Technical Fiat Panda - Front Wheel Bearing

[JAMLAX]

My main question is: How many thousand miles should I drive with a 'rumbling' wheel bearing?

I suspect the front offside needs replacing soon, judging by the pronounced noise - its especially noisy whenever (ever so slightly) I ease the steering towards the left. The main clue was when I eased off the throttle, reducing speed from 70 mph to 50 mph approaching a roundabout...very obvious noise! My brother mechanic had previously mentioned he suspected a wheel bearing might be on the way out.

Am I right in thinking a completely worn out wheel bearing can overheat to the point where the wheel hub shears and the wheel hub collapses?

 

[JAMLAX]

I just had a few photos on ebay to look at, but when the whole hub assembly (complete with casting) arrives on Tuesday I'll be able to assess how unshoogly - or otherwise, and how sweetly the flange spins - or not.

 

[koalar]

Sounds like you need to find a different mechanic

With a hydraulic press changing the bearing should be a 5 minute job

Video by autodocs

Can be done other ways

 

[JAMLAX]

Thanks Koalar - good to keep a well balanced view on this issue - and yes, I must admit I do have that very question at the back of my mind - I'll keep under review both my mechanic's abilities and equipment as well as the fact my 'project panda' is very ancient (21 years old) and a lot more corrosion than the average has confronted him...he, my long-standing mechanic has helped me at short notice in the past (and by and large has done solid repairs) ... however I'm not stupidly loyal to any tradesman and I'm fairly sure he, or any competent mechanic, could have made the extra effort to remove and replace the wheelbearing ... who knows, maybe he was too busy and passed my 'Panda wheelbearing task' to the apprentice!

 

[The Panda Nut]

Dismantling this sort of thing has become much easier since I bought my air hammer but invariably ends with the complete destruction of the old bearing, which is Ok because I'm replacing it anyway - sometimes I facilitate the removal by nicking the bearing race, especially if it's the inner race on a shaft, with my angle grinder to induce a stress point and then cracking it with a sharp hammer blow, removal is easy after that. I have an old and very substantial Churchill tool which I found on a stand at the, now long defunct, Portobello auto jumble. It's a bit like a massive heavy duty bearing press - I've no idea what it was originally intended for but works very well as a press for things like wheel bearings. I've seen lots of videos on ebay where people have stuck the bearing in the freezer over night to shrink it slightly and I've always meant to try this but, so far, have never had the time.

This reminds me I had a massive hub puller for our Skoda Estelle. One of the workshop chaps insisted on making it for me when I aid I needed to change a bearing in that. Trouble is the stud spacing was specific so not much use for anything wlse. I must see if I still have it. That car was actually quite well engineered. Old fashioned but solid and well thought out.

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

This reminds me I had a massive hub puller for our Skoda Estelle. One of the workshop chaps insisted on making it for me when I aid I needed to change a bearing in that. Trouble is the stud spacing was specific so not much use for anything wlse. I must see if I still have it. That car was actually quite well engineered. Old fashioned but solid and well thought out.

I agree, about them being actually quite a good car. They were a popular choice among my students being as how they could be bought for next to nothing. One common theme was that they seemed to suffer from cooling system problems and when they overheated the head gasket would go - a bit like our Fire engines. I allowed at least two of them to bring them into the workshop and make a project of the repairs by writing it up as a report. They told me a big bag of sand in the luggage compartment improved the handling measurably!

 

[The Panda Nut]

I agree, about them being actually quite a good car. They were a popular choice among my students being as how they could be bought for next to nothing. One common theme was that they seemed to suffer from cooling system problems and when they overheated the head gasket would go - a bit like our Fire engines. I allowed at least two of them to bring them into the workshop and make a project of the repairs by writing it up as a report. They told me a big bag of sand in the luggage compartment improved the handling measurably!

All the front to back pipe work needed to be sound. We had a leak on the servo vacuum pipe. Being suction I bound it with tape and it worked fine thereafter. I still look back smiling. It was our second car and at £200 was a snip. It never let us down. I sold it because it needed a new battery which cost more than the car was worth.....

 

[The Panda Nut]

All the front to back pipe work needed to be sound. We had a leak on the servo vacuum pipe. Being suction I bound it with tape and it worked fine thereafter. I still look back smiling. It was our second car and at £200 was a snip. It never let us down. I sold it because it needed a new battery which cost more than the car was worth.....

Ours was getting towards a run out model. It handled fine apart from strong cross winds. Its big problem was lack of power. I remember going home to lunch one day and being late back as it would only just make 30mph into the headwind on the bypass. LOL

 

[DaveMcT]

if you mean the whole hub assembly, so the upright casting complete with wheel bearing and drive flange then that sounds a bit of a bargain. Was any mention made of the age/mileage on the vehicle it came off?

