fishsponge's ongoing thread of problems!

[fishsponge]

right... problem diagnosed. now just needs to be fixed!

the wheel bearing does have some play in it.

however, when the wheel is rotated while the vehicle is jacked up, there are no scraping, graunching, grinding noises. I therefore assume I simply need to "adjust" the bearings.

Anyone disagree??

 

[fishsponge]

actually, it's irrelevant... i'm thwarted again. lack of tools mainly. but also the fact that the only guide i've found is for a defender on which the procedure looks to be completely different, even though the person says it's almost the same!

it also quite clearly says you don't need to remove the road wheel, but I can't see how...

i guess this might turn into another decision of whether to try and buy the tools and other stuff i need or just get a garage to do it again.

i don't want a garage to do it, obviously, but now i've managed to fail almost every other job i've attempted due to lack of knowledge and/or tools and/or other stuff, i'm not overly confident at doing this one myself either!

Also, the guy that wrote the procedure says it's a really easy one, but it looks far from easy to me when i read through the steps and look at the photos!

 

[fishsponge]

Also, is it revelant that the wobble goes away when the brake pedal is pressed?

i.e. with it jacked up, I can wobble the wheel holding it at 12:00 and 6:00. When the brake pedal is then pressed, the wobble goes away.

When the brake pedal is pressed again, the wobble comes back.

I wouldn't normally be this pedantic, but another page mentioned it could be swivel pin wear. Given that the swivel ball is rusty and corroded (as in the pic I attached to a previous post in this thread), i've no idea what to do any more...

might just book it in... but have no money left this month!

 

[fishsponge]

i keep posting, don't i... and i'm still hoping for some responses to my above posts, of course, but the most important question:

is it safe to drive? work is about 22 miles away. More to the point I suppose... would you drive it knowing what i've posted above?

 

[tyler 1]

hi from what you have said i would say its wheel bearing but the swivel looks shot to maybe better to have both done at same time not sure on cost try to find a small garage that knows landys

 

[fishsponge]

there is a moderately cheap landy garage nearby, and i've emailed them asking how much it'd cost to either adjust or replace the wheel bearings (assuming that's what's broken) and replace the swivel ball at the same time.

however... i still need to know if it's safe to drive a vehicle with play in the wheel bearings...

in other words, do i need to phone my work in the morning and say i'm not gonna be able to come in, or can i keep driving like this for hundreds of miles?

When it's jacked up and I grab the wheel top and bottom, i can move it about 5mm in total. Probably less actually. It drives fine and there's no wobbling from the steering wheel. It's just that noise when i turn left.

So... would you drive 22 miles to work and 22 miles back again for 5 days until it's the weekend and you can take it to the garage?

 

[Mr Noisy]

id imagine you'll be ok driving to work, the problem can develop though, and the bearing can lock up, and then you have problem/danger

the guide prob says you can do it on a fender with the wheel on cos with steel wheels you can remove the drive member without taking the wheel off, alloys you cannot.

its quite easy to nip up the nearing,honest, but that swivel ball is battered, im amazed it isnt leaking badly.

shame its so late now, id have talked you into/through it.

cheers

 

[fishsponge]

thanks for the advice... the swivel ball may not be leaking because it may be empty, of course!

And as for being talked through adjusting the bearings, I don't have the tools. I don't have circlip pliers, I don't have a 52mm socket or a large enough spanner either. I also have no loctite or grease. There are probably other things i don't have too.

Presumably, if the noise starts to get louder or more often, then that is the time to pull over or slow down dramatically... given that everything sounds fine when going in a straight line hopefully it'll be fine until the weekend.

 

[foss]

that swivel ball is ... pooped!
try some VERY fine emery & fill the bugger with one shot..might save you some work

 

[Mr Noisy]

id say so mate yeah, try to keep the speed down though.

i'll let you off this time then about the bearing, but you MUST start to amass your own tools collection, what you pay in labour wil buy you most of the tools, and then you can do it yourself next time, effectively for free

i'll tell you a little story that might make you feel better.

one day, about 9 months ago, in the early stages of my offroading career, i was driving to a pnp. i had just got onto the motorway and was doing about 50 mph, and then all of a sudden the drivers front wheel locked up solid. as in "bang, screeeeeeeeech" as it slid along the motorway.

obviously the car veered to the right, luckily there was no cars in the way. it unlockled after about 5 seconds, and i yanked it over to the hard shoulder.

