Rear wheel bearings

[mjb]

I need to change both rear wheel bearings and am looking for some advice.

Firstly, yes I'm pretty sure it is the bearings. It's not the tyres, it's not the brakes, it's not the handbrake. Both rear wheels grind horribly when spun off the ground, neither spin freely and the offside one barely spins at all

So I'm looking at the Haynes Book of Lies and it raises a few questions I could do with having answered before I start on this:

1. What size is the hub nut? Looking at the pictures I'll probably have to buy the socket in advance

2. When it says I need to pack the bearing with grease, what exactly does it mean by that? how much grease is needed, what type of grease, where does it go?

3. What size/spec puller is required? Got to buy this too

4. "Fit the new bearing assembly, tapping it fully onto the stub axle using a hammer and a tubular drift which bears only on the flat inside edge of the bearing inner race" - where do I buy a "tubular drift" and what size should I get?



Just wait until I make my "I need to change a V6 clutch alone, outside, in one day" thread

[steve_earwig]

You really need to check the brakes out first, get them disks off, have a squint at the shoes and try the bearings again.

1. You'll need new ones so you can measure them.

2. High melting point, pack it into the rollers with your fingers.

3. 3 or 4 legged, massive.

4. A big socket is the usual one, you can check it out when you get the new bearings.

I'm really hoping you don't have the 406oc's first rear bearing failure 'cos you didn't get to:

5. Where do I get a massive torque wrench from?

6. What part of these frigging bearings is made out of gold?!

[Welly]

It's a bit unusual for wheel bearings to go these day but it is very high mileage

The bearing might come in one sodding great hub all sealed ready to go (well one I've seen for a Jap car anyway).

Like this.....

[mjb]

1. You'll need new ones so you can measure them.

Urgh. There's a pair of genuine Pug ones on ebay at the moment going for £80 for the pair, so I'm going to try to snap those up, else I'll be paying EuroCarParts £130 for the pair

2. High melting point, pack it into the rollers with your fingers.

Got a brand name I can get from Hallfrauds or somewhere? I really know nothing about grease and there looks like there's a lot of different types...

I'm really hoping you don't have the 406oc's first rear bearing failure 'cos you didn't get to:

5. Where do I get a massive torque wrench from?

I've got a 2 foot one, hope it's enough

The bearing might come in one sodding great hub all sealed ready to go (well one I've seen for a Jap car anyway).

It is

[djp30djp]

I need to change both rear wheel bearings and am looking for some advice.

Firstly, yes I'm pretty sure it is the bearings. It's not the tyres, it's not the brakes, it's not the handbrake. Both rear wheels grind horribly when spun off the ground, neither spin freely and the offside one barely spins at all

Definately sounds like brakes to me, probably siezed sliders, worn bearings won't stop the wheel spinning. I'd start by taking the pads out & spin them again.

[jasper5]

The Hub nut is either the same as the front(35mm), 32mm, or 30 mm, can't remember from when i did my brother's )not a Coupe).

You may not need anything to pull the hub off the stub axle, sometimes they just slide off, failing that, you need a slide hammer, this bolts to the wheel studs and has a sliding metal block that you slide backwards to bash the hub off.

On my brother's 406, the wheel bearings were part of the hub, you could not grease them, I bought complete hubs.

The 2 foot bar will be good enough to tighten the nut if you are lacking a torque wrench.

If you pm your reg number, I will find out today whether they are part of the hub on your car. I have a very busy day today, but i'll be home at lunch.

I agree with the above, take out the pads and spin the wheels before you do anything else.

[jasper5]

Ok, I went to my suppliers on my way home, the rear bearings are a complete hub unit.

No need to worry about grease, they will be pre-packed.

The hub should slide off without any effort once you have the nut undone...measure it for socket.If it's tight, use a slide hammer.

My local supplier will sell them to me at my trade price of £55 each side (aftermarket, not genuine Peugeot).

There are two types, the ABS ring has 29 and 48 teeth, you need to know which yours is.

I'm calling in at my local Valeo place this afternoon, I will price your clutch while I'm there.

Back to the grind

[Welly]

what a nice man

[mjb]

eurocarparts just down the road from me have the wheel bearings at £57+VAT each (hoping to get the genuine pug parts off ebay for less!), and the clutch kit at £124+VAT. Not looking forward to trying to replace the latter

I'm going to re-check the brakes tonight just in case. There's no difference in noise while applying either footbrake or handbrake though...

[jasper5]

The clutch (Valeo) is £125 at my local Valeo agents, special order, next day delivery.

[totaleclipse]

It's a bit unusual for wheel bearings to go these day but it is very high mileage

The bearing might come in one sodding great hub all sealed ready to go (well one I've seen for a Jap car anyway).

Like this.....

that looks liek a front wheel bearing for an astra.

[teamster1975]

2. When it says I need to pack the bearing with grease, what exactly does it mean by that? how much grease is needed, what type of grease, where does it go?

For future reference it's Castrol LM grease, lithium based high melting point; but hopefully it'll come as a complete unit as Jasper says!

[mjb]

I said I'd check the brakes, and I did. Guess what, I tied the offside calliper to the spring, undid the 2 screws (16mm socket, and 6mm allen socket) holding the calliper on... and... nothing. The calliper was firmly attached to the disc

Tried hammering various bits, then squirted everything with WD40 and hammered more bits, and eventually got enough movement to work out how the brakes work... Bolted the calliper back to the back plate (remind me to put thread lock on next time ), cleaned as much gunk off the pins as I could before gooing them up with copper slip and working stuff free(er)

Et voilla! The noise has dramatically reduced!

Well the disc looks ok with under 1mm ridge at the edge (although they might well have been skimmed by the dealer not too long ago), but the pads are about 3mm thick so need changing. A lot cheaper than bearings! The only problem is I can't work out how to get the pins out. The little cotter pins came out easily, but I just couldn't get any movement on the main pins. There was a tiny amount of pin stuck out the outside-facing edge of the calliper, but I smashed a drill bit into it as hard as I could with the 2lb hammer and it just didn't shift. Is there a knack, or are they just seized and should I de-grease them and try to twist them with mole grips?

I'm tempted to ignore the discs and just replace the pads. Rear brakes do bugger all anyway, and I'm skint... and can never figure out drum brakes. Reckon I should?

IMPORTANT SAFETY REMINDER!!!

If you're messing with the brakes and happen to push a load of fluid out of the reservoir, pump the brakes a couple of times before moving, else you'll go to stop and the pedal will just sink to the floor

[Captain Jack]

Well done once again Matt! Update your project HaeThere list ;)

(you're going to do a how to on a clutch change, right? )

[mjb]

Well done once again Matt! Update your project HaeThere list ;)

(you're going to do a how to on a clutch change, right? )

I'm going to do a howto on fixing seized brakes first... when I've worked out how to get the sodding pins out