The Multijet item I bought for the diesel (to replace the one with worn ball joint clamp) was £45 used. Swapping the whole thing is risky unless you know what to look for. EPER shows three different bearing part numbers. No actual sizes are given but each has a different weight.

 

[koalar]

The Multijet item I bought for the diesel (to replace the one with worn ball joint clamp) was £45 used. Swapping the whole thing is risky unless you know what to look for. EPER shows three different bearing part numbers. No actual sizes are given but each has a different weight.

Why is it risky

All 2WD 1.1 and 1.2 petrol with ABS Actual, Active, Dynamic, Emotion all share the same steering knuckle

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

Why is it risky

View attachment 469250View attachment 469251

All 2WD 1.1 and 1.2 petrol with ABS Actual, Active, Dynamic, Emotion all share the same steering knuckle

I'd have thought it unlikely the cast hub is different? Might be that the drive flange varies version to version to accommodate different drive shafts for different engines and so wheel bearing might have the same outer diameter but different bore to accommodate different drive flanges?

 

[koalar]

I'd have thought it unlikely the cast hub is different? Might be that the drive flange varies version to version to accommodate different drive shafts for different engines and so wheel bearing might have the same outer diameter but different bore to accommodate different drive flanges?

99% of the ones in the beakers will be 1.1 or 1.2 2wd

Even EPS and none EPS are the same

But yep there a few different ones

none abs
4x4
Some Diesels and 1.4
Natural power
Vehicle dynamic control

 

[JAMLAX]

OK, I'll admit it - I'm quite underwhelmed with my purchase from the scrapyard... but I'll hang on to my £28 n/s 'rusty hub' just in case my Panda develops a left hand side 'rumble'

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

OK, I'll admit it - I'm quite underwhelmed with my purchase from the scrapyard... but I'll hang on to my £28 n/s 'rusty hub' just in case my Panda develops a left hand side 'rumble'

Oh dear. I think "underwhelmed" is a polite choice of wording to describe how you must be feeling. Mind you, I suppose, in the grand order of things, £28? what more might you expect? I'm lucky in that I have a number of both large and small breakers yards around me so, for something like this, I can go along and inspect it before handing any cash over. - I feel for you!

 

[koalar]

Oh dear. I think "underwhelmed" is a polite choice of wording to describe how you must be feeling. Mind you, I suppose, in the grand order of things, £28? what more might you expect? I'm lucky in that I have a number of both large and small breakers yards around me so, for something like this, I can go along and inspect it before handing any cash over. - I feel for you!

3x breakers near me have closed down in the last few years

It's a shame


One was massive as well, went to online only, now gone

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

3x breakers near me have closed down in the last few years

It's a shame


One was massive as well, went to online only, now gone

Yes, some of the small ones around here have gone too. One in particular, Herbies Motors, I particularly miss as I was on very good terms with him.

 

[JAMLAX]

...Same story in the Aberdeenshire area...the combination of the incoming tide of EV's together with a generational change in attitudes - the idea of saving up to 'buy an old banger with cash' has been well and truly replaced by the Personal Contract Purchase option. I guess the car dismantlers and the-old-style-car-mechanics are facing a slow and lingering decline.

I spotted a Ford Anglia last week in Nairn on Scotland's Moray coast.
Although I smelt it before I saw it, it sounded great, the way cars used to sound!

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

...Same story in the Aberdeenshire area...the combination of the incoming tide of EV's together with a generational change in attitudes - the idea of saving up to 'buy an old banger with cash' has been well and truly replaced by the Personal Contract Purchase option. I guess the car dismantlers and the-old-style-car-mechanics are facing a slow and lingering decline.

I spotted a Ford Anglia last week in Nairn on Scotland's Moray coast.
Although I smelt it before I saw it, it sounded great, the way cars used to sound!

All the environmental stuff too. Herbie was told his yard would have to be concreted over to stop contamination of the earth. He was just a wee dealer with a rickety old shed for a workshop and this reasonably sized yard to the side and behind it. The cost would have been crippling so he threw the towel in. Last time I went past it I think it's now a car wash - the kind with power washers, not a machine with big rotary brushes.

One of the "Kidderminster Crowd" I knocked about with when visiting my friend who lived there back in the 60s had a 107e - same as the Anglia but with the then "new" pre crossflow ohv engine. It was one of the faster cars compared to my old 850 mini, my friend's "Pop" and his friend's Mk1 Minx. That guy later went on to build a decently fast 105e Anglia with a tuned 1500 pre crossflow on twin DCOE Webers, fast road cam, lowered suspension, 5.5J rims and other "goodies". Up till then my "fast road" 1275 "S" with Downton mods had ruled the roost, but the Anglia could quite happily show me a clean pair of heals in a straight line. If I was feeling especially brave I could usually catch him again on the twisty bits but I had nothing to compare to the noise of those Webers! I could hear him coming up behind me even over the noise of my straight through "glass pack" silencer.