(G) Uno front Wheel bearing Removal ...?

Hi....
I Planned to replace my front wheel bearing, but i can't find the Wheel bearing removal procedur in Haynes Manual.
Anyone can help me ....??
Thanks pal .....

Jemmy,

If you don't have a hydraulic press handy (and have not used a hydraulic press before) then I think that you are best off to remove the hub and suspension upright from the car and take it to a mechanic to have the bearing replaced. This is because the bearing needs to be pressed out, and the new bearing pressed in. There is also (I believe) a very large securing ring that has to be undone using a special octagonal-shaped tool (please, someone correct me if I am wrong on this last point!)

To remove the upright (with hub) from the car, start by removing a wheel cover, then (with the wheel bolted on) get someone to stand on the brake pedal while you undo the driveshaft hub nut. You may need to relieve the 'staking' (punched-in collar) first before the nut will turn - anticlockwise (both sides) to undo. (If that last part sounds silly, I mention it because some English cars had a left-hand thread on one side!)

Then jack up the car and remove wheel. Disconnect the steering track-rod end from the upright. This is easier if you have a ball joint extractor. You'll need a large balljoint extractor also for the lower suspension arm balljoint (some people manage by hitting the sides of the casting that the balljoint is pressed into). Do not be tempted to hammer the end of the balljoint thread - that will wreck the threads. I recommend the type of extractor that looks like a large clothespeg - it will be a good investment if you expect to ever do a similar job again, on just about any car.

All that remains then is to take the brake off (two 17mm bolts secure the caliper carrier) and the strut bolts through the upright (another two 17mm bolts).

You can unbolt the brake disc easily (12mm spanner) and then you're left holding the upright, with hub and bearing.

Ideally, you would then press the hub out of the bearing. You will then see the securing ring that holds the bearing into the upright. You would undo this, and then press the bearing out of the upright. Pressing the new bearing in requires correct drifts so that you don't damage the new bearing. That is why I have never attempted this part myself...

Just one thing... before you start on all of this, make sure that the driveshaft nut has not simply come loose... this happened to me once on a FIAT 128...

-Alex

Time vs Money.

My trusted friend at Peugeot (he works in the garage there) told me to avoid this project. Both my front bearings were dried out and made a rumbling sound inside the car.

I left the car with him, and within 2 hours work, he had replaced both bearings and accessories, and the car was back out on the street. I bought a pair of bearing sets from SKF.

He told me I´d propably never managed to do this myself, due to x tons of pressure needed to get those bastards out of the hub. An hydraulic press was used. To save money, you can do as mentioned above, split up the hub carrier and deliver it to a garage. But they don´t (at least shouldn´t) use very much extra time if you deliver the whole car. Apply for some extra over-time at work, and deliver the car for this job. My suggestion.

Morten.

Yeah well said Mort - and you know, this is the *only* job I would not attempt on an Uno! Even something like replacing the windscreen is easy, compared with those wheel bearings...

-Alex

Yooo... Thanks Alex..
finally i can remove those bastards (morty said) out of the hub, with a litle help from my friend who have the pressing tools... of course.

Now my Uno two New "bastards" in their wheel hub... ha..ha...ha...
Thanks a lot guys....

Good on ya mate, as we say in NZ :-)

-Alex

Well, how ironic then that today, my Uno Turbo fails its WOF over two items: the front-right wheel bearing, and the windscreen (chipped)...

My, we have been on this forum for a while, haven't we...
I can't help but think that someone else, somewhere, has replaced Uno wheel bearings in the intervening three years?

I've decided that I'll have a shot at getting the old bearing out, at least, probably using destructive methods. Putting the new bearing in may involve my kitchen friends - the oven and the freezer. Getting the hub into the bearing looks like the easy part, but getting the bearing into the hub carrier (or the old ones out, for that matter)...

As for the windscreen, well at least I changed that two years ago, so that's not going to have any nasty surprises in store!

Cheers,
-Alex

when i came to rebuilding the UT i had 4 front hubs to choose from, and all of the bearings were fooked, i think they were around £18 new (cheap bargain from fiat) same part as for integrale, i didnt encounter any probs with fitting them, just make sure you get them lighned up (nice and straight before you press them in) not on a cock!! i found fitting the superflex uprated bushes in the track control arm (wishbone) more fiddly, BOING!! SPRING!!! tough lil buggers!! well worth it tho, firm responsive, goes where you point it, the misses would love power steering tho, prob why she likes to pinch my golf Ant!

Amazingly, in over 60K miles of old Uno motoring I've never had a wheel bearing go on me! Famous last words I'm sure, but it's nice to know that the parts are still available. I'll probably cheat and get an engineering firm to fit them when the time comes as I don't think my little vice would be up for the job...

