Having never done one before I'm not sure how easy this will be. Van failed on excessive play. I'm guessing this to be the bearings, however, im not sure it is as id have thought if the bearings were the cause of the play then this would also transfer to play at the driveshaft which it doesnt do. when the handbrake is on there is no play? anyhow, it looks a bit mammoth removing and driving in a new bearings set, especially having to crack and retorque 250 ftlb. Is it possible to remove the entire assembly in one go from where it bolts to the spring plate? I have an option to remove a complete set-up from another van or am I looking at an even bigger job and barking up the wrong tree?
Ok mate @Joker - the rear torsion arm is held on by the spline ( which should slip off ) four bolts on the T/A cover - four bolts on the rear hub carrier h/b cable and brake hose - doing the bearings involves similar removal without the arm and can be a pig - try just torquing the castle nut to 253lbs first though
I can see the movement but its not huge. Same garage, same MOT tester, this van did 2 miles between its last MOT and this one! I don't know how they characterise 'excessive' or what the tolerance would be? I still can't figure out how the play at the wheel isn't observed at the CV joint/drive shaft
Polish up the appropriate nut/bolt heads and tell him you've done it. If he says it's no different, look dismayed and say they're all like that.
its amazing how many MOT stations expect there to be no play in bay rear wheels. Fortunately our local Station used to own a latebay and a beetle.
That is also not true .... The rear bearings are an on going problem for me , I have searched the net, Bentley and Haynes and can find no mention of max play ! But I have 2 mm of movement at the wheel rim and I can see the movement in the CV joint . I'm at a bit of a loss as they were genuine vw bearings .
I reused the spacers as I couldn't /can't see what effect that would have ? Maybe that's my problem but until I take it apart again I don't know ... There is a lot of guys on thesamba with same issue and they recommend nos bearings , like they are easy to come across . Movement is not in out its rock
Outer edge of wheel sideways movement about 2mm when you rock it two handed is quite normal Nial - if that is what you have then do as Steve says and clean up the nuts and take it back in!
I was joking, but I've changed them for an MOT inspector who remarked they were no better then passed it anyway. Seemed to me like I needn't have bothered.
