(DRIVETRAIN) removing rear wheel bearings
 

my 85 GS makes some minor noise in the rear wheel area and i am pretty sure it is bearing related. i have the wheel off, and the drum off, but cannot figure out how to get to the bearings to see their condition. i removed the 4 screws on the backside of the assembly, but that didn't seem to help me any.

this can't be that difficult. what am i missing?

looking at the l/r if that makes any difference....

You need to pull the axle out.

so just yank on the part that the drum screws onto, and it will pop out?

Yup.

ok, i gave it a good yank, but no results. any tips?

btw, how does the wheel, drum cap and axle not just pop out during cornering? seeing as the wheel bolts to drum cap, which bolts to the axle. i don't get the mechanics of this for some reason.

Umm... be careful. You need a way of pressing the axel back in after. Replacing the rear bearings isn't something I'd do myself. It's machine pressed in there.

I'd go see a mechanic, or get the FSM or Heynes personally. Just so that you know what you're getting into and aren't stuck with the car disabled in your driveway.

Jon

The bearing is pressed on to the axle and is retained in the axle housing by the backing plate.

Once you've removed the four bolts that hold the backing plate, as well as the fluid connection and hand brake cable it should slide out. It can take a good amount of force though.

You don't press the axle in. You do however press the bearing on to the axle but thats a different matter.

You need to use a axle puller

Maybe, although I've never need one. You just need to give it a good yank.

oh fudge. if it's this involved, i'll prolly just take it to a dealer. i don't wanna jack it up, as this is my only car. i have 2 bikes, but i don't wanna be riding in rain in the 30's.

thanks for all the info! onto the next project... :pat:

yea they can be kinda stuck in there, a slide hammer will work nicely although as revhead said you don't need one, I've gotton them out without the use of special tools. If you have access to a press you can do the whole job yourself, if not pull the axles yourself and bring the to a mechanic and have him change the bearing and retainer collar. Good luck

Before you tear things apart, do 2 things. Order the parts you need and line up a machine shop that can press the bearings off and on. You can pull the axles out easier by loosely bolting the wheel back on and using it as a slide hammer.

If you choose to take the car to the dealer, take a tub of vasoline with you, they will provide the sand.

:rlaugh:

Trochoid, don't forget the belt like looking towel thing they wipe you with afterwords, the one thats marked as such: "80# another fine abrasive product by 3M"

kenn

Shift,
first describe noise better is it a rythmic cluck that increase with speed, and then largely dissapears once a certain speed is reached? if so then its an axle/wheel bearing. if noise does not dissapear then it is probably a bearing on the side of the planetary gear set. (edit: this is very uncommon for the planetary gear set bearing to go bad unless you are running a perry ported engine :wallbash: )

if its the axle bearing FYI its not that hard:

take off wheel, drum, and brake asembly, remove 4 bolts, put wheel back on and put two spare tires (w/rims) under car, and lower body onto the tires (don't trust jackstands for this) and then crawl under car and kick tire outboard. it will pop off, and then dribble gear oil on you, thats OK. it washs off easily with kerosine(sorta) then look at the bearing itselfif it has any detectable play, replace it (take to garage and have them press off and on.

installation is reverse, just center bearing units in houseing (clean this area well as build up makes it hard to remove/install) , and use a 3 foot long 4x4 to "punch" it directly in the center you might have to punch it several times to get it to seat all of the way. do not use the bolts to "pull" the collar down use the 4 x 4 to punch it down. if it doesn't go all the way then you have some crap blocking it (crud, rust). clean and repeat procedure.

also for what its worth, you might as well change both, as if one is going the other is not far behind.

kenn

yup, that pretty much describes it. also, when i have the rear of the car off the ground, i can grab the tire at the 9 and 3 o'clock positions and wobble the tire (both rear wheels) just a shade.

Here, dug up my old post on the same situation. It's not very hard to do. Just a matter of taking out the four bolts, pulling the axel, taking it to have the bearing and sleeve pressed then sliding it back in, twsiting it a little till you feel it line up and give it a good tap and in it goes. However, don't be retarded like me and forget to put a little bit of grease around the bearing seal otherwise 3 months down the road it starts making noise again.

It's really not hard, if you need any more information I can tell you from expierience.

Oh, and when I pulled the axel it took quite a bit of force. In fact, I used a come-along and the bumper of a Chevy HD2500. It worked well if you don't want to mess around with O'Rielly's or Autozone. I just took a piece of unistrut (but my father is also an electrical contractor, so that's just lying around, don't know about anyone else) and crossed it between 2 lugs, tigtened the lugs down and put the cable between it and cranked on the come-along a little at a time and tapped on it and it came out.

Edit: If you need more information, I can scan the pages out of my Haynes manual, just let me know.
Putting it back in was 100x easier, just slid right into place with a little grease on the spline.