The nearside (left for our friends who drive on the wrong side of the road), wheel bearing started making a racket recently, although there was no play whatsoever in it!

Anyway I decided to replace it yesterday and it has to be said, the disassembly of all the nuts and bolts was really very easy, but then I was faced with removing the steel hub assembly from the aluminium hub carrier! You know what's coming next.

Yes the corrosion and general road crud had welded the two parts together. So a partial strip became a complete strip, with the whole assembly ending up on the bench and heat being applied in the shape of a torch and a lot of heat it took too.

Eventually the heat broke the corrosion and the bearing assembly reluctantly came out.

So the moral here is...It really is quite a straightforward job, but the minute you get the slightest hint of wheel bearing noise, I would advise that you start soaking the bearing assembly to hub carrier joint liberally with penetrating oil and keep doing so right up until bearing changing day.

 

thanks for sharing!

 

Oh and I also noticed that the front brake pads were getting a little thin, so a new set have been ordered..

 

Another option would be to change the whole spindle if your hub will not come off, or the hub with a used part.