Front wheel bearing - how urgent is it?

[rainman]

I'm hoping to get away this weekend to a campsite in Brecon Beacons about 60 miles from here, but have noticed my o/s bearing has got worse. I knew it was on the way out but sort of forgot about it over the winter (I know, I know...). Anyway it's now making this clippity cloppity noise when on the straight, but not when cornering, and the wheel is quite stiff to turn by hand compared to the others, although strangely no noise when turned by hand. My local garage can't fit me in until next Wednesday and I know if I tried to replace it myself I'd end up with bits everywhere and no van.

So, do I chance it and leave it until Wednesday or try to find someone else who can do it?

[ghost123uk]

Sorry but personally I wouldn't use it.

If it seizes or collapses you could end up doing damage to the hub or even having an accident

[jamesc76]

easy to change baxter has all the bit normally, use it and it will fail and cost you a lot more than you think!

[happy camper]

An hour to do it yourself buddy, as long as you've got six sided sockets to get the caliper bolts out you'll p155 it, if i was closer i'd come and do it for ya, wouldn't use it till its done tho as if it properly overheats it could wreck the stubb axel and at the worse the wheel n disk could come adrift while your on the move.

[rainman]

Gah! I knew there was a good reason why I don't try to do these things myself! According to Haynes, I need to get the brake calipers off first but I can't undo the huge nut holding the poxy little retaining thingummy for the flexible hose. I need to go and buy myself a big-off spanner. Anyway, when removing the pads, I had a real struggle to get them out, especially the back one. I can't see how the wheel was turning at all with the pads pressed so tight against it and now that they're out the wheel spins around fine. I have the outer bearing out without removing the disc and it looks fine so I'm wondering if the tight brakes were the real problem. The strange noise disappeared while I was driving to pick up the bearings so no idea what that was about.

[rainman]

so now I've spent over an hour going to 4 different hardware shops trying to find a 24mm spanner. the nearest I could get was a socket and then I couldn't find a T bar (I figured I would need to be excerting dome mighty force on the fecker) so bought a fancy shmancy ratchet. £19 for both only to find there's no room to get a ratchet and socket onto the nut (all this palaver just to release the flexible brake hose, I'm considering hacksawing through the support bracket and worrying about how to put it back later). About £40 and several hours spent so far and all I've got to show for it is a three wheeled van that's going nowhere - this is why I don't DIY. Got to leave it now as I have to pick up my daughter from school and can't really work on it while she's here. Fed up and wish I'd left it alone - rant over!

[rainman]

The saga continues:
I finally located a 24mm spanner and was pleased to find that the nut turned with only a little persuasion. However, my joy was shortlived as it reached the end of the thread and now the bolt is turning with it. I can't get anything on the end to hold the bolt so now it won't tighten back up either which leaves me a bit buggered. The cost of this 'simple' repair is now running at over £50, not to mention the time and driving about, and I think I've only managed to make matters worse. Any advice would be much appreciated.

Here's a piccy of the nut I'm trying to undo:

The annoying thing is I only need to undo this to get the brake calipers out of the way. Should I just undo the brake pipe? And if so, how am I going to tighten that nut back up again? It turns and the bolt turns with it but it's not tightening back up - have I broken something? help!?

[VWCamperfan]

Is that your upper steering ball joint? I'm not sure why you would want to undo that (if that's what it is). The calipers can easily be removed without taking that off simply by undoing the two bolts on the caliper.
To get it done back up, make sure you have sprayed WD40 or similar on the thread (because it all looks a bit dry), hold the bottom of the thread with a spanner of adjustable pliers and turn back up. It will spin as this is the ball joint and is designed to rotate when you turn the steering (providing it is the upper ball joint!)

[VWCamperfan]

Ps. Should have mentioned. You don't need to remove the brake hose. Just undo the caliper and move out of the way.

[VWCamperfan]

Pps. (I will get everything into one post sometime!)
Are you sure the noise you are hearing isn't coming from behind the dashoard? Many sounds like you describe are due to the speedo cable being out of line or not fully pushed home into the speedo.
Just 'coz I'm nosey... What makes you think the bearing is on it's way out? Looseness of wheel, noise, heat etc.

[rainman]

Thanks for responding.
I was following the instructions in Haynes which said to remove that ball joint thingy because it is holding the non-flexible part of the brake pipe (sorry i don't know the technical terms). This did appear to make sense at the time as I could see that that would allow removal of the calipers but I'd be willing to have a go at the method you suggest. I did manage to persuade a 10mm spanner onto the end of the bolt to hold it so may be able to tighten it up again tomorrow.
As for the bearing, it was an advisory on my last MOT, although the mechanic (who is familiar with these vans) said it was nothing to worry about. The noise made me think it was finally gone and the stiffness of the wheel also had me worried. however, the noise is not there when I turn the wheel by hand so it may well be the speedo as you suggest. My main concern (I think) is that the wheel was stiff to turn by hand because the brakes were so tight but at the moment I'd be happy enough just to get it all back together before the weekend.

[Red Westie]

It all sounds like things have gone breasticles up with this one!
Firstly....the noise you describle doesn't sound like wheel bearing noise (they whine and or rumble with a tone who's pitch gets higher as speed increases)
Secondly....what are you doing trying to take off the ball joint? get it tightened back up.

You describe the wheel are difficult to spin when the pads where in....this leads be to think that your caliper is seizing.

Bottom line tho.....these are brakes and you don't appear to be a very confident DIYer so get someone else to look at it... sorry...

[Red Westie]

Speedo drive is on the N/S not O/S.
And the MOT tester would usually report excessive play as bearing noise is only usually heard under load (unless very bad of course)

Martin

[Hacksawbob]

My wheel bearing made a low rumbling noise on cornering. not 'clipetty cloppety!"

[VWCamperfan]

Check for grease in the bearing first off. If it's a bit low or none in there, repack with grease and reassemble. Tighten as per Haynes manual and it should be ok. What colour was the bearing half you took out (apart from mainly silverish!). Were there any blue tinges anywhere on the rollers?

Right, brake calipers! The caliper that is stiff needs to be moved in and out a few times to free it (possibly both sides if both stiff).
Use a strong lever to push the piston back in to the caliper housing and use the brake pedal to move out again. Keep the lever in between the piston and brake disc as you do this so you can move it back in again.
Keep the brake pad in the one you aren't moving to stop it coming out too far.
Should free up after a few attempts.