Tools:
Gear/bearing puller and/or M12 or larger high tensile threaded rod with thick washers and nuts to suit, but still small enough to fit inside the inner bearing race. You will also need something to bridge across the opening of the bearing housing giving enough clearance to pull the full thickness of the bearing out. I used two 110mm lengths of 25mm aluminium square bar, with a high tensile steel machinists workfixture clamp to bridge across to the centre. Whatever you come up with it must have enough strength to hold the M12 threaded rod under quite a bit of stress. You might need to find something larger than off the shelf washers to reach out to the inner bearing race on the other end. I used a steel hydraulic fitting I had on hand. Size up the bearing and hub in advance as best you can. You might have access to correct pullers to do the job of the above. My gear puller had no hope in pulling the bearing out but got the splined spindle drive (11) off in 15 seconds. Althought the two following pics are taken off the car, I removed the wheel spindle (14) and bearing (12) on the car.
Outer of makeshift puller:
Inner of makeshift puller:
Jack
2x jackstands
1/2" drive breaker bar & pipe for extra leverage
1/2" drive 32mm socket
21mm ring spanner or 1/2 drive 21mm socket
1/4" drive ratchet with small extension
19mm socket 1/4" drive (1/2" too big but might be possible)
19mm ring spanner
19mm open ender
13mm socket
13mm ring
10mm open ender
8mm allen key + some pipe for extra leverage (or 12" shifter)
(alternativly a 8mm allen key with 1/4" drive)
Angle grinder with cutting disk
Sledge hammer.
Minimum 20cm long 25mm thick brass or hard grade aluminium (7075 or similar) rod to use as a large soft punch. Ideally you have a half metre length of the stuff, 60mm in diamater, doing away with the hammer and just ramming it with the large
rod itself. I was lucky enough to have exactly that and it worked a treat, much easier than swinging hard at a punch with a hammer under a car.
Flat nosed punch or similar
Circlip pliers
Block of steel or aluminium same size or larger than the diamater of the bearing, 12mm (steel) or 25mm thick (aluminium) for hammering
Range of sizes of flat head screw drivers.
Vice that can open approx 8 - 10 inches.
Wheel chocks
Rags
Brake fluid
High temperature grease
WD40
Scotchbrite or fine sandpaper.
Tray for dripping brake fluid
Some long cable ties or wire.
Freezer or fridge.
Adhesive tape
Do not throw out the old bearing or any part of it until the end.
Needle file suited to fixing damaged threads.
Time: 6-12 hours depending on skill level and available tools.
Removal:
1. Set the freezer or fridge to the lowest possible setting to get it as cold as possible and place the new bearing (12) in there to shrink it slightly. Every bit helps.
2. Jack up centre rear of car and place jack stands under rear of car in front of rear wheels with both front wheels chocked front and back. Put in neutral and apply park break firmly as you would on a steep hill and remove rear wheel.
3. Remove the drive shaft (1) at both ends with 8mm allen key by removing the cap head bolts (3) six each end. Loosen what you can reach, release park brake, spin 180 degrees, reapply park brake firmly as before and remove the lot and get the drive shaft out of the way.
4. Using whatever flathead screwdrivers or whatever you think, remove the steel nut locking washer (9) on the wheel spindle (14) where the drive shaft (1) bolted up to.
5. With the 1/2" drive breaker bar, 32mm socket and some pipe, remove the 32mm spindle retaining nut (10). Double check that the park brake is on hard enough. When it is completely off release the park brake.
6. With the 10 and 19mm open enders undo the rear-most brakeline fitting allowing fluid to drain into a tray. Clean up mess immediately as this stuff can damage paint.
7. Remove brake caliper by removing 2x bolts with 19mm ring spanner or 19mm 1/2" drive socket. Compress the caliper a bit before taking it completely off the rotor to ease fitment later on.
8. Using a large flat bladed screwdriver hit out the steel slide retainers of the brake line mounts on the swingarm. Remove the entire brake line from the swingarm and cable tie out of the way under the car. It might take some time for brake fluid to stop dripping.
9. Remove brake rotor and remove park brake cable from base of brake assembly. Remove park brake shoe, remove park brake shoe piston at rear, remove small pin from inside where the piston was and remove the small lever that connects to the park brake cable. All these parts are most likely going to fall away from the hub as you work on it without the brake rotor mounted. Best to put them all in a safe place and clean them up.