luxkily it was wet and i was on muds, i bet in the dry on roadies it would have dragged me a lot futher, or dug in and nearly rolled over?

anyway, i jacked it up and the wheel was stiff, couldnt turn it.

i thought it was the brake so took the wheel off, and checked it out. i poured water on the caliper, but it didnt make much difference.

as i rocked the wheel back and to it started to lighten up, so i decided to remount the wheel and drive to the nearest junction, on the hard shoulder.

when i got to a car park, it felt completely free again, so not wishing to miss my offroad day i though 'sod it' and carried on up to rochdale.

it squeaked a bit on the motorway but it cured by the time i was there.

i did a full day offroad and drove it home.

when i had a look at the hub in the next few days, the inner bearing has exploded, and the inner race had spun so much it had welded itself to the stub axle!

anyway the point is that with a little bit of play in your bearing (and 5mm at the tyre edge is NOTHING at the bearing) im sure you'll be just fine to drive around for a week if i could do all that on a 100% knackered bearing!

 

[fishsponge]

ok, well that sounds positive.

as for fine emery paper, the swivel ball is beyond that. I felt it earlier (to get an idea of the texture) and it's quite thick rust which has eaten into the swivel ball. i'd be there for a very long time with emery paper. it really needs a metal file, but that's obviously not a sensible thing to take to a swivel ball!

how the hell this one got so bad i'll never know. the previous owner had it for just over a year, never went off road, but did all the "servicing" himself. i've no idea what his "servicing" involved though. obviously not swivel balls.

 

[fishsponge]

right... i just had a quote for replacing the wheel bearings in one wheel from one of the local indy LR places...

£200 + VAT (£240 inc. VAT) to replace the wheel bearings.

It'll then be an extra £40 + VAT to do the swivel ball as well.

And that's assuming everything comes undone easily and they don't find anything else, of course.

Is that a fair price?!?

 

[Dewin]

right... i just had a quote for replacing the wheel bearings in one wheel from one of the local indy LR places...

£200 + VAT (£240 inc. VAT) to replace the wheel bearings.

It'll then be an extra £40 + VAT to do the swivel ball as well.

And that's assuming everything comes undone easily and they don't find anything else, of course.

Is that a fair price?!?

HOW MUCH!, frick my local Indy only charged me for an hours work to change both front wheel bearings and do some welding, I paid just under £100.

 

[barmatt]

right... i just had a quote for replacing the wheel bearings in one wheel from one of the local indy LR places...

£200 + VAT (£240 inc. VAT) to replace the wheel bearings.

It'll then be an extra £40 + VAT to do the swivel ball as well.

And that's assuming everything comes undone easily and they don't find anything else, of course.

Is that a fair price?!?

how much think you need to find a new mechanic mate.

 

[barmatt]

how much think you need to find a new mechanic mate.

or read Busters "how to" and have a crack at it yourself.

 

[fishsponge]

well, depending on the prices quoted by the local garages, I was gonna decide whether to do it myself or not. For £200, I think i'll certainly do it myself, but I'm waiting on quotes from another local indy LR dealer and a local generic garage.

I thought £200 sounded a bit steep to be honest... but that was the price offered by the indy LR dealer in my area with possibly the highest reputation for doing excellent work. That's probably why they cost so much!

My main problem so far is whether to keep driving it or not... the scraping noise doesn't seem to have happened this week yet, which is very odd. There is definitely play in the wheel though when it's wobbled top to bottom, but that wobble isn't there if the brake pedal is pressed. I've also never felt anything through the steering wheel or seat while driving.

I'm sure it's bearings, but why isn't it scraping any more? Maybe the scraping was something else, but there's definitely play there.

With my complete lack of knowledge, it's very tempting to give it to someone with experience and ask "what's wrong?", but all those people cost money!!

 

[bmp42]

for that price i would fly over from here and do them - and still make profit

 

[M6SJG]

I have known a garage fit a disc pad the wrong way round! That would exactly provide the symptoms you describe...

 

[bmp42]

on the rave cd there are the workshop times that Land Rover say the jobs can be done in - and also the time that a dealer can only charge/quote, last Saturday morning i replaced 4 discs/pads all wheel bearings on a Disco 300 in 4 hours just broke into a sweat at the end of it!!!!!

 

[fishsponge]

wow - that's 1 hour per wheel! So I should be charged about £15 for the bearings (if I want non-genuine, but good ones... I THINK!!) and about an hour's labour.

That does not work out to £200!

How could I check if the brake pads are the wrong way around?