Rear bearing change - what a complete W**K job :'(

[Paulsimon8]

Just finished changing the rear bearing on one of my spare wishbones (as the M3 one was bent like a banana - oh well. lol) and what a complete twat to do.

Getting the stub axle/flange out of the hub is easy, and removing the old bearing is easy aswell. but putting a new bearing in is a complete frigger.

Give you all a tip - do NOT follow the haynes comic instructions - I destroyed a bearing by doing this, glad I bought 2 for £5 on ebay (genuine BMW items too ).

The easy way to fit the bearing is to split the 2 middle pieces from the bearing case. Put one onto the hub flange and hammer all the way down using a deep socket.
Then put the circlip onto the back of hub flange followed by the dust seal.
Slide the new bearing case down the hub and onto the center bearing piece - making sure there is plenty of grease in the case, and you haven't lost any of the ball bearings .
Line up the other piece of the bearing center onto the hub and drive it onto the hub flange - make sure it goes on square or you are in trouble Once the bearing centers have met and the case is central on the centers, insert the rear dust seal and the front dust seal - they push in very easily

Now you need to put the whole lot into the hub carrier/wishbone This is very easy - WD40 the sliding faces and make sure they are clean and tidy, check for any debris and then line up the hub/bearing assembly - lightly tap with a mallet making sure that the bearing case is square with the carrier. Drive home the unit into the wishbone untill it is all the way in, then using a suitable pair of circlip pliers, put the big clirclip in place - you'll see why we put this on first now

Job done -

time - approx 1 hour

stress factor - 5,

damaged tools - one broken lump hammer shaft/handle

damaged human - 3 fingers, 1 possibly broken, 2 of them skinned

[da4x4turbo]

i did the same job recently.

i broke the original bearing while taking it out.
as in i broke the inner race clean out of it!
so i ran a line of weld around the inside of the
outer race and while it was still hot i hammered
it out with a big socket >32mm,
not sure of the exact size.

but to put in the new bearing, i merely tapped it gently into place,
then, i put the outer race from the broken bearing against
the outer race of the new bearing and hammered the life
out of it with a lump hammer! carefully of course!

it only took about half an hour!

[H35-IAN]

lol i also done 2 of these recently and needed a sledge hammer to get the passenger side one out let alone back in however did use the large socket trick and worked a treat on way back in!!

ps love the Rings is for gays Driftings the daddy!! TOO right if only all the chavs knew that , Sideways All day!! Even in me Sprinter van

[stuartgallafant]

i've done loadsa rear wheel bearings before, and i dont think they're that bad!

i used a slide hammer to pull the stub axle off and to remove the bearing, then you just rub down the hub, and put some WD40 in there and use the old bearing to tap the new one into position. once its in position, use the bearing pull to pull the bearing into the hub, and then put it all back to together!!

takes about 1 hour to do...