Rear wheel bearing replacement - housing wear

[scotttie]

Obviously a topic that has been covered many times, but I have a particular question - do you grease the splines of the stub axle? And if so what's type of grease should be applied?

Cheers,
Scott

[Aidan]

you only need a smear, same grease as you use for packing the space around the spacer between the bearings, I use a standard lithium grease for pretty much everything, I use Quantum from VW; Edna had been standing more than 6 years when we broke her in April, all came apart fairly easily as it was all copper slipped or lithium greased when assembled, drums came off the hubs no problem, despite having been heavily off roaded and stuck in water at times

[scotttie]

Perfect. Cheers Aidan. Hope you're doing well.

Scott

[scotttie]

Whilst I'm here I thought I'd check my CV joints. What do people think of this amount of wear? OK to repack with grease and refit?

[Aidan]

repack with fresh grease, if those are rears maybe swap them around so rotating in opposite direction to even the wear, but be aware sometimes that can make for a weird small vibe for a short while

[scotttie]

Hi all,

How do you go about determining wear in a wheel bearing housing?

I started this thread as I am replacing both rear bearings after one failed on my way back from Italy earlier this year. When I came to press the failed bearings out of the housing, they basically fell out. I've got a 12 tonne press and the inner bearing came out without even a reading on the gauge. The outer came out with around 1-2 tonne pressure to get it moving. My gut was telling me they should need a lot more pressure to press out which is leading me to think the housing is worn.

I understand they can wear oval over time - does anyone know what measurements the inner diameter of the housing should be for both bearings?

Cheers,
Scott

[Aidan]

Ian, Silverbullet, will know

but yes the inner should be hard to get out, especially the vw way which is using a punch squeezed through the gap around the spacer, not using the spacer as a press tool

I saw a post recently on here where someone had done the job insitu with the housing and brake backing plate still on trailing arm, and I was thinking 'how on earth did you do that ?' maybe the bearing fell out like yours

[scotttie]

Thanks Aidan, Hopefully Ian will be along soon to share some wisdom!

I'm wondering whether this housing is destined for the bin. The Surface for the outer bearing has some scoring and I'm wondering if this is due to the bearing spinning in the housing:


As for the inner bearing, there are some large chips near the bearing surface. Looks like someone has really hacked at it to get a bearing out:


The inner bearing itself is a manufacturer I do not recognise (Daewoo MGM) and I guess it unlikely to be OEM?

[Aidan]

original would be SKF and very original probably had VW/Audi and the VW part number as well as SKF 6207/C3 on it
Daewoo probably Korean, probably early 2000s, not readily available here, maybe the garage that worked on it last time was a Daewoo specialist

The SKF kit - VKBA 910 is pretty much oem, Italian made SKF inner, INA German made outer, ASA seals (quality Taiwanese) and a good quality split pin and new circlip that fits

[ZsZ]

Original 80's VW ball bearings were MGM Radax, made here in Hungary. (Facilities now owned by FAG)

The inner SKF and FAG ball bearings were both fine a few years ago when I did them on mine. That time the SKF kit had Torrington outer rollers, FAG had INA. The Torringtons were loose by new. INA was good.

[tobydog]

https://www.penetron.ch/en/

I know someone who may have one still, I'll pop round tomorrow to check if I get a chance.

Used it many years ago to repair a 2 part Laverda camshaft.

[scotttie]

Thanks all,

What are people's thoughts on the bearing housing based on the photos? Are those pits in the metal normal near the bearing surfaces normal (i.e. from the casting process), or is it a sign that someone has been in there with a heavy hand?

Cheers,
Scott

[Aidan]

I reckon they are tool marks from someone drifting out the bearing as per the VW method, probably insitu to save removing the brakes and bearing carrier, it's difficult to do as you are working around the inner spacer so you need quite a thin drift but also at an angle as you are trying to hit the outer race not punch against or through the balls or the ball retainer and trying to knock it out fairly square hence multiple marks, process is inner race out first, then the spacer can be removed, thence you have decent access to outer outer race from inside but again not a lot to actually strike against - one should use brass drifts not an old chisel or screwdriver. if you have suitable tools and are careful you could use a slide hammer to extract the outer - as you found a lot easier off the vehicle in a press

I asked ian for dimensions, he replied bearings are 62 and 72mm, housing bores must be smaller by a gnat's fart - I've asked him to clarify

but as a guide if you can push a new bearing in by hand then it's too worn, any bearing fit will just act as a lubricant when fitting but once set won't actually hold when under load and hot, leave the bearing housing in the sun before offering up a bearing from the fridge, if that just falls in then it is too worn, if that is a tight fit then chances are housing is good

[Aidan]

Ian says gnat's fart ~0.03mm diameter so you want 61.97 and 71.97 max diameter bores in a perfect world, hard to measure without bore gauges

[scotttie]

Thanks Aidan, and cheers for checking with Ian.

I'll give your cold/hot trick a go and see where that gets me.