Front bearing replacement
A buzzing noise that changes its tone with road speed and a slight vibration from the steering wheel very often
indicate failing wheel bearings.
Luckily,
dying wheel bearings normally do not fail instantly but kindly grant
you some time to finish your trip and to buy the nescessary replacement
parts.
Tools:
- 3/4"
wrench for the caliper bolts
- 11 mm
socket for the caliper brake line bracket
- Adjustable
spanner for the spindle nut
- Cutting
pliers for the removal of the cotter pin
- Bushing driver (a generic set can be bought for very little money online, old-school substitutes like left-over bearing races or wrench sockets might also work)
Parts:
- Inner
wheel bearing and race: LM 29749 - LM 29710 (all the SZ cars I have
worked on had Timken bearings installed...other brands might work just
as well)
- Outer
wheel bearing and race: L44649 - L44610
- Wheel
bearing grease, I use the green Castrol high temperature wheel
bearing grease
I loosened the bracket that
holds the two brake lines leading to the calipers.
I then loosend the bolts holding the calipers to the spindle.
It is possible to position and to secure the calipers behind the brake
disk without the need to take of the hard brake lines.
The outer race of the outer bearing showed
considerable wear
After cleaning out the grease, a step (that is the outer
race of the inner bearing) is exposed where a tool can rest to drive
the bearing out.
This operation will push out both seals, a spacer and the complete
bearing assembly.
The seal arrangement is a quite unique double arrangement.
This seals are quite expensive.
As my seals looked brand new and their dual layout is over engineered
to begin with, I decided to clean and to reuse them.
The picture below shows how the spacer and the seals are oriented in
the hole, the new inner bearing is already installed.
Home
