Slight play in both rear bearings - how to fix

[Madcowz]

Hi,

My MOT says I have slight play in both my rear bearings and I have heard that it is possible to adjust these rather than replace but can't for the life of me find instructions here or on other sites.

Could someone pleas point simples old me in the right direction. Or would it be better if I stripped the hubs down and replaced the bearings? I have replaced a stub axle before so have a vague idea of what I am doing and the right tools.

Thanks,

Hedley

[mmgemini]

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Wheel/hub bearing advice

Slacken road wheel nuts.

Jack up vehicle and place on axle stand.

Remove road wheel.

Remove either brake calliper from the axle,or the brake drum from the hub.

Remove the halfshaft.Be ready to catch any oil!!!

Now you should see the retaining nuts held by the lock washer.

Knock back the lock washer.

Remove the first nut.

Remove the second nut.

Catch the outer bearing before it falls to the ground,you might need to waggle the hub for this bearing to fall out.

Pull the hub off.

________________________________________ __________ __________

To remove the outer bearing race.

Clean up the inside of the hub,at this stage it doesn't need to be perfect.

Lay the hub face down on a piece of wood.

You should be able to see the two cut outs in the hub that allows you to use a drift on the outer race to drift the race out.

Drift the race out working from side to side then all the way round.

Turn the hub over and do the other race.

Clean everything up and read my post on adjusting wheel bearings.

You will need

A hub nut spanner.Craddocks or Paddocks sell them.

You will also need a new oil seal and depending on the year a hub gasket.

I'mm assuming the hub is off and both the bearings removed and the new/clean outer tracks are fitted into the hub.

First thing.

Pack the bearings with a good quality grease.

Now the manufacturers say don't pack,just put a cover onto the rollers.Well the manufacturer is there to SELL bearings.

To pack the bearing.

Hold the bearing with the roller track in your hand.Tend to push the rollers away from the track.Push grease into the back of the rollers until you have grease at the other end of the rollers.Continue round the bearing until all the rollers are full of grease.Drop the bearing into the track.

Fit the oil seal.

Oil Seal.

Now if you Off Road a lot take a good look at the seal fitment.Can you get two seals into the place where there should be only one?If so fit two seals.One to retain the grease,fitted correctly.The other to stop water ingress when you wade,this seal is fitted the "wrong" way.

Some people used to fit the seal the wrong way to stop the water ingress,I can't comment on that trick as I've never tried it.

Please be careful when you do this,It's your fault if it goes wrong!!!!!

I'll digress.....

When I rallyed my Imp.I was knocking front wheel bearings out every rally.That was less that 200 miles.

We had a visit to work from the Wynns rep.I told him my problem.He went to his car and producee a small jar off additive."Mix that with your grease and you not have any more problems"

I did and I had no more problems.I still have that grease,I use it only on my car.

So a talk to Winns might help.

So you have the inner bearing and oil seal fitted.

Pack the other bearing.

Put the hub onto the stub axle and place the other bearing into place.

Then the spacer.

Now the nut.

We are now going to set the bearing WITHOUT a Dti!!!!

You will have the choice of either a box spanner with a tommy bar through or a socket.For starters I would suggest that those with a socket use an extension with a hole through so you can use a tommy bar.

Tighten the nut up.Not tight but enough to stop the hub turning and spread the grease.

Now back off the nut about an eighth of a turn.all the time turning the hub.

The hub should turn nice and easily without any percievable end movement.

Fit the lock washer then the lock nut.

The lock nut needs to be tight but not over tight.See my later comments.

Bend the lock washer in on one flat of the inner nut and out onto a flat of the lock nut.

Digression.

When I worked at the Ford Main Dealer I worked on Transits.I think the front bearing nut was 1 1/16 AF.

I used to use a 3/8 drive speed brace to set the bearings.The speed brace just nipped the bearings at the right pressure.

Now when I do my hubs.I generally use just my water pump pliers to do all the adjusting.Very rarely do I use a socket!!!

Get out.

I've given this in good faith.

If you do it wrong,don't blame me!!!!!