They can be done in a vice chas, but if you removed the hub and take it to a local garage they could'nt charge you more than an hours labour for both, with proper press its very easy, and did both in a dinner time, but i dont think you'l need new bearings chas as your wheels dont spin quickly enough he he (soz) Ant!

I think it's probably got something to do with fitting wide alloys and tyres as well, since if the offset is different (which it must be) they probably load the wheel bearing more than the original design intended.

I'm wondering how long it will be before the left-front bearing fails

I'm going to get started on this job today - problem 1 - how to remove the hub nut without the help of an assistant... maybe I'll jam the brake pedal down using a trolley jack handle... and try my rattle gun...

-Alex

Cheeky git Ant! I'll have you know that my lil' Uno has seen speeds WAY over 100mph, which knowing how innacurate old Fiat speedos are probably worked out at 90mph in reality!

Bearing (groan!) in mind that my current Uno is 21 years old I'm surprised that none of the bearings have failed, more because of its age than anything else. I've had to change the cam belt tensioner bearing and alternator, but nothing else

When I bought the car back in April 2004 there was a bag in the boot with some new spares in it, and I'm sure there was a pair of brand new Fiat wheel bearings still in their boxes. I must have a look to see if I still have them, I remember they were heavy for such little things. Quite why there were two new bearings and over 35K miles later none have had to be changed I have no idea what that was about.

Oh dear, I've just fitted those X1/9 alloys with 165 section tyres. Wheel bearing failure is imminent!

Being a Fiat, it will either fail tomorrow or soldier on for another 50K miles. It's like the roll of the dice...

I managed it on my own without needing the brakes to be on. You'll need a breaker bar, a very hefty socket to fit the hub nut and a piece of scaffold pole. Push back the staking on the hub nut, then fit the socket and breaker bar onto it. Then slide the scaffold pole over the breaker bar at about the 9 o'clock or 3 o'clock position (depending on which side of the car you are on), and then try and stand on it using the bonnet to steady yourself. If you balance yourself right you can jump on the bar to try and jolt it. That's what the nut often needs, that initial jolt to free it off. I tried this with my Uno and managed to undo both hub nuts surprisingly without too much trouble.

Scaffold poles can make all the difference with this job as it gains you MUCH more leverage.

OK - quick update (it's bedtime here, 12:42AM)...

I got the driveshaft nut off by myself. With the handbrake on, and first gear engaged, I used an extension tube on 1/2" bar, jumped up and down (as Chas said) - and moved the car backwards and forwards, up and down... I then decided to jam the brake pedal down with the jack handle, as in pic... and then a few more jumps on the (seriously-flexing!) bar got the nut off. Usually I would have an assistant and it would be a lot easier.

Suspension balljoint came off with trusty 'Draper' separator (bought in the UK) and hub came out quite easily but took the outer, inner bearing race with it (if you understand... the inner race of the bearing, the outer of the two bearings...) I think this is inevitable (the inner race staying on the hub) because the only thing keeping it in the bearing is a grease seal.

The inner race was difficult to remove from the hub because there was nothing to pull on or pry against, so I had to use a cold chisel and I burred the hub a little.

With the hub off, only a circlip kept the bearing in place (no large nut on the Turbo)... well, apparently only the circlip...

Removing the outer race of the bearing - oh dear.
Let's just say that any aggression or frustration was long-gone, except perhaps in the minds of the neighbours. I gave up at 9PM - after a couple of hours of solid hits, the bearing had moved about 5mm. I had tried a squeeze with the vice, but that was fruitless.

The following day, I rigged it up on the vice to allow space for the bearing to escape, and gave another hour with the club hammer. The poor old 9/16 Whitworth Britool socket (large, in pics) is unusable as a socket now, as the 1/2" square hole isn't square any more. But I think it's final purpose in life is definitely as a drift-tool. No-one has Whitworth fittings that large anyway?

With the bearing out of the hub carrier and everything cleaned up, it took only a couple of minutes to press the new bearing into the hub carrier and then the new hub into the bearing, and I managed to get this help from Mal Simmonds in Cambridge.

It's easier to reassemble than to remove, as balljoints etc. bolt up easily. And, I've replaced all those in the last two years anyway. I had to wipe some annoying rust-dust off the bottom arm - it had fallen out of the driveshaft splines!

Job done. Much quieter driving down the road now - I didn't realise how noisy the old bearing had been.

Picture 2 below shows some evidence (on the floor) of various leaks from the oil cooler hoses. They've never been completely oil tight ever since I decided to replace the leaking originals with new hoses and high-pressure clips, which leak. But that will be a story for another day...

-Alex

good work alex