Bearing Pressing Question

[turbine50]

Sethro, that wa wa noise is almost cirtainly tire noise. Rotate your tires and the noise will change or go away. While you are at it, with the wheel off the ground, put one hand on top and one on the bottom and try to push/pull. If there is play, its toast. Before I had any play, I had a squeal while turning (side load). Yes, its one of those beasts per side. For the rears, the bearing and hub come as one.

As far as the manual goes, it takes a while to download each section (front suspension, transaxle, etc). I've been saving a few at a time and have most of the manual in PDF. I can email you this part later today.


BTW, my other axle is OK and it slipped right out of the hub. I'm rollin.

 

[slavrenz]

Sethro, that wa wa noise is almost cirtainly tire noise. Rotate your tires and the noise will change or go away. While you are at it, with the wheel off the ground, put one hand on top and one on the bottom and try to push/pull. If there is play, its toast. Before I had any play, I had a squeal while turning (side load). Yes, its one of those beasts per side. For the rears, the bearing and hub come as one.

As far as the manual goes, it takes a while to download each section (front suspension, transaxle, etc). I've been saving a few at a time and have most of the manual in PDF. I can email you this part later today.


BTW, my other axle is OK and it slipped right out of the hub. I'm rollin.

You can definitely try rotating the tires, but it's actually much more likely to be your bearings going out than tire noise. Depending on your mileage, this is quite a common issue with the P5s around 100k miles.

As for the bearings themselves, there is only one per wheel. They are completely sealed, so you can't take them apart like the tapered bearings and service them. That's why I mentioned that the tool above probably won't work on our cars. You need about 210 fit-lb of torque on the hub nuts to keep our bearings together in the hub, while most tapered bearings don't need more than 20-30 ft-lb.

The point is that our bearings are under a huge amount of pressure, and it takes a full-size press to remove them.

 

[sethro_GT]

I thought so too, turbine, the car had brand new tires on it when I bought in the first of august. I rotated the tires a few weeks ago and the noise was unchanged. It is worse when I turn as well. I've had bad wheel bearings (on my first 89 323 in 1997) and this sounds similar. Currently at 107k miles so it looks like I'm in the failure zone. After I get my other projects done it'll be wheel bearing time on the P5. I have tiny 6 ton press (bench top jobby from harborfreight) and based on whats here it won't succeed but I'll sure try. I wonder if that little puller I have can handle 200 ft lb's......Better build a blast sheild.

Thanks for the advice slavrenz, I was going to go through a whole bunch of diagnosis crap but I'll just order the bearings right off the get go.

oh and I fought a volvo axle last week and fortunatly the new axle came with a new axle nut so I just put the old on to cover the end and beat the bejeezus out of it, nut destroyed and axle finally came out. I could have reused the axle but the nut was toast.

 

[cbrcrx]

Harbor freight, about $50 and you can do it as many times as you want, like a cheap hooker.

This is the front hub bearings on my 88 323GT

Everything I buy at Harbor Freight breaks the first time I use it. I guess I got what I paid for.

 

[slavrenz]

I thought so too, turbine, the car had brand new tires on it when I bought in the first of august. I rotated the tires a few weeks ago and the noise was unchanged. It is worse when I turn as well. I've had bad wheel bearings (on my first 89 323 in 1997) and this sounds similar. Currently at 107k miles so it looks like I'm in the failure zone. After I get my other projects done it'll be wheel bearing time on the P5. I have tiny 6 ton press (bench top jobby from harborfreight) and based on whats here it won't succeed but I'll sure try. I wonder if that little puller I have can handle 200 ft lb's......Better build a blast sheild.

Thanks for the advice slavrenz, I was going to go through a whole bunch of diagnosis crap but I'll just order the bearings right off the get go.

oh and I fought a volvo axle last week and fortunatly the new axle came with a new axle nut so I just put the old on to cover the end and beat the bejeezus out of it, nut destroyed and axle finally came out. I could have reused the axle but the nut was toast.

I don't want to discourage you from diagnosing the problem, but the point I was trying to make is whether your bearings are bad now, or in 20k miles, they will go bad, especially on these cars. If you DIY, bearings are pretty cheap to replace, and IMHO, the peace of mind that you're gonna get from having them replaced is worth any additional mileage you're gonna be able to eke outta the old ones. Not to mention that that's most likely your problem, so you should have peace and quiet from here on. Just make sure you order new snap rings and axle nuts at the same time.

As far as the press, a 6 ton bench press *should* work - just as long as its stable. Put your new bearings in the freezer beforehand and grease 'em good to make sure they slide in easily. Also, to remove the hub, you can use a rubber mallet and go to town on the axle nut just barely threaded on, or else you can rent a 3-jaw puller and it should work.

Just make sure you get that new axle nut tightened to 174-235 ft-lb of torque, or your new bearings will be shot in short order.

 

[sethro_GT]

follow up

- Get a good press, my bench top one was too small to fit the knuckle and probably wasn't strong enough. At $80 to $150 labor just buy the press I got from harbor freight for $130 on sale right now (09-23-09).
- Turbine50's and Slavrenz's advice to use a puller on the axle to get it out instead of beating is excellent and works.
- The bearing puller posted a picture of will not work on a protege hub, there is no lip to grab, it is flush with the hub. Only way is to cut the race off, per manual too.
- The noise was the left front wheel bearing after all.
- The snap rings were ok to reuse.
- my torque wrench only goes to 150 ft'lbs so I tightened it with a cheater after 150 to get the divot lined up where it used to be. Some people say you should use a new axle nut every time, its a judgment call.