HTH

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[MONKEYCOPPER]

dont suppose you could go over it in a little more detail lol !!

i enjoyed reading that

Paul

[Guest]

For the cost of bearings and the length you have to go to adjusting them I would just replace them, but that's me when you have replaced a wheel bearing on the side of the road in the rain then you may also decide adjusting is just delaying the job.

Jason.

[mmgemini]

Jason

Please explain why anybody shpuld tjrow a good whheel bearing into the bin when all is required is an adjustment.

Are you a member of the trow away good equipment society ?

On your premis I should have replaced 100 wheel bearings in my Defender.

Must be the difference between a vehicle fittert and a replace part mechanic.

[Guest]

Jason

Please explain why anybody shpuld tjrow a good whheel bearing into the bin when all is required is an adjustment.

Are you a member of the trow away good equipment society ?

On your premis I should have replaced 100 wheel bearings in my Defender.

Must be the difference between a vehicle fittert and a replace part mechanic.

Mike,

With the cost of a Timken wheel bearing kit being around £20 including the seals I have always treated my wheel bearings as a serviceable item and change them out of course when they have enough miles on them the same as for example a cam belt I have also changed plenty of these that look perfectly good but have replaced them any way.

However I do also take your point that I have also just nipped up the wheel bearings in the past, it depends on age and condition and what you use your truck for. I am certainly not a member of the "throw away good equipment society" the hours I put in to restoring my Series One would show that where it would have been easier to find new than restore, but I restored anyway.

I do however believe that bearings were designed as sacrificial item and the damage caused by a wheel bearing failure can be far more than the hassle of changing it, hence my service methodology of changing them every 30k if that makes me a bad person in your eyes then I am sorry, but i'm sure I will live.

Jason.

[Madcowz]

Thanks for your replies.

While I'm in there, I suppose I might as well replace the brake shoes. Is there anything else I should do?

[mmgemini]

20 quid is a lot of money to me. Do you by any chance work for Keith Auto Services near Durban ? he wanted to charge me £1,400 to take my engine out when 360 wopuld dso the job.

My wheel bearings have done to my knowelege well over 100,000 miles. They are checked every 6,000 miles like yours should be.

[mmgemini]

With drum brakes.

Back the shoes off so the drum is free.

Wheel off.

Halfshaft out.

Then take the two hub adjusting nuts off.

NMow pull the drum and the hub off as one unit.

In fact there's no need to take the wheel off. We used to do twin wheel Transits like that.

HTH

[Les Henson]

Adjusting a wheel bearing (with nice pics ) Ignore the fact that it's a superior series motor - the method is the same.

http://forums.lr4x4.com/index.php?showtopic=7969

Les.

[Guest]

20 quid is a lot of money to me. Do you by any chance work for Keith Auto Services near Durban ? he wanted to charge me £1,400 to take my engine out when 360 wopuld dso the job.

My wheel bearings have done to my knowelege well over 100,000 miles. They are checked every 6,000 miles like yours should be.

I sometimes do wish I worked for a garage however at the moment I work for two companies one to pay the mortgage and the second is my micro brewery which is my passion but does not yet pay the mortgage.

I Would change my own engine as I have just done so the cost would be £150 including the engine (second hand) I also save money on my tyres so budget is important to me, however I get my Land Rover serviced every 5k or before a major trip if it is likely to go over, and yes the wheel bearings are checked however given that I use my defender for overland trips I think the peace of mind for the price of a tank of fuel is worth it, in my eyes anyway. I was just offering an opinion.

Jason.

[Madcowz]

Thanks Les, perfect.

[Litch]

"Could someone pleas point simples old me in the right direction."

I would suggest a manual (Haynes is fine), simple instructions and plenty of photos.

I think they sould be compoulsary reading for any owner as you learn how things work and what is involved in repair / replacement without having to wait for replies on a forum (which often contradict each other anyway). It's how we did things in the good old days before the invention of the interweb!

Nothing wrong with getting opinions but more often than not a flick through the manual would give you an instant answer on how to do a job.

By the way, i'm in the adjust not replace camp.

Had LR's in the family for over 40-years and owned my own for over 25 and in all that time I don't think any vehicle has ever had more than one set of new wheel-bearings fitted, they have been adjusted from time to time but that is what adjustable bearings are for........, adjusting. Never had one fail either.

