Which size wheel bearing?

[Topgeartom]

Well my front bearings have gone AGAIN. My front left has been steadily grinding for a while now although its fairly quiet, on the drivers side however everything was fine until i went on a fairly lengthy 70mph drive to pick the grandpaprents up on xmas day and all of a sudden theres this very loud grinding sound when any weight is put on the wheel when driving. Im guessing its the bearing as if i go round a right hand corner, the noise almost dissapears.

Im in two minds as to do it myself or to get a garage to do the lot (needs new lower sus ball joint anyway and could do with the tracking sorting as i think that is what is eating bearings).

If im brave enough i might have a go myself - ive had the hub off before, and then just get a garage to press the bearings out and back in. I cant see the lower ball joint being too difficult either. From memory its just a couple of bolts to undo i think - if anyone can clear this up it would be appreciated.

Finally getting to the point, ill get the new parts myself, but what size bearings is it i need, whenever ive tried to get some from my local motor spares there is always 2 different sizes - one larger than the other.

Its a 96' Mk1 Ph3 1.4RT

Cheers
Tom

 

[heathbrowning]

the rear bearings are easy but the front ones can be tw*ts. you really need to take it to a garage as the front bearing paths need to be pressed out and pressed back in again. i ended up with a black eye and blood everywhere a few years ago when a guy who used to work at our garage tried knocking the paths out with a hammer and punch. i was at the other end of the workshop doing something else and got 'shot' in the eye with a piece of bearing path. rear ones = diy. front ones = garage
you could take the hub off yorself and take it to a garage as that would save you some cash.

 

[heathbrowning]

as long as you give all the details i cant see any reason why you cant get the correct bearing. try a different shop?

 

[Topgeartom]

Haha, sounds nasty man, hope theres no lasting damage! Ill definately not try the bearing pressing myself without a proper press, ill get all the hubs off i think and then a garage can just switch over the bearings, should be a damn sight cheaper.

Ive had the same experiences at a couple of places now, i tell them the car, the specific model, the year and they always come back saying there are two, and just expect me to know exactly which one it is, or just be lucky!

 

[donsrno1]

iirc the smaller one is for the ones with 52mm hub bolt spacing and the larger one for those with 54mm spacing. You can check the spacing by measuring the distance between the two bolts that connect the hub to the strut, but make sure you are accurate as 2mm difference isn't much and you could easily mis-measure it.

I would wait for someone else to confirm about the smaller bearing being for the 52mm and the larger for the 54mm though as I'm not 100% sure.

 

[Topgeartom]

Yeh 2mm and my gammy fingers could cause issues!

Thanks for the info anyway!

I think from memory the last time i changed them it was the smaller size i needed but im only 50% sure, i remember whatever size i had originally got (which i think was the larger) turned out to be wrong when i had a garage press the new bearing in so im guessing it was the smaller i needed after all.

Anyone out there with an RT and scary levels of knowledge on the subject?