I'm glad the final outcome was to just tighten up rather than strip and rebuild. Prepping and doing the rebuild with no experience or tools in a hurry was a request for trouble in my view.
That was my view too. I now know that it's not much of an emergency at all, as my local garage said it was safe to drive as long as it doesn't get any worse.
I can't see what the breaker bar was for though??
The breaker bar is for anything that it's needed for. Perhaps the wheel nuts, perhaps something else later in life. Ya never know when you'll need a breaker bar!
My only input is to make sure the bearing is not overtightened when done, seating bearings is sort of a knack rather than just do it up, tighten the first nut firmly while turning the hub, then back off and retighten hand tight, the hub should turn fairly easy now but not spin. Fit lock washer and locknut and lock the nut, check the hub still turns ok as it can tighten up. When happy, bend over the lock washer to front and back nuts (this is vital) or they can come loose.
Thanks for the added advice
the more the better (probably)!
You've probably guessed i'm a paranoid old sod (despite being only 28), so i'm likely to check it very thoroughly indeed!
A couple or three mm of wobble at the wheel rim is likely ok, it should sound ok and definately not gritty or notchy when the wheel is turned. Always check the hub for overheating after a test drive, slightly warm is ok, hot is not, let it cool then readjust bearing as it's probably too tight. Once you have done one, youll wonder what the fuss was about.
It's interesting that you say a couple or three mm of wobble at the wheel rim is likely ok... I have that at least... possibly 4 or 5mm at most. There is also no grinding when I spin the wheel whatsoever. It's really smooth and spins as freely as the other wheels do (i.e. it does stop, but slows down gradually). That probably explains why nothing has fallen apart yet.
Also, since the weekend, I've not heard the scraping noise at all. In fact, I only noticed the scraping noise for a few days after I had new front brakes. The reason it's not scraping now is probably that the new brakes have bedded themselves in and when they make contact due to play in the bearings, it's just silent. When they were new, the scraping was audible because they hadn't bedded themselves in yet.
The conclusion I make, therefore, is that these wheel bearings have probably had play in them for absolutely ages! The bearings were probably loose before I had the new brake pads fitted, but I didn't notice because the old brakes were making no noise. Maybe it's been like this since I bought it 4 months ago. Who knows?
The other good thing about this is that if they have been like this for ages, and they're not that bad now, once they're adjusted properly, they'll hopefully last for years! (until the MOT in May, anyway)
BTW the worst part I found was getting the damn caliper off, those bolts were tight! I had a 12" socket wrench and a 24" bit of pipe on the handle of that!!
I shouldn't need to take the caliper off to adjust them though... as far as I know. I suspect I need to remove the caliper to actually
replace the bearings though.
In any case, that shouldn't be a problem for me because I just had new front brakes, so they should be nice and loose and I already have flexible stainless steel brake pipes due to the 2" lift
So do i! Thanks for your support!!
