Well after reading a lot of posts about replacing front wheel bearings I am still stumped if it will be easier to install the seal on the hub or try to install the seal on the stub axle. Some forum members were even saying to not bother replacing the seal if it is in good condition. It seems that the seal installation is the difficult part of this job. It almost seems that it would be easier to install it on the back of the hub first. Any feed back on this?

I just hope I have not damaged my stub axles there was a horrible grinding noise coming from my driver side on the way home tonight. My car is a 1996 xj6 with 110000 miles and when I had an alignment done in the spring the shop told me the hubs were loose and recommended greasing them at the same time. I agreed to have them do this but when I saw that the alignment and the repack took 45 minutes I doubted that this was done. I even went back to the shop and asked the service writer how this was even possible in that time frame, he told me that it was a slow day and he had 2 mechanics working on it. I think the guy was lying to my face.

 

I've done battle with those seals, ruined a few in the process.

The shop manual calls for installing them into the stub axle first but I couldn't make that work.

As I recall I gently shaved the outer circumference of the seals so they could be tapped into the hubs/ I think i used a 2.5" diameter piece of PCV pipe as an 'installation tool'.

Your old seals should fit into the hubs easily; I'd reuse them if unless you see signs of grease leaking


I agree.

I think the X300 front hubs still had an external grease fittings so perhaps they just nipped-up the adjustment and pumped grease into the hubs rather than 'repack' the bearings

Cheers
DD

 

Remember, properly adjusted front wheel bearings allow the wheel some slight vertical movement, which might seem like looseness. A slight bump can be felt when pushing inward at the top of the tire with the vehicle raised. I've heard of shops thinking the bearings were loose. They are not designed to be tight. Making them tight will speed up their decay.

This is in contrast to the rear wheel bearings, which have a preload and shouldn't allow any vertical play at all. If there is vertical play, it MIGHT only be the differential output shaft bearings wearing out.

In any case, anything that grinds can't be good!

 

The front bearings are supposed to have slight play in them, as sleek Jag says, and if your shop has nipped them up tight they are set to fail, sooner rather than later.
There is no grease nipple servicing the front bearings on the X300, so a proper repack would require the removal of the hub etc, which you would struggle to complete in 45 mins both sides. That said, they may simply have removed the hub nut and repacked the outer bearing, which while helpful, should not be the basis for their submission to the mechanic of the year awards!

 

PS, if you adjust them correctly before too many miles, they should be ok!

 

Probably every second MOT I go through have front bearings mentioned on advisory list. You just cant win with some of these unqualified muggles.

 

Are you sure they're unqualified?

I think it's more a matter of subjectivity as to how much free play is acceptable.

The free play felt at the outer circumference of the tire should be just barely perceptible. You have to really try to feel it. It isn't unusual for the adjustment to loosen a bit over time and miles. I often nip-up the adjustment on cars I work on, my own and others.

But that's just my opinion. . And I admit that I'm a bit more fussy than some on the matter.

On the other hand, it's common to find very palpable free play in bearing with no apparent negative consequences whatsoever....up to a point, of course. That is, the car drives and steers well, no odd noises. Whether or not this should be considered tolerable over the long term, or at what point it becomes a safety concern, is subject to debate....and probably why it's often marked down as an advisory item rather than a failure.

Cheers
DD

 

Considering that during last three MOTs they managed to

a) break the oil sump
b) snap pretty much brand new handbrake cable
c) bend a sill

(I could put more here)

yes, absolutely, most garages, at least local here, are a bunch of unqualified muggles. The ones that are not will charge you an arm and a leg for any work and they are still less qualified to work on my Jag than probably any owner here who's familiar with spanners and owned a Jag for more than 2-3 years.

 

Yes, but are they unqualified based on wheel bearing adjustment being marked sown as an advisory item?

Cheers
DD

 

I'd say yes, my car has correct amount of front wheel bearing play, yet it shows as advisory pretty much every two years. Considering that the car was built less than 80 miles from my home you'd think there would be more garages familiar with these Jags here and there aren't many(if any).

 

Well I found out where the grinding noise was coming from, it was the new pads and rotor making the noise. A small edge piece of the pad had separated and was rubbing on the rotor as it was turning and making a terrible noise. I don't know if a small rock had got jammed in there and damaged the pad or it is because the pads were made in China, I will have to keep an eye on that. I took a file and beveled the edge of the brake pad.

While I was in there I decided to replace the left front wheel bearings. It appears that the shop that did the alignment had greased the outer bearing but not the inner. The difference in appearance was apparent, the outer was still shiny but the inner bearing and race were a bronze color and had more play than the outer. There was a tiny amount of scoring on the spindle where the inner bearing rides but not bad. It looked like the inner bearing had not been greased in quite a while. I was dreading replacing the grease seal but it actually went well, I greased the inside of the hub and the seal and managed to press it into the hub using the palm of my hand. Personally I would rather do it this way and know it is installed right rather than put it on the spindle and taking a chance that you are damaging the seal.

What took me a little while was getting the front wheel off, I have Coventry brand alloy wheels and we had to use a sledge hammer and a block of wood to get it off the hub, I guess last time I had it off I did not use enough antiseize.

I bought my wheel bearing kits from Terry's Jaguar they were $28.00 for each side and were Koyo brand. I told the lady I did not want Chinese bearing and she told me the box had "made in EU" on it. At the same time I also remembered to order the lower door card clips that always break off when the door panels are removed. The male clips were only 40 cents each and the female part was $1.50each.

 

Wheel bearings never seem to get the routine attention they deserve. Can't tell you how many hubs I've removed and found dry bearings. Dozens, at least.

I repack front wheel bearings every 15-20k miles, personally. That might be a bit excessive but, OTOH, I've never had dry bearings that way. Every 30k miles is probably realistic if well packed with quality grease. Today' synthetics hold up well.


FWIW, I use wheel bearing grease...rather liberally . No stuck wheels even up here in the wet PNW.

Cheers
DD