P38A A series of faults

I've already pulled the hub and bar a small split in the gaiter the CV joint seams to be ok, but with the bearing housing extracted from the swivel and on the floor the bearing feels terrible; notchy and stiff is the best way I can describe it

Slooby said:

I've already pulled the hub and bar a small split in the gaiter the CV joint seams to be ok, but with the bearing housing extracted from the swivel and on the floor the bearing feels terrible; notchy and stiff is the best way I can describe it

Click to expand...

You should be able to see the circlip then it's BIG.

Sorry I meant the housing, I've not pushed out the hub centre yet so can't access the outside of the bearing where I am expecting to find the circlip as there was nothing on the inside

Well, the bearing(s) are definitely dead.

The outer centre stuck to the hub centre as I was pushing it out.

None of the rollers want to turn in the (plastic) cage and the bearing surface has started to break up.

Circlip came out easily enough though

Pics later

Pics of the knackered bearing:





No way that's the original with those nasty plastic cages! Britpart?

And it's clear that a previous bearing had spun on that hub. I've since removed the remains of the bearing from the hub (slit it part way through with a cutting disk on the dremel then cracked it with a chisel), the housing however has my 10 tonne bearing puller on it currently in the hope that it gives under the pressure. If not then I'll try my MIG welder on it to shrink it.

The hub centre has cleaned up pretty nicely with some Skotchbrite and brake cleaner, so it can live again

Meanwhile the EAS Spring Solenoid plungers are still hardening, the Puraflex 40 might be a little soft, so will test them with the airline to see how they fair:

As discussed elsewhere, I've decided to give the PFI bearing a go at £36.18 delivered from Henderson Bearings: https://www.hendersonbearings.co.uk/pw45840053cshd-wheel-bearing-45x84x53mm-pfi.html

Tomorrow evening that pesky outer is coming out of the housing...

I win...





I may have spent an hour on it today and tried all of the tools in the first pic, but that bearing was defeated as I said it would be

Now to tidy up and dress the housing in preparation for the new bearing to arrive

Consider me shocked



Plastic cages indeed, even says 'England' on it, so it could be original! If it is the original I shall take back my comments about plastic cages, because it's lasted 215k miles...

Meanwhile after the initial clean up of the carrier and hub:





They're now undergoing some time relaxing in a bubble bath of Bilt Hamber's finest Deox-C



While I am going to take a look at my EAS Spring Solenoid Plungers...

Dont forget to slot the abs sensor hole so you dont have to pull the sensor again

brianp38dse said:

Dont forget to slot the abs sensor hole so you dont have to pull the sensor again

Click to expand...

Slot the hole?

If you take a grinder to the sensor hole and cut it out towards the axle the bearing hub can be removed with out pulling the abs sensor out of the steering hub
a tip from Tomcatalan

Ah, gotcha

To be fair it wasn't hugely difficult to get the sensor out

Slooby said:

Ah, gotcha

To be fair it wasn't hugely difficult to get the sensor out

Click to expand...

No, mine was easy too but I think some people clear the lithium(?) grease away and then it welds itself in there. Quite a few people have had to drill them out.

Eesh, that's an expensive PITA!

The manual states a silicon grease, I was planning to use some Ceratech silicon grease that I have for brake systems

Slooby said:

Eesh, that's an expensive PITA!

The manual states a silicon grease, I was planning to use some Ceratech silicon grease that I have for brake systems

Click to expand...

It was, one came out easily the other I had to drill out so t slotted both sides before reassembly.

Well I have the Dremel with a nice fine slitting disc, which is less likely to skip or bend the shroud

Slooby said:

Well I have the Dremel with a nice fine slitting disc, which is less likely to skip or bend the shroud

Click to expand...

I used a 3in wheel air grinder, bought cheaply from Aldi years ago.very handy bit of kit.

Back to the EAS Spring Solenoid Plungers; my now filled with Puraflex40 plungers after a shave and clean up:



Each one given a good blasting from the airline and nothing popped out, unlike the original inserts. I thought initially, while it was still curing, that the Puraflex might be too soft, but it does seem to have hardened up a bit more with 3 days of curing time. Anyhoo, the solenoids are now all reassembled and the EAS Valve Block back together.

The Bearing housing and Hub after a good soak in Deox-C have come up quite nicely:





If I could be bothered I could make them look like new with a bit more effort, but I just wanted to get the mating surfaces nice and clean, not restore them to perfection. I'll probably introduce the CV shroud on the bearing to some Jenolite later just to kill off the remaining rust

tomcat59alan said:

I used a 3in wheel air grinder, bought cheaply from Aldi years ago.very handy bit of kit.

Click to expand...

I keep promising to myself I'll get one, but I do find air tools wasteful, you use all that power to fill up the compressor, then use the compressed air to drive a tool that could be electric in the first place, and have problems with keeping the tool running because it seems that unless you have a receiver of at least 250 litres and a 5hp pump you can drain your 50 litre compressor in seconds and have a 3hp motor running continuously to drive a tool that's probably only using about 0.5hp anyway!