QP Wheel Bearing

[Blox]

Hi Ian, Well where do I begin. The car began making a very faint noise a few months ago but drove normal. Just before the new year I put new rear tyres on and this garage I used did the tracking, after that the car was mess. The noise was quite loud, the suspension sensor warning light came on and i got like a crunching sound but quite regular now. If I mounted my drive which is slightly raised it was very loud. The car also started tram lining so took it back, had no joy and decided to get a full geometry check done. The chap who did the check, Drury Lane was excellent but said to me that the back passenger rear has a fair bit of play on the wheel and he it's is the bearing for definite and that is why its making that noise. Also the suspension warning appears instantly on the dash now because the sensor is picking up the play in that wheel, sounds reasonable enough. So essentially had a job done, made car worse but in retrospect made it right, had full geometry done and found this issue but the guy reconks it is quite bad and that I shouldn't drive the car until I have it fixed.

Thanks Azher, useful to know. Hope you get it sorted and back on the road soon.

Cheers

Ian

 

[Gixerboy]

All ,

I have worked on cars & bikes for over 25years, & wheel bearings are made independently from the hub, the bearing is then pressed into place, & the wheel hub shaft with ABS ring is then pressed into the centre race, while the inner race is supported.
I would suggest the hub is removed & taken to an Enginnering Workshop whom will have the know how to remove & replace.
All wheel bearings have Id number & letters stamped on the outer race, this code is the bearing manufacturers part code.
The hub has to come off anyway so Suggest this option is worth exploring prior to shelling out for the complete assembly.
Regards
Dave

 

[2b1ask1]

If you are going to have the bearings pushed out please be very cautious about what the housing (casting) of the hub is made from, if its ferrous not realy a big issue but if its alloy it is likely to be magnesium and brittle. The wishbones on these are magnesium and can be snapped if used for jacking points.

 

[CatmanV2]

Could also be pushed into a blind housing, with no way to push (or indeed pull) it back out. It's surely worth a look, though.

C

 

[Azher]

Update, had a chat with Alan from Dicklovett, great help and a decent discount too £458 as opposed to £611 so a great call Matt thanks putting us in touch. I'm taking the car in for a final check, make sure it is the bearing a suggestion from Alan. If it is I'll get one from Alan and keep the old one. I'll take some pics of the old one and see what further options we might have in case this happens to any of us in the future. Alan spoke with his head technician and mentioned that after a full alignment the sensors need to be reset but that didn't explain the crunching sound. A final check and then I'll take it from there, keep you guys posted and thanks again all for your input. Rear brake discs and pads after this issue is resolved ! Az

 

[hodroyd]

Azher,
Great result mate, that's quite a saving. Keep us posted as to what you find and let's see the pic's.
Cheers
R

 

[Parisien]

The power of the SM forum.....................saving you time, money and a great bunch of Maseratisti


P

 

[scot]

I have changed a rear wheel hub in my 2006. It is a fairly simple process, but the space is rather tight and many of the nuts in there are good at stripping, so make sure you are using quality allen tools. You are going to one bearing pusher/puller to press the axle out of the way. Total time should be about an hour, maybe two if you have issues with some of the bolts.

Also, the stock sensor wire comes out and goes through a VERY small hold down. The hold down needs to be undone and I can guarantee you it is rusted in place. If you can manage to get it off, the new sensor wire uses a push connector vs screw. It just presses in the old screw hole. I just zip tied my new wire to the old connector.

Front hubs are really easy.

Process is like this: Remove wheel, remove caliper and hang it up to not stress brake line. Remove brake rotor. Remove drum brake (this is a pain to re-assemble so make sure you understand how it goes together.) You can use a pair of locking pliars to grab the springs and twist.

At this point you need to undo the big axle bolt. MARK THE BOLT. This lets you reset the bolt to the correct torque. It is on with a few hundred ftlb of torque. A long, long extension or air tools are required.

Once done go get your bearing presser and press on the axle to get it moving. Once it is pressed in, you can disconnect the one wire coming from the hub to the car and the aforementioned hold down. Then undo the 4 bolts holding the hub to the car, they are on the back side of the suspension mounting point. These bolts can be a pain and are liable to slip if you dont have everything in there perfectly.

Then re-assemble, making sure you torque the axle bolt right down to the same line as it came off at.

 

[scot]

BTW, in the diagrams above it is not either item 5 or item one. That is the suspension mount. If you look at item 5 in the first picture, you can see some bolt holes, the wheel bearing attaches there with 4 allen head bolts.

 

[hodroyd]

Scot,
Excellent run down of a how to..!! Do you think that the actual bearing can be changed to a new one by pressing out the old bearing, or is this impossible..??
Cheers
R

 

[Blox]

Jeez Scott, if this should ever happen to my car, are you for hire ???

 

[TridentTested]

Jeez Scott, if this should ever happen to my car, are you for hire ???

Exactly what I was thinking

 

[Parisien]

Be very careful with ABS sensor wire, which on the 4200 at least was very vulnerable and delicate, easy to damage and break wire inside.....need another new hub then!!!


P

 

[scot]

Parisien is absolutely correct, so I will double this warning. If you screw break that one wire, it is done and you are out a chunk of money. Make sure everything is secured during the change to ensure no damage will occur to that cable.

Can the bearings be removed... I don't think so. I'm sure someone can figure out a way, but looking at it I see no obvious mechanism to do so. If the sun comes out in a little bit I'll grab the old one and take some pictures. Maybe one of you will see something I don't see.

Am I for hire? Sure, but the plane ticket from the USA is probably not cheaper than getting it done at an independent repair shop

 

[Parisien]

Indeed Scot.......and to re-iterate.......easy for relevant tool used where getting hub off to "skit" off said bolts and innocently clip the wire........or even damage when lining up etc when ........extreme care needed


P

 

[scot]

This is the wheel bearing/hub. You can clearly see where the four bolts screw into the hub, these come from behind (inboard) through the suspension mount into the wheel bearing. These cannot be removed without pressing the axle out of the way first! You can get one or two, but not all of them.

http://imgur.com/a/aQ2Hd/embed

As for replacing the bearings themselves, you could (in theory) pull the two pieces apart somehow. I don't know if this would damage anything in the process, but I would be worried about it affecting the speed sensor.

 

[hodroyd]

That bearing does look as though it would push out..?? Is the sensor ring simply mounted on to studs, that would be the only issue getting the bearing out that I can see, possibly cracking the sensor ring. I wonder if they are sold as a seperate item..??

 

[CatmanV2]

Don't think the sensors are. Looks to me like it pushes from the silver side, i.e. away from the sensor ring, so might well be possible to push past without damaging the ring. Maybe.

Would be good. As far as I know, the 4200 bearings are the same sort of cost

C

 

[hodroyd]

I think we need a scrapper to get an old one and then see if the bearing will push out, will not matter then if it does happen to get damaged. Anybody got an old one knocking about..??

 

[scot]

you saw mine It is dead and anyone who wants to play with it is welcome. Unfortunately it is on the wrong side of the pond.