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Front wheel bearing removal



Hyperhatch

ClioSport Club Member
  182
Help! So we're trying to change the bearings on my car before I put my new suspension setup on. We have pushed the first section but but can't get the outer 'skin' out despite using 8 tonne of pressure from a press! What are we doing wrong?! Is there a trick we are missing?

Thanks in advance

Chris

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Jekyll

ClioSport Club Member
Hopefully these pics will help?

So i started to remove parts for the hub removal. I had left the components soak in 3in1 penetrating spray while the other side was being done. As the parts had not long been changed, everything still had plenty off copper grease from the previous fitting. Track rod outer, ball joint, hub nut and shock bolts all came undone piss easy. Happy days. This is where it turned.... The hub was seized on the driveshaft spline. As i pulled and pushed the hub, i popped out the driveshaft.

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I tried popping it back in but had no luck! Turned out the rubber had popped off which still had the circlip attached as you can see here.

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Seen as i was pretty fucked off with that, i had 5 mins out and then carried on removing the hub with a copper/hide mallet. A few swings and it was removed. The driveshaft was left leaving more oil.

Next up was to remove the disc retaining screws. One came off with a small fight, the other put up a bigger one.

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Hammer, chisel and drilling and it was removed.

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Next was the disc itself. Turned out that was seized on the hub lip. Cue some more beating with a rubber mallet and more penetrating oil and it finally came off. (I was worried at this point that it would crack but thankfully it didnt)

Hub off.

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I removed the ABS sensor and had the same issue with the bearing race on the flange once it was separated from the hub.

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As you can see, they was fairly manky/rusty.

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At this point i cracked on and removed the old bearings fully and the circlips, then proceeded to sand them, fit new bearings and painted them black, just like the other side.

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After a phone call regarding the driveshaft to @AlexW i knew what i had to do. Unfortunately it was getting late on sat evening at this point so i decided to call it. Sometimes thing are better after a good nights sleep.

We had no gearbox oil at work so a trip to Halfords in the morning and this was purchased as Alex said he prefered this grade. I take he's experience into hand. This was all they had (In fact this grade was the only grade they had 3 litres in)

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Draining the oil. The drain plug is the same as the sump drain plug.

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Saw dust on the spillage helps!

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Driveshaft removal.

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This was the culprit...

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All refitted.

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Emily (My Fianceé) had been my taxi too and from work and also suggested she stay on sunday to help, should i need it. Well she had her perks by being tea/coffee lady!

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Todays lunch wasn't as tasty and the previous day!

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All ready for refitting. The butterfly seal plug was a pig to remove (what should i expect!) but i eventually got it off. Found some garden hose for the filling pipe also!

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Emily helping out/not being photogenic!

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All filled up.

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And finally all done.

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After a quick test drive i needed to do these 2: Beer and a decent up yours aimed at the RB!

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At home.

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Emily had today off so she took it to Stortford Performance for realignment as it had been out.

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She dropped it off at my work today and took her car home. I left work and drove home with no issues!

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Thats all for few days!
 
Raise the press bar to the next hole and hit it from underneath with a big hammer while its at max pressure, works every time.
 

JamesBryan

ClioSport Club Member
  Titanium 182
They can require a fair bit more than 8 ton to press them out sometimes.

20 ton press will do it.
 

Hyperhatch

ClioSport Club Member
  182
They are out! I can't believe how hard it was. In the end we had them in the vice and hammered from the other side. This cause the bearing skin to split by the smallest of margins to the hub. Once back in the press they started to push out at 5 tonne pressure.

Thanks all for your advice

Chris

IMG_1454.JPG
 

NorthloopCup

ClioSport Moderator
I always press the drive flange out, knock the remains of the bearing out the race and run a bead of weld inside the race. This causes it to shrink and you can then knock them out with a hammer and punch.

The hubs are actually quite flimsy and will bend if you apply too much pressure and they're not supported well enough when pressing the bearing out.
 

Hyperhatch

ClioSport Club Member
  182
I always press the drive flange out, knock the remains of the bearing out the race and run a bead of weld inside the race. This causes it to shrink and you can then knock them out with a hammer and punch.

The hubs are actually quite flimsy and will bend if you apply too much pressure and they're not supported well enough when pressing the bearing out.

Cheers great advice. This could have been an option last night as we had all the facilities to do this. No mater how hard I search on here (and google) not much came up on how to get them off but I presume they are the same on any mk2 clio, not just the 182?! Must be thousands out there
 

NorthloopCup

ClioSport Moderator
Cheers great advice. This could have been an option last night as we had all the facilities to do this. No mater how hard I search on here (and google) not much came up on how to get them off but I presume they are the same on any mk2 clio, not just the 182?! Must be thousands out there
The 172 54mm hubs are actually nicer to to remove the bearings out of compared to the 182 60mm hubs.
I don't think there is a great deal mentioned about changing them as most people just take them to a garage tbh mate.

