Fabia Wheel Bearings: What tools?

[biosbill]

Hello,

Im new here as you can tell! Im usually a Land rover guy and have done lots of mechanics so im not new to it, just new to cars really!! Erm, ive been asked to do a front wheel bearing on a 1.4 W-Reg fabia, and I wondered if your couldnt confirm the tools idea need? This site has been very handy giving me a good idea of what ill need but theres mixed ideas floating about whether ill need certain tools.

Essentially the car is making a bearing noise, from all speeds (about 15mph upwards) It doesnt seem too affected by cornering and braking, but when I jack all the corners up, theres is certainly more drag and a touch of bearing noise on the drivers wheel, so I was planning to change that bearing as I cant think of anything else that'd cause that problem. If you dip the clutch it stays and is definitely road speed, not engine speed.

Now the tools I want to check are the socket for the Hub nut, and if ill need the m14 spline tool to get the knuckle off? Various guides say different things, depending on the age of the car..... presumably this one is quite an early one. So might it have the standard "Hex" hub nut? Same goes for the M14 spline socket: some people dont mention it, some do. Ive got up to m12, typically!

Lastly: I was planning to do the bearing in a hydraulic press, the car doesnt have ABS (not that I can see under the bonnet anyway, and didnt appear to be any sensor wires). Can I get away with changing just the bearing, or will I need a new flange with bearing already pressed on, buying just the bearing is roughly half the price! Failing that: ill drop it off at a local garage and get them to swap the bearing.

Cheers in advance for your help.

William

[XLBaconDoubleCheese]

I cant comment on every type but my fabia needed a wheel bearing doing.The bearing has a abs sensor built into it, and a normal hub press breaks this sensor, Took mine to a local (usually very good) garage which took two goes before getting it on without mullering the sensor.

Matt

[xa0sx]

Sorry to hi-jack this thread but thought it's better than a whole new topic... Is there any point in changing wheel bearings if they ain't making any noises or anything that suggests that they need changing? Is it worth just changing them anyway?

[MoggyTech]

Sorry to hi-jack this thread but thought it's better than a whole new topic... Is there any point in changing wheel bearings if they ain't making any noises or anything that suggests that they need changing? Is it worth just changing them anyway?

If it isn't broken don't fix it.

[biosbill]

Anybody?

Im pulling the knuckle off tomorrow hopefully so we'll see whats what. Ill update the thread when I see whats what.

Cheers,

William

[MoggyTech]

Can't comment on tool sizes, but getting the old bearing out of the hub takes some doing. You need an exact size drift and press out the inner ring of the bearing NOT the outer. Haynes say a socket and hammer will do the job, yeh right, I don't think so.

New bearing must be offered up to the hub exactly square before pressing. Get it cocked and it's a new hub.

[Tech1e]

You will need a 19mm allen key to undo the standard hub nut unless its been changed, the new ones have a 36mm 12 sided nut on them, the socket needs to have a shallow side to fit in. M14 spline on the bottom of the strut as you rightly said.

The bearing comes with the flange, pressing in and out is pretty straight forward, just be carefull with the metal ring that goes around the edge of the bearing. This has to locate flush in the housing, a couple of screwdrivers tweaking it in as you press the bearing into the hub will help.

[biosbill]

You will need a 19mm allen key to undo the standard hub nut unless its been changed, the new ones have a 36mm 12 sided nut on them, the socket needs to have a shallow side to fit in. M14 spline on the bottom of the strut as you rightly said.

The bearing comes with the flange, pressing in and out is pretty straight forward, just be carefull with the metal ring that goes around the edge of the bearing. This has to locate flush in the housing, a couple of screwdrivers tweaking it in as you press the bearing into the hub will help.

Cheers for this. Ive just stripped the car and was somewhat suprised to see the hub nut: not what I expected. But using a bit of a hash of tools (a spark plug socket, inverted with a 3/8" bar through the middle, to a 1/2 converter!!) BUT, the hub nut was pretty loose, its got the "clicky ratchet" type tangs on the back that are supposed to lock it in, but in my case: they seemed to stop me doing it up, not stop it coming undone: the opposite. The hub nut being loose would presumeably cause premature bearing wear. What is the TORQUE FIGURE for the nut? (I thought it around 200NM, but I might be totally wrong!) it was more like 40NM when I removed it.

From what you suggest the new hub nut will be slightly different then?

Where is the 14mm spline? I didnt actually remove the hub from the car as was a bit of a "dry run" to check I could get all bolts out etc when I get the new hub. But I had the calliper off, track rod off, bottom wishbone mounts and the strut pinch bolt out. I then knocked the knuckle almost off the shaft and pushed it back up. So everything is loose to come off when I get the part. But I didnt encounter an M14???

Cheers all,

William

Edited 11 March, 2011 by biosbill

[biosbill]

Just to finish this off: ive just completed the job....

Hub nut supplied was 36mm as suggested (cheers for that).

Used a big hydraulic press and some 3/4" sockets to get the bearing out, didnt take much force at all, just went bang as the spring clip went then the bearing pushed out easily. New one went in the same way and snap ring was pushed in with screwdrivers.

Not a bad job really, without the use of the workshop press here it'd have been hard/impossible, but with that: pretty easy.

William

[Benatron]

Hi,

Where did you source the bearing from and how much was it?

Been looking for a while and everywhere so far just seems to supply the hub with bearing already inserted?

Cheers!

Ben