10. With the jack placed securely under the swing arm jack it up a touch to take weight off the shock. Use the 21mm ring spanner/21mm socket to remove the bolt. Use some cable ties or wire to hold the shock fully up and compressed to get it out of the way. Remove jack.
11. Use the bearing/gear puller to remove the splined drive (11) from the wheel spindle (14).
12. If your puller is suited, push out the wheel spindle (14) from the hub from where you just took of the splined drive, or pull it from the other side. If it doesn't fit then using your piece of brass or aluminium rod so as to no damage the threaded end of the wheel spindle and hammer the spindle out from the inside.
13. You probably have half of the inner race of your old fuct bearing fused to the wheel end of the wheel spindle (14). The only way I know how to remove this is with an angle grinder. Place the spinde securely in a vice. Carefully cut away at the inner race while not going deep enough to cut the spindle. Do it in such a way that will let you get a good seat for a crisp blow with the flat nosed punch and hammer to crack it and to tap it off. Alternatively it might be possible to cut 2 grooves for your puller to grip onto the inner race. Once you have the inner race removed, give the spindle a good clean up and lightly sand all mating surfaces, grease it up and put it in the freezer/fridge.
14. Remove what's left of the bearing in the hub by removing the circlip (13) and use your puller to pull or push the bearing out from the hub. If it doesn't fit make up your own puller with the threaded rod, washers, and whatever you magage to find. You will need to build a bridge across the front of the entire bearing housing part of the hub with enough clearance for the entire thickness of the bearing. On the inside you might need to find something larger than off the shelf washers to reach out to the inner bearing race. Leave the nut off a couple of threads as you will need to hammer this end even with a huge amount of tension of the makeshift puller. So, with your home brew puller tight, hammer the nut on the inside. It should move a bit, then tighten up the puller again, hammer, and repeat until the ####ing bitch is out. Make sure the threaded rod doesn't extend through the nut that you are hitting as you go.
15. With the jack placed securely under the swing arm jack it up to take weight off the swaybar. With 13mm ring spanner and 13mm socket remove the connecting bolt and remove the jack.
16. With 19mm 1/4" drive socket on rachet and 19mm ring spanner, remove the 2 bolts holding the swing arm/hub in place. The outer bolt can not be removed completely but being creative with angles and force allows you to pull the sing arm off the car with some bolt still poking through the rubber bush.
Re-assembly.
17. Salvage the old bearing outer body and both inner races all separate.
18. Clean and lightly sand the bearing seat on the hub and lightly grease it up. Position the swingarm in a vice with the outside of the bearing housing facing vertically in a way suited to hammering in from the top. Retreive the frozen bearing, wipe the grease off it, place it on the bench and tape the old bearing outter race centrally to it. Position the new bearing on the hub and proceed to tap it into place while carefully monitoring the alignment as it goes in. Gradually hit it in all the way home, hard. You will need to use a your block between the old bearing outter race and your hammer. Remove the taped on bearing which is now stuck in the outter edge on the hub. Clean the circlip groove and insert the circlip.
19. Retreive the frozen wheel spindle (14), place it studs down in the vice and clamp it in a way suited to hammering the hub on. Place the hub over the end of the wheel spindle (14) and place the other old bearing inner race over the top. Tap the bearing and hub back on by only hammering on the inner race of the old bearing. Use your block of metal to hit it. It is impotant to only load up the inner race of the new bearing (12) when fitting the wheel spindle (14). Placing impact force or high pressure on the outer bearing body in this state will damage the new bearing (I did this on my first go and completely wrecked a brand new OEM bearing). As you progress you will need to use both old inner races to hammer it on, and use the splined drive (11) to hammer it on as well. Be extra careful that the splines are lined up when hammering it on.
20. When you can get at least 4 threads of the wheel spindle retaining nut (10) on the wheel spindle (14) then screw on the retaining nut (10) to force it all on the rest of the way. It will be very tight, but obvious when it is on properly. Torque it up plenty just as you found it. Replace the steel retaining washer and press it out to lock it in place.
21. Put the freezer/fridge back to original setting. From here re-assemble in reverse order cleaning and applying a bit or grease/oil/wd40 as required. Clean all park brake mechanism parts and pack grease into the park brake mini-cylinder before re-assembly.
22. Replace brake fluid, bleed brakes, replace brake fluid, test brakes, test park brake. Test drive and hopefully the noise went away.
Finished.
