Hi ya

My local Skoda dealer checked out my groaning noise on my 05 VRS octavia at the weekend and reckon that as they have already done the OS wheel bearing it must be the diff bearing.. And that it would be more economic to replace the whole gearbox! :confused::eek:

Gears feel fine, never crunch... Clutch is a bit on the heavy side and sqeeky but other than that and a groaning noise there are no problems. Is it really more economic to replace the Gearbox??

Thanks

chris :(

Its not more economical to change the gearbox, maybe for them but not you. Its pretty easy to strip the gearbox and replace the diff bearings.

Its not more economical to change the gearbox, maybe for them but not you. Its pretty easy to strip the gearbox and replace the diff bearings.

It must be easy, I've done it.

The only difficult bit is shimming the preload back up on the diff but its far from impossible.

I did mine with my own hands...

"with a little help from my friends.."

Thanks for the encoragement folks..

Anyone know of a guide hidden anywhere in the forum? Otherwise I will get the haynes manual out.

The only difficult bit is shimming the preload back up on the diff but its far from impossible.

Flat bench and a meter.

A DTI and an arm that bolts to the bell housing is the norm. Its just getting a collection of shims together and the ball ache of taking the bearing race out, removing all the shims refitting the bearing race then measuring, remove the race again then replacing shims and refit and measuring again, just takes time.

A DTI and an arm that bolts to the bell housing is the norm. Its just getting a collection of shims together and the ball ache of taking the bearing race out, removing all the shims refitting the bearing race then measuring, remove the race again then replacing shims and refit and measuring again, just takes time.

Another pair of hands helps.

stupid question: if you are "only" replacing a worn bearing - surely you can re-use the original shim as long as you replace the worn one with an identically-sized bearing. Or is that too risky/crude?

Or is the fact that the bearing has worn in the first place evidence that it may have been shimmed incorrectly?

Bas

Its always good practice to re shim. Bearings have slightly different sizes dending on where and when they are made, also the outer race may be sat in a slightly different place. We are talking thou of an inch but it makes a difference to the pre load on the bearings.

Oh yes never trust factory settings.

Had a gearbox part on a 800 mile old MK5 Golf that was jumping out of 3rd and 4th gear. Took the box apart to find they have missed a spacer out of assembley at the factory.

Can anyone advise how a diff bearing manifests itself?

I've got a 2000 TDI SLX Octavia

It has a slight hum but it is not getting any worse and is most noticeable as you come to a halt sort of a wooo woooooo wooooooooo (no mocking the sound effects) but is not the usual high speed drone you get with a wheel bearing

Is that possibly diff bearings

Many Thanks

Frank

Sounds more like a wheel bearing to me Frank.

i notice your diplomacy by calling him frank instead of fatty, good job lummox

frank, no offence mate but i saw it and its what went through my head

'Ere We'll have less of that!

I'm in good shape

the shape being round

thanks for the advice, wheel bearing was my first thought when i got the car about 6 weeks ago, but it hasn't got any worse and does not seem to hum at speed, it just seems to generate a lot of road noise

I think we'll "let it develop"

i notice your diplomacy by calling him frank instead of fatty, good job lummox

frank, no offence mate but i saw it and its what went through my head

nowt wrong with thinking about the impending winter by investing in some extra insulation

i think i'm prepairing for the next iceage :eek:

Aint we both. Any more and we will have to invest in a taller trolley jack and higher axle stands..lol