13 replies to this topic

[blackoctagon]

I've put this in a new thread rather than appending it to this post - http://www.vx220.org...ure-connection/

Get your wheel off



Free up the handbrake cable





Disconnect from the caliper





Free up the brake pipe



Get the lower Allen bolt out the caliper





Get the split pin out of the wheel hub nut


The kit should have a new one, so it's okay to maul it.



Upper caliper bolt now


and slip off the caliper



Disconnect the ABS sensor wire now so you don't forget when you're straining ball joints.



Disc screw comes out nest


And thats the hub

[blackoctagon]

Lock up the hub (had a trolley jack under the hub - not shown in this mock up photo)





Go to the front lower ball joint and get the nut off, but leave the joint in for now





These are Spitfire (i believe) joints, but whatever you have get the nut off, but leave the joint in for now





Now it gets hard as this will be a rusty pair of bolts with awkward access



Make sure you keep the shims in order



Now the top of the hub is loose. I chose to do it this way rather than release the top ball joint as it looked harder to do.

[blackoctagon]

Kiss the end of the driveshaft - do NOT smack it - to help with the likely corrosion on the splines



It just needs to move. Movement is proof it will let go from the hub end and not the gearbox, as you don't want to yank your shaft and fluid comes out!



Now free off your lower ball joints


Now you are ready to change the bearing

[blackoctagon]

The three hub bolts will be tight





And then tap the bearing out. There will be some friction, but you shouldn't need to kick its head in.



I had a break to renovate the hub



This is the bearing kit I used





Remove the transport cover



New vs old

[blackoctagon]

The new bolts supplied are presumably for Astra/Zafira/other and are too long




I elected to reuse the bolts after measuring them for stretch





The put everything back together in the reverse of the above

[blackoctagon]

All the pictures can be clicked on to make them bigger.

[KurtVerbose]

Good stuff!

[hairy]

Excellent write up!   

[stevieturbo]

When I did mine, I added a couple of washers under the hex bolt, it just allows the head of the bolt to be in a much friendlier position for access.

 

I would never use allen key's in there, the head's are just not as strong when things get rusty.

 

OE star bolts are nice though, but a plain old 19mm hex bolt is hard to beat for simplicity.

[martinroger]

Maybe I'm daft, but I managed to change my bearing without removing the hub carrier ? It's a bit finicky but doable with the right spanners ?

[myles]

Excellent, thank you!

[stevieturbo]

Maybe I'm daft, but I managed to change my bearing without removing the hub carrier ? It's a bit finicky but doable with the right spanners ?

 

I presume he removed the carrier to make it all shiny looking. Not because it is necessary to change the hub/bearing. Because it is not necessary.

[DavidB]

You don't have to, but it's easier, and who doesn't like cleaning things up a little bit.

[blackoctagon]

In order;

StevieTurbo,
It's a fair point - I can use a good allen key on the caliper bolt because I pop the calipers on and off at least every year to a. make sure everything is free as I don't use the car much and b. to prevent that particular rusty bolt failure.

To any one doing it for the first time, or first time in a while, i'd use a good Allen bit with a ratchet handle/bar to start it off.

--------------------

Martin Rodger,
I won't argue with you because you were successful, but i'd never look at that job and bother with getting spanners to it with all the bashing on the casting and quarter-of-a-turn-s on it when I can just pop it in a vice, hit it with impact gun, torque it up and throw it back on and just do it linearly.

I've done too many jobs on cars where i've spent an hour to do it the 'quick' way rather than 20 minutes where I take some bits off and just do it on a bench.