Damage caused by water contamination, over-heating (lack of lubrication etc), replacement because you are overhauling the axle and want all-new components or just plain worn out then fine, replace them but not because they just need adjusting.

Going on from that, quite often I will replace ALL similar components if only one is showing signs of wear. TRE's for instance, I have never just replaced one and instead replace them all as they have all been subject to the same wear (also means that you don't have to get the tracking set again just a few months down the line).

[Les Henson]

Yeah, but in the old days, Haynes manuals were good

Les.

[Retroanaconda]

Thanks Les, perfect.

I know we're not quite as local as postcodes would have one believe, but if you're this way and you want to borrow a workshop manual then let me know

[Litch]

"Yeah, but in the old days, Haynes manuals were good

Les."

Ah yes but even today they are still correct 99.5% of the time and they do give the inexperienced a good guide on what to do.

Photo's are better nowadays and there are more of them. Do you remember the mechanic always had oily hands in the old ones, much more clinical nowadays?

[Les Henson]

It's the .5% that I would be worried about. Haynes do have a habit of getting something important entirely wrong - such as a torque figure, but yes - haynes are a good learner guide.

Les

[Madcowz]

Trouble is that if you look at the Index in a Haynes manual under "Bearings" there isn't anything listed.

It is only under "Axle" that you get a refernce to 9.10, 9.13 and 9.14 of which pages 9.11-9 (Rear Hub assembly) explains how to remove and refit the hub, but not how to adjust the bearings and for a simple bear like me, this can be off-putting.

And @Retro, thanks for the offer. I have the manual so will have another (proper) look at it. As I say, I had to replace a snapped front half shaft within a month of buying the landy and up until now have been really confident but a series of expensive breakdowns (FIP being one of them) has left me looking for more advice before I get oily again which is a shame. I hate having clean finger nails....

Thanks for all your replies. I will order a couple of gaskets and lockwashers and crack on with it.

[mmgemini]

Litch. We are of the same group.

I worked on Ford Transits for over ten years, I don't ever remember replacing a rear Salisbury bearing. Funnily enough we didn't replace many seals eithe dispite dragging two wheels off with the hub.

Those who have actually bothered to read what I posted instead of scanning will find a nice bit of useful information there

[Madcowz]

Those who have actually bothered to read what I posted instead of scanning will find a nice bit of useful information there

I have it printed off and will work through it along with the pictures provided by Les in the week before I start the job so by the time I am ready to start I have a good better idea of what I am doing.

thanks,

Hedley

[Madcowz]

Its time to revisit the bearings... I tightened them up but they are loose again so I think I will replace them.

Am I right in thinking that I need two STC4382 per axle and that apart from the lock tab washer and flange seal (which I have) all I will need is a Hub oil seal: RTC3511?

So

4 x STC4382

2 x RTC3511

1989/90 One Ten

Best to ask before I start as if I find out half way through a job that I don't have the right parts I can't get to work for 2-3 days while I order them in and my boss would kick my arse.

thanks,

Heds

[western]

page 427 gives you all the relevant part numbers.

[Madcowz]

page 427 gives you all the relevant part numbers.

Thanks Ralph, I was on that page but confused by the Part Number being RTC3429 but a quick Google shows STC4382 is the same part so I will scribble that as an update on my catalogue.

I'm too paranoid... comes from having no bus, taxi or train service is this hick little village of ours.

[smokinv8]

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Oil Seal.

Now if you Off Road a lot take a good look at the seal fitment.Can you get two seals into the place where there should be only one?If so fit two seals.One to retain the grease,fitted correctly.The other to stop water ingress when you wade,this seal is fitted the "wrong" way.

Some people used to fit the seal the wrong way to stop the water ingress,I can't comment on that trick as I've never tried it.

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Hadnt heard of this advice before, anyone else do this or found it makes a difference?

[Madcowz]

Damn.

I have just noticed that I don't have the inner seal (FRC8221) after removing the hub.

My bearings are loose in the hub and I'm wondering if I should try to pack it with grease and put it all back together while I order another part or is it possible to just replace the outer bearing (I have the seal for this) with the inner seal and bearing in place.