Rear Wheel Bearing Noise.

[Sadi]

Hey everyone.

 

I have a ke36 rolla with a screaming rear wheel bearing.

 

I cannot hear my stereo over the noise when traveling on the freeway.

 

Are they easy to change?

[woteva]

Hey everyone.

 

I have a ke36 rolla with a screaming rear wheel bearing.

 

I cannot hear my stereo over the noise when traveling on the freeway.

 

Are they easy to change?

 

 

Depends on what you call easy, you will need a press to remove the old bearing from the axle,

and again to install a new one.

 

 

 

A.

[Old fella]

Hey everyone.

 

I have a ke36 rolla with a screaming rear wheel bearing.

 

I cannot hear my stereo over the noise when traveling on the freeway.

 

Are they easy to change?

G`day mate, its not a hard job to replace a rear wheel bearing if you have a basic tool kit and an hour or so to spare.

Jack the side of the car that you are going to work on and chock your front wheels so it can`t move. You`ll be working without a handbrake.

Remove the wheel and brake drum. You`ll see a distinct hole in the axle flange and that will allow you to undo the four nuts that hold the bearing carrier. Remove them and then withdraw the axle, with the use of a dead blow hammer or puller if neccessary.

This is the rough bit. You can either cover the bearing with a bag (for safety) and then bash it hard with a hammer until it shatters and then do the same with the inner bearing...or....if you have an angle grinder, cut a couple of grouves in the outer race and then see part one.ie Hammer. Repeat for the inner.

Installing the new bearing is not hard at all. You will need a peice of water pipe or similar that is the same diameter as the inner race of the new bearing. This is to use as a drift to nudge the bearing into place when fitting it. First place your axle in something really cold (freezer, esky with ice and water etc) and leave it there for about ten minutes. It will shrink slightly in diameter.( you won`t be able to see how much, but it does work).Take the bearing out of the packet and put it in Mums nice sparkly oven at 150 degrees for about ten munutes. (it will grow in diameter). Then take the axle out of the water, drying it quickly and drop the hot bearing over the axle and slide the pipe drift over the axle to gently bash the bearing until it is seated. Then put it all back together again.

Sounds rough but it really does work and is done in the workplace every day.

Good luck and cheers.

[TOM]

Remove them and then withdraw the axle, with the use of a dead blow hammer or puller if neccessary.

 

It's probably worth noting that depending on how many k's your car has done, removing the axles themselves may not be as easy as it sounds and can be a frustrating job. Sealed rear wheel bearings usually begin to fail at around 200,000 kms depending on how the car has been used.

 

I've had numerous blokes with numerous tools over numerous weekends trying to get the axles out of my KE38 which has so far only resulted in a lot of swearing and a few bruised backs and egos - wagon/van axles are usually harder to get out in my experience. In many cases you may need to heat the housing up using an oxy or similar - this is my next step as everything else has failed.

 

Also be aware that when using a slide hammer, if you have the car up on axle stands a lot of the energy you're trying to "shock" the axles out with will be absorbedand wasted by movement in the stands - if the axles are tight the car will just wobble and possibly slide around on the stands.

 

If the gods are happy and the stars are aligned correctly and/or you're just one of those lucky bastards your axles may just fall out with a light tap, in which case I recommend buy a lottery ticket

 

Good luck!

Edited June 5, 2011 by TOM

[Old fella]

It's probably worth noting that depending on how many k's your car has done, removing the axles themselves may not be as easy as it sounds and can be a frustrating job. Sealed rear wheel bearings usually begin to fail at around 200,000 kms depending on how the car has been used.

 

I've had numerous blokes with numerous tools over numerous weekends trying to get the axles out of my KE38 which has so far only resulted in a lot of swearing and a few bruised backs and egos - wagon/van axles are usually harder to get out in my experience. In many cases you may need to heat the housing up using an oxy or similar - this is my next step as everything else has failed.

 

Also be aware that when using a slide hammer, if you have the car up on axle stands a lot of the energy you're trying to "shock" the axles out with will be absorbedand wasted by movement in the stands - if the axles are tight the car will just wobble and possibly slide around on the stands.

 

If the gods are happy and the stars are aligned correctly and/or you're just one of those lucky bastards your axles may just fall out with a light tap, in which case I recommend buy a lottery ticket

 

Good luck!

+1 on the slide hammer idea. I remember now that I actually made one to get the axles out of my KE70. Cheers.

[ke70dave]

alot of good ideas here..however...

 

i just took out the axles, took them to mechanic with new bearings, paid him 30$ to change them over on his press, and then put them back in again.

 

i have a small press but i couldn't get the bearings off, press wasn't big enough for that. so i let the mechanic do his thing.

 

also you had better change them now rather than later, as if it fails catastrophically it may do damage to your or worse!

Edited June 6, 2011 by ke70dave