding? Right?

[NiftyNev]

You're kidding? Right?

I don't think he is, sadly.

Nev

[Fricfrac]

Keith, you are driving a two tonne lump of steel. A two tonne lump of death. You cannot, or should not, skimp on these things.

Wheel bearings are easily done by any competant DIYer, they are not a difficult thing to change on Surfs, just make sure you do it right. If your not sure you can do that, 100% sure, then get it done by somebody else.

You will need the bearing socket, Roughtrax sell them, chisels do the job, but you cannot use them to any degree of accuracy.

You need to drift the old races out and press the new ones in, it can be done quite easily without a fully kitted garage. I have not read the links posted, but can do the job in about two hours, coffee breaks included. Then again, I am a plant fitter by trade so have some idea what i`m doing.No expert, but have some idea.

I understand your predicament about the garage charges and old trucks, but what would happen if you got it wrong and lost a wheel coming down the A85 at 50 mph?

[poseidon]

Well, stuffed again by this bl**dy truck - stripped out the whole hub assembly and both inner and outer bearings and races are fine. The wear seems to be deeper into the hub/drive. The splined central shaft has quite a lot of radial play and can be moved in and out from the hub a cm or more.
http://i1165.photobucket.com/albums/...psf980b463.jpg
Are there other bearings deeper into the drive assembly that can be replaced? I'm really reluctant to get into splitting the drive shaft from the diff and suspension - that's too much for me and I've probably already reached my limits with the present dismantling.
I'm minded to just refit the hub, with the old bearings and sell the truck on with its 12 months MOT and leave the repair to somebody with higher skills and greater endurance than me. I'll revert to a Series 3 or early Defender Land, which is generally more dependable than the Surf and receptive to straightforward repairs when it does fail, and uses half the fuel that the Surf eats up.

[BUSHWHACKER]

http://www.yotatech.com/f128/steerin...4runner-76360/

[poseidon]

Thanks Bushwacker - interesting and useful BUT that's the stuff of DIY nightmares - Hydraulic presses, slide hammers etc. Way beyond my resources. It kinda reinforces my thoughts about scrapping the truck or selling it on. Given that my local workshop hit me for nearly £400 last year just to replace a leaky rear axle oil seal and change the brake pads I supplied for that side, I suspect they'd be looking at £2K to do these bushes....terminal, I think.

Cheers....K

[poseidon]

Well.... re-assembled the hub and old bearings/races with fresh grease etc, torqued up the nuts, re-attached the brake caliper, pads and steering link etc and test driven. Noise gone. I don't think anythings sorted and fully expect the 'burring' noises to re-appear and suspect the bronze bushes now. Altogether a complete waste of 5 hours, 5 days off road waiting for parts I didn't need and a cucking funt of a job to boot. Thanks to those who were helpful on this...off and clear...k

[Fricfrac]

I thought the bronze bushes made a clanking noise when they were shot?

Anyway, maybe your bearings just needed tightening up a bit?

Either way, the noise has gone.

[TonyN]

I'll revert to a Series 3 or early Defender Land, which is generally more dependable than the Surf and receptive to straightforward repairs when it does fail, and uses half the fuel that the Surf eats up.

LOL, if I thought you where joking before now you are really taking the pee.



Play in the end of the bit you took a pic of is perfectly fine, the drive plate holds the shaft centrally, the bush in the end is a thrust bearing for the washer and circlip you took off.

As others have said, its probably the inner bronze bush if the bearing is ok.

I normally dissagree with the more fervent anti-amateur people, there isn't nothing overly complicated doing the front the front bearings, and no special tools are needed, they are not different to any other tapered bearing setup on any car, but you can't post stuff like this..

and if that diy process involves less than perfect attention to finer detail on brakes, steering, suspension etc., then that's a risk I have to live with.

You arn't living with the risk, everyone else on the road is, these 3 MOST IMPORTANT PARTS of the truck that have to be 100% correct, no one in their right mind can let this statment go without comment.

Please say you're just being an arse, or you really do have to step away from the truck and let someone else do it.