The welding tip is a bit of a trick of the trade tbh. It's also the way I get the inner bearing races out of gearbox casings. Given the choice, I choose the easy way! Lol!
 

Touring_Rob

ClioSport Club Member
Hi there, sorry to resurrect an old thread!

I've just fitted a pair of SKF wheel bearings into my hubs (182 cuppack so larger bearings). As above they were a chore to remove 9 tons in the press and a few good whacks!

I've had the hubs and drive flanges in a citric acid (DEOX C) to remove rust etc. The new wheel bearings went in pretty easily, maybe half a ton (if that) but were certainly a press fit. However the drive flanges basically dropped in, not a press fit at all! Is that normal? I know I had to press them out.

Worried that the citric acid has removed enough material to make it a non press fit? I was going to zinc plate the hubs and drive flanges but decided not to because I didn't want to hurt bearing fit - wish I had now! (pics pre clean and paint).

Can any one put my mind at ease or convince me to buy a couple of new drive flanges?

Thanks all!

Rob

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Touring_Rob

ClioSport Club Member
Hi there, sorry to resurrect an old thread!

I've just fitted a pair of SKF wheel bearings into my hubs (182 cuppack so larger bearings). As above they were a chore to remove 9 tons in the press and a few good whacks!

I've had the hubs and drive flanges in a citric acid (DEOX C) to remove rust etc. The new wheel bearings went in pretty easily, maybe half a ton (if that) but were certainly a press fit. However the drive flanges basically dropped in, not a press fit at all! Is that normal? I know I had to press them out.

Worried that the citric acid has removed enough material to make it a non press fit? I was going to zinc plate the hubs and drive flanges but decided not to because I didn't want to hurt bearing fit - wish I had now! (pics pre clean and paint).

Can any one put my mind at ease or convince me to buy a couple of new drive flanges?

Thanks all!

Rob

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View attachment 1475909

To reply to my own question - no its not normal. Wish someone could have just told me!

Using Deox C in the way I did removed enough material from the hub bearing face and also the hub carrier bearing face to basically make the bearing a not interference fit. Thats bad and an expensive mistake. Two replacement hub carriers and new Meyle hubs later....

Anyone who stumbles across this in the future be warned, Deox C is cracking stuff but it WILL remove non rusted base material as well.

Rob,
 

JamesBryan

ClioSport Club Member
  Titanium 182
Louis did his hubs with it and never had a problem iirc.

It shouldn't be removing not rusty stuff 🤔
 

Touring_Rob

ClioSport Club Member
Louis did his hubs with it and never had a problem iirc.

It shouldn't be removing not rusty stuff 🤔

He did his with the bearings installed. Citric acid 100% reacts with iron as well as iron(III). You can confirm this by dropping a clean part in and watching the hydrogen bubbles form (I've done this to confirm).

Louis remarked that the bearing were a nightmare to remove after doing this, which is why I pressed the bearings out first. After doing it all over again with new (to me) rusty hub carriers with the bearings still in the bearings were no more difficult to remove. If anyone is going to do this leave the bearings in, however if your circlips are corroded I would remove one side first in case the ends disappear.
 

Touring_Rob

ClioSport Club Member
Remember that you only need to remove a tiny amount of material to go from an interference fit to a (in my case) hand press fit. I measured hub up (after its bath) at 39.97 and the bearing ID as 39.99. Initially I thought the bearing might be at fault however both measured up the same and SKF know what they are doing.
 

Louis

I Park Like a C**t
ClioSport Club Member
Yeah. I totally submerged my hubs with all parts in-situ. It probably helped that the old bearing grease will have remained inside 'protecting' the mating surface of the drive flange, something I didn't really think about at the time! Think I paid 25quid or something daft for the hubs so it was just a punt really at the time which paid off fine, other than the issues with needing a s**t ton of pressure to remove the bearings.

You can just buy the drive flanges new on ebay, might be worth doing that over buying whole new hubs? Don't think they're particularly expensive.
 

Touring_Rob

ClioSport Club Member
Yeah. I totally submerged my hubs with all parts in-situ. It probably helped that the old bearing grease will have remained inside 'protecting' the mating surface of the drive flange, something I didn't really think about at the time! Think I paid 25quid or something daft for the hubs so it was just a punt really at the time which paid off fine, other than the issues with needing a s**t ton of pressure to remove the bearings.

You can just buy the drive flanges new on ebay, might be worth doing that over buying whole new hubs? Don't think they're particularly expensive.

