Wheel bearings questions

[lg2]

I have a Haynes book for my 510. It is not detailed enough for me. Can you all give me a step by step instruction on how to do this on my '71 510. Thank you for your help..

lg2

[Silky_Johnson]

This will help you with front wheel bearings...

 

http://community.ratsun.net/topic/22974-510-front-brake-vids/

[racerx]

I have a Haynes book for my 510. It is not detailed enough for me. Can you all give me a step by step instruction on how to do this on my '71 510. Thank you for your help..

lg2

Not sure about your question?  To do what? Pack them? to check if they are bad?

[lg2]

Replace them...

[racerx]

oh, okay..

[datzenmike]

If you have the new ones then yeah might as well. If the old ones had the grease replaced every 4 years 60K miles they will last virtually forever. What destroys them is water contamination and they start to growl.

 

There are two bearings inside the hub, an inner and an outer. Or one close to you and one further in the back. In addition each bearing has an inner and outer race that the tapered roller bearings ride on.

 

Take the wheel off, loosen and remove the caliper mounting bolts and tie caliper up out of way with wire. Pop the dust shield off, straighten and pull the cotter pin, loosen and remove the large lock nut and washer behind it. The wheel bearing and attached inner race should now slide out and off the spindle. (the outer race is pressed into the hub) Pull the hub with disc brake rotor attached out, and off the spindle. The innermost bearing can't fall out the back because there is a grease seal there to keep water out. Clamp the hub in a vice and with a suitable brass drift reach in from the front and drive the outer race on the inner bearing out, forcing the grease seal ahead of it. With the grease seal, and bearing out, reach in from the back and drive the remaining outer race from the hub. Clean hub and spindle completely of old grease.

 

Note that the two outer races are tapered and the bearings are tapered to match. When installing the new outer races, be sure they are put in the same way. A suitable size diameter pipe can be used to drive the new outer races into the hub.

 

Pack the two new bearing cones well with grease, fitting the inner one followed by a new grease seal. Be sure to grease the grease seal lips so that it does not run dry on the spindle. Pack the inner cavity of the hub with new grease and slide hub onto spindle, install outer bearing cone, washer, and nut hand tight.

 

Torque the nut to 25 ft pounds, spin hub assy several times to seat the bearings. Check the torque setting of 25 ft lbs and back off the nut 1/4 of a turn or so there is no play between nut and bearing. Line up the hole in the spindle with a gap in the castellated nut and instal a new cotter pin and bend over. Replace dust cover, disc brake caliper and wheel.

[racerx]

yes can be messy affair.  If you don't have a packer..wera gloves and put a lot of grease in your palm...walk the bearings, in your palm, while packing it slowly, u should see it coming out..good ruck...

[demo243]

Are you asking about front or rear wheel bearings??? 

 

Fronts have been covered so far- and are quite easy to do- although be weary you may need to retorque those axle nuts after some driving... i needed to... will probably just replace them in the next week or so since I could probably do both sides in 30 minutes-

 

Rears... not so easy- but very doable even with basic hand tools, just did the rear passenger on my 71 4dr - if you have questions on the rears let me know-  I can dig up threads from here and the connecticut z forum and i think a virginia z forum- 

[Dawa]

you can find the 510 fsm online for free. start using/referencing that

[lg2]

Wow thanks Datzenmike for all those details but will this apply for both rear and front? I notice someone mentioned the rear bearings were harder to do.

[datzenmike]

Fronts.

[DaBlist]

YouTube should have vids on this and alot of other things you will want to learn in the future

[lg2]

How are the rear bearing done? I've tried YouTube but have not been successful with that method.

[njp.18]

On 4/4/2013 at 4:32 PM, datzenmike said:

If you have the new ones then yeah might as well. If the old ones had the grease replaced every 4 years 60K miles they will last virtually forever. What destroys them is water contamination and they start to growl.

 

There are two bearings inside the hub, an inner and an outer. Or one close to you and one further in the back. In addition each bearing has an inner and outer race that the tapered roller bearings ride on.

 

Take the wheel off, loosen and remove the caliper mounting bolts and tie caliper up out of way with wire. Pop the dust shield off, straighten and pull the cotter pin, loosen and remove the large lock nut and washer behind it. The wheel bearing and attached inner race should now slide out and off the spindle. (the outer race is pressed into the hub) Pull the hub with disc brake rotor attached out, and off the spindle. The innermost bearing can't fall out the back because there is a grease seal there to keep water out. Clamp the hub in a vice and with a suitable brass drift reach in from the front and drive the outer race on the inner bearing out, forcing the grease seal ahead of it. With the grease seal, and bearing out, reach in from the back and drive the remaining outer race from the hub. Clean hub and spindle completely of old grease.

 

Note that the two outer races are tapered and the bearings are tapered to match. When installing the new outer races, be sure they are put in the same way. A suitable size diameter pipe can be used to drive the new outer races into the hub.

 

Pack the two new bearing cones well with grease, fitting the inner one followed by a new grease seal. Be sure to grease the grease seal lips so that it does not run dry on the spindle. Pack the inner cavity of the hub with new grease and slide hub onto spindle, install outer bearing cone, washer, and nut hand tight.

 

Torque the nut to 25 ft pounds, spin hub assy several times to seat the bearings. Check the torque setting of 25 ft lbs and back off the nut 1/4 of a turn or so there is no play between nut and bearing. Line up the hole in the spindle with a gap in the castellated nut and instal a new cotter pin and bend over. Replace dust cover, disc brake caliper and wheel.

hi mike, would these steps work for the front wheel bearings of a 521 as well?

[datzenmike]

Very generally it should. This was for a disc brake 620? or a car. The 521 is drum, so torque values may be different. The hub must have a very slight pre-load on the bearings. A slight 'crush' on them. If loose they will be pounded back and forth driving. Too tight and their life shortened as well. Check the grease every year or so for water contamination. Always cover the front axles with caps or wheel discs to keep splashes off the dist covers.