I took a rear wheel bearing housing to a local garage yesterday fully assembled except for the roller bearing needing to be pressed in, and fully greased with new (yellow) castrol. On pick up today the roller was coated in dirty black grease with a sandy consistency. Several of the 'chunks' were about a mil diameter and included metal flakes and a wire wool strand just for good measure. Theres a light grinding as I turn the stub axle and sticky spots where presumably theres grit in the way. Oh yes and the outer race is slightly (but visibly) pressed out of shape in a couple of places. Some small gouges out of the housing too. From a professional point of view is this a difficult job? I'm guessing nothing more to it than bang out the stub axle and redo it all? At least said that I'm not paying, phew. Gahhhhhhh
that sounds bad dude. Its not that hard a job to press new bearings in, we did them with the axle fitted to the westy - its fiddly but do able. First off, I suggest you bag all the debris up (sandwich bag), remove the bearing and check for damage & go from there
You can use my press if you live near yorkshire its one my grandad had in his garage its a oldy but goody
Update........ Took a fair while but I pulled it to bits and all I need now is someone with a (clean) press ;-) any good garages in Bristol anyone, I've been fairly unlucky of late?
Thanks so much for the offer, Yorkshires a fair way for me though being a westcountry lad. karma to you though!!
You really don't need a press. Inner bearing goes straight in with a bit of drifting mebbe, outer tends to slip around but goes in with a smart smack with a bearing driver (or even a bit of wood). Pretty straightforward job. I don't recall having any probs doing mine.
Only sure way to get it in square is a press ,bearings are precision items and don't like foreign bodies or being *****ed
^^^This! You dont need a press for bearings. as long as you drive them in square and all of the way home you'll be fine. it's the way bearings have been done for years without problems. if you're really bothered then buy a bearing driver but the old race is just as good. use the 12, 6, 9, 3 o'clock method and you cant go wrong. Keep checking the bearing race as it goes in, making sure it's not going in too deep at one point. if it is, give it a tap on the opposite side and carry on. bearing press......Pah!
I've used half a dozen garages in the last two years, never with any luck! I've spoken to Martin once before - trouble is the bay's my means of transport and the garage is maybe 8 miles away. Fine sometimes - but with the engine out its a looong push ;-)
just one more thing - how hard should it be to turn the hub? It's stiffer than the old - but still able to turn by hand.