Ohhh no no no. I royally fucked it. I wasn't actually that worried about the hubs, the hub nuts do a great job keeping the hubs in check and forced up against the bearing inner so wasn't thhhat worried about hub spinning in bearing - defo wouldn't be a super treat for them though.

I thought the press read half a ton (which is f**k all anyway) when pressing the bearing outers into the hub carriers, turns out the bearing must have been gently pissed as I can move the bearing in and out by hand (hard push granted but nothing compared with the forces it will be subjected to!) So although the clips would limit the bearing travel and save my bacon it certainly wouldn't work well!

TBF the wheel could never fall off but I bet it would feel w**k to drive and would probably be noisy.

I've bought a pair of new Meyle hubs/drive flanges, and picked up a pair of 60mm hub carriers from a dubious local - they are stripped cleaned and painted. Just waiting to press drive flanges in when they arrive.
 

Touring_Rob

ClioSport Club Member
I keep all my old bearing outer races because they come in handy for pressing s**t out

Corsa rear wheel bearings fit perfectly on the inner race of a clio bearing for reference when you're pressing the drive flange back in😂

Read your post properly, the Megan hub carriers look pretty stout! Luckily I've got one of those manual bush press sets with loads of cups and one is the perfect size for the inner. Saves me having to buy a whole corsa just to rip the bearing out of I guess.
 

gambit

ClioSport Club Member
  182 Trophy
Anyone have a link to the drive flanges on eBay?

BTW good timing for me as i was just about to head out and drop my rusty old front hubs with bearings in place into a bath of DEOX-C, then drop them off to have the bearings pressed out and then zinc plated at the local shop. Change of plans and I'll now take them somewhere to have the bearings pressed out first, vapour blasted and then zinc plated instead before having new wheel bearings pressed back into place.
 

Touring_Rob

ClioSport Club Member
Anyone have a link to the drive flanges on eBay?

BTW good timing for me as i was just about to head out and drop my rusty old front hubs with bearings in place into a bath of DEOX-C, then drop them off to have the bearings pressed out and then zinc plated at the local shop. Change of plans and I'll now take them somewhere to have the bearings pressed out first, vapour blasted and then zinc plated instead before having new wheel bearings pressed back into place.

The DeoxC will be fine with bearing in however if you know a local company who can sand blast or vapour then I would go with that. If getting the parts blasted I would remove the circlips but leave bearings in - less masking for the blasters!

I bought two of these:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MEYLE-16...e=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

I found some dimensions on another site and they seem to match my 182 cup pack hubs - when they arrive I'll remember to say if they were a yay or nay as they are nearly half the price of other reccomended hubs and Meyle stuff has always fine for me in the past. SKF wheel bearings are cheap at Autodoc, never had much luck with el cheapo wheel bearings in the past.
 

gambit

ClioSport Club Member
  182 Trophy
Good idea, i'll take the circlips out and leave bearings in when i drop off to vapour blaster, then have them pressed out and then zinc coated before i installed new OE renault bearings pressed in.
 

gambit

ClioSport Club Member
  182 Trophy
@gambit

My drive flanges arrived and are spot on.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MEYLE-16...e=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

£16 each so half the price the part that normally gets recommended on here. Nice machine finished face too.

Good stuff.
I just had my hubs with drive flanges in situ vapour blasted going off your advice.
Need to pull the circlip out and have the bearings pressed out now.

Also had my rear hubs and brake calipers done as well. They will all get zinc coated next.

i-TcvNqtD-M.jpg
 

gambit

ClioSport Club Member
  182 Trophy
Can anyone co form whether the drive flange is suitable for zinc coating as it’s an interference fit for bearing?
 

Touring_Rob

ClioSport Club Member
Do you know whether these will fit as well?
Worried I may damaged the spline when I cut the inner race off with a grinder.

Sorry I missed this - and sadly I don't know. Lots of sites arent very forth coming with some of the specific measurements you need! I just know that the part I ordered works.
 

gambit

ClioSport Club Member
  182 Trophy
Had them delivered, same number of splines and same drive diameter, so will work. Will probably leave them and not zinc coat them up. Though i'm sure they would be fine otherwise.
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gambit

ClioSport Club Member
  182 Trophy
Just wanted to deliver a word or warning. Don’t have your drive splines zinc coated, there is just enough factory clearance to suit Renault OE wheels bearings. Once you coat, there is inadequate clearance unfortunately. Which I learnt on the rear splines. Had to revert back to unzinced splines which luckily I had spare.

Pic below shows what happened when I tried to mount an OE Renault rear disc which pressed in SKF bearings as delivered from Renault.
 

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