Wheel bearing issues

OK,so my nearside rear wheel bearing collapsed on Friday on M1, limped to Chesterfield, then home. Now looking to fix it I've got so far and stuck. I did all my wheel bearings over a year ago, never any issues, needed a re-tighten after a month, as expected, but never moved since so I don't think there was anything I did wrong or any inherent problem ...

But now, removed halfshaft endcap bolts but the halfshaft won't come out! It moves out of the diff splines (I can feel it) about another half inch and then stops, dead!

No worries I thought, removed caliper, pulled halfshaft as far as it would come and removed hub locknut, washer and second hub nut ... so now the whole hub moves, but only as far as the stuck halfshaft.

Any ideas to get it out?

So far, I've not tried anything other than brute, human only, force, I'm an engineer and know if I have to force it summat's way wrong. I'm considering just trying to use a bfh as carefully (think hamfisted buffoon) as I can, or make a slide hammer, but that would be awkward to attach to the endcap ... Anyone had same problem, if so how did you resolve it?

Cheers .. pics of where I am at the mo' ...

Hub assembly, all loose but stuck halfshaft ..



Closer view of halfshaft and hub showing how far out it is ...



Here's hoping for inspiration ..

was the bearing dry if so the shaft may have partially welded itself to the inner bearing.

Not at all, the half shaft moves about an inch, it just won't come out any further ... it rotates the diff as normal when I push it back into the splines, and feels good. The hub bearings outside one nearly fell out with a few rollers missing and a few chamfered where they shouldn't be. I think I have to get angry and belt the thing .. not a lot to lose as I reckon if the bearing itself is this bad it's likely the traces are shot so will probably need a new hub anyway

hey

well your be happy to no i had the same problem i ended up getting a blow torch from bnq about 15 quids worth heating it up until it was glowing and sticking a bar between the hub and the flange on the shaft and it come out worth ago

mike

Lever it, hit it with something, etc. It's probably a tight fit in the stub axle seal and if the wheel bearing is well shot you might need a new stub axle anyway.

How far did you limp home on the collapsed bearing? I agree with the above, I think the bearing has caused damage to other components already, eg the halfshaft. So, some brute force to get it all apart is the best thing now. Maybe if you can get a slide hammer's hook on the halfshaft?

Given up ... till later or tomorrow ...

The half shaft won't budge further than it is. I've tried a crowbar, hammers, bfo stillsons, bolted the halfshaft back on the hub and levered on that, wheel back on used that for leverage, everything off again made up a slide hammer, heated the halfshaft up, heated the axle/hub up, cooled the halfshaft down .. everytime it moves the same amount and just stops ..won't rotate, won't slide, simply stuck!

Got a plan now to make a puller/spreader, basically long bolts to go through the halfshaft with a nut between it and the hub, then tighten the bolts a small amount at a time whilst holding the nut .. hopefully this should do it as it'll be constant (increasing) pressure, evenly exerted.

Nackered now, been at it it since 10 and no further forward other than finding it was the inboard bearing that went, the rollers all have chamfers or wear grooves/flats in them, they all dropped out, and the axle plate is all buckled and looks nasty!

Hungry and tired now so stopping for a couple hours.

Cut the flange off with a stihl saw/grinder, once the hubs removed you can undo the stub axle, then with a bit of luck the lot should come out.

If the hubs knackered there is a bloke up this way breaking a 300 tdi, still got the axles as far as I know.

If that's any good to you.

Could well be ..

Got a friend with a totally nackered body on his Disco so might get the axles off that, but he's on hols for a week, so no rush, thanks. Pass my info on if you would please.

Will do

Woo hoo ... got the halfshaft out, and so also got the hub off and can see what's what .. and it looks a lot better than I thought!

Used a couple of long M10 bolts through the endcap holes, with a nut between the endcap and hub and just tightened steadily and evenly ish and it came out dead easy!

Better than that, the stub axle looks fine .. I think the half shaft must have bent slightly 'cos it won't pull out by hand, but easily (now!) slips in and out again. Or a lip may have developed where it sits in the stub .. who cares, it's out!!

Only the inner bearing collapsed, the outer was fine which is why I couldn't feel any wheel wobble .. and with the halfshaft being tight onto it, it's sort of protected it from doing much damage .. the worst of which seems to be the stub axle back plate, outboard of the bearing and oil seal faces, where I think the rollers were spat out between the plate and the hub/disc .. It looks, though it needs cleaning and checking obviously, like all I need is a set of wheel bearings and oil seals ..

I is happy ...

Half shaft removal .. fully patented so no-one else use this method ..


Stub axle and bearing collapsed .. close ups ..



Outer bearing and hub ...


So both bearing outer races are fully intact, the stub axle bearing faces look good, it seems we've got off lightly. Going to spend the afternoon cleaning it up and checking it for flatness, roundness and any other ness I can think of.

Might even get to do something with my sills ...

Cleaned the hub off and stub axle and the stub axle's goosed. No worries, could have been worse ..




Looks like the bearing area is fine, I think that's the first bit from the threaded end before the chamfer, but the oil seal area has almost plough lines in it so I reckon would last maybe an hour before leaking.

Finally got some money to pay for new bits ...

So the re-assembly .. put a new stub axle on ..



Some new wheel bearings ..



.. added a hub and it's all done bar the gasket, half-shaft and oil!


So now I'm going to re-start replacing the sills with box-section. Hopefully this week I'll get time 'cos I want them done and dusted by next weekend ...