14 replies to this topic

[PeteClark]

Hi all,

Got the whurring sound, jacked her up and found near side rear wheel bearing to have failed !

Is this repairable by amateur mechanic on driveway ?

If so do I need to replace both bearings at once or can I get away with just replacing the failed part ?

[Carlos W]

Hi all,

Got the whurring sound, jacked her up and found near side rear wheel bearing to have failed !

Is this repairable by amateur mechanic on driveway ?

If so do I need to replace both bearings at once or can I get away with just replacing the failed part ?

Its possible to do, you'll need a torque wrench.

When you say both wheel bearings, do you mean o/s and n/s?

If so, its up to you, they've both done the same number of miles, and therefore the other one may fail soon, but may go on for many many more miles.

The police always replace things like this in pairs as they want to keep their vehicles on the road,that's one of the reasons why an ex police vehicle may be quite a good buy

[PeteClark]

Thanks Carlos, makes sense !

At £15 each and getting piece of mind may be great advice !

Any special tools required ?

[GreenMini17]

Hi all,

Got the whurring sound, jacked her up and found near side rear wheel bearing to have failed !

Is this repairable by amateur mechanic on driveway ?

If so do I need to replace both bearings at once or can I get away with just replacing the failed part ?

Providing you have a haynes manual, a trolley jack and axle stands, a torque wrench, imperial sized socket set and spanners, pliers, side cutters, screw drivers, high temp wheel bearing grease and of course a new set of wheel bearings, you will easily be able to do this yourself. Personally, if your budget allows and you have enough time, i would get two lots of wheel bearings and replace both sides at the same time. Make sure you take pictures of how it all came apart just in case you forget! Hope this helps :)

[Kam]

Both sides of the hut nut are not left loosey righty tighty as with most things to undo, make sure you read up (haynes or equivalent) before you start

 

So just make sure you undo the hub nut in the direction the actual rear wheel turns to go forward

 

This might help a bit if you have no other guide

 

http://www.myminipro...ucy/mini21.html

 

If you get stuck ask on here but you'll be fine

[Carlos W]

Thanks Carlos, makes sense !

At £15 each and getting piece of mind may be great advice !

Any special tools required ?

Buy genuine timkin bearings mate!

They're a bit more, but they'll last a lot longer

[dklawson]

There are only three tools I want to add to Chris-G's list... a large block of wood, a heavy hammer, and a brass drift.

 

Doing this at home, once you have the hub off the car you will need to drive the bearing races out.  Wipe out the excess grease so you can see the inside of the hub.  There will be "notches" you can rest the drift in.  Support the hub on the wooden block, then strike the drift with the hammer, alternating from side to side as you move the bearing race out. 

[GreenMini17]

There are only three tools I want to add to Chris-G's list... a large block of wood, a heavy hammer, and a brass drift.
 
Doing this at home, once you have the hub off the car you will need to drive the bearing races out.  Wipe out the excess grease so you can see the inside of the hub.  There will be "notches" you can rest the drift in.  Support the hub on the wooden block, then strike the drift with the hammer, alternating from side to side as you move the bearing race out. 

Good point! Forgot about the outer races!

[Fossy313]

another tip!!!!, when you have the races out, if you have a grinding wheel wheel, grind the outside of the old race down so it fits into the hub easily...grease it up and use this race to hit the other race in, therefore u dont damage your hub and can get the used race out afterwards...that or cut in the old race thus making it smaller....

 

this seems like a daunting task.....it is not when you start getting your hands dirty and is a great thing to do first time.

 

GET GENUINE, after markets one bind up the hub before the required torque (not all but most)

 

have a look on here or a great buy is the mini restoration manual (red mini on front) has a superb walkthrough talk through with pictures guide on many things like this for the home mechanic.....amazon second hand should be ceap, lets face it the book is going to get covered in oil anyway.

 

it goes something like this(from memory of last year):

 

undo wheel nuts on floor

 

jack car up and chock front of car and lower onto axle stand.......make sure car is steady due to having to put force on to open locking nut

 

Take off wheels

 

philips screw driver to undo front hub plate......pull off hub plate, if stuck LIGHTLY hammer around to realse front hub plate...if all else fails undo rear wheel brake nut on inner side (small spanner)...and repeat until u can relase front hub

 

apply handbreak now or just before liftingto allow jack to pull car forward properly. DO not apply handbreak while trying to get front hub plate off....it wont come off :)

 

relase split pin from hub nut and hammer out(depending on age this can be easy or ages depending on how well u get it out)

 

drivers side LEFTY loosy hub nut  N/S RIGHTY LOOSY

 

take nut off and remove hub (pretty sure thats all, may require some force!!!)

 

Prise rubber Seal off with philips screw driver(inner most wheel bearing should just come out however retain WASHER.

 

remove wheel bearings.

 

now inside hub u can see inner races (metal circles which look almost like inner hub....with punch being VERY careful put in vice in cloth and hit out making sure u dont damage inside of hub, there is a notch in the inner of hub which allws u to fit a punch in (its easier than its written, if u want i wrote a problem on rear wheel hub bearings with rear wheel binding and the pictures on that will show u races being taken out and seated. its on here)

 

hit out racer turn hub over and hit out other. 

 

now its a case of repeating what u did backwards with new bearings except lightly grease races when u have hit them in using a hammer at all for quarters of the clock, 12/3/6/9/12 etc etc, to get them down and seated (using old race grinded down to seat it peroperly and making sure u have cleaned the hub inside with brake cleaner.

 

lightly grease inner race then in palm of your hand get a lump of greas and run the wheel bearing over it as if it was driving over ur hand to grese the bearings inside it.

 

fir bearings, washers and new seal, and refit hub to radius arm, do up hub nut to torque setting, split pin, wheel on, good to go,  next one!.

 

 

a good tip is when jacking up put ur wheels underneath shell so if the car drops because ur trying to get hub nut undone it fall on wheel and not floor, its a saftey thing i do.

 

 

this a a rough guide from memory, i may have forgotten something so dont take it as gospel

 

hope this helps

 

craig

Edited by Fossy313, 24 April 2014 - 09:11 AM.

[PeteClark]

Thanks all for responses,
Def gunner tackle this one myself !

Just need to order the wheel bearings now.

Pete

[Fossy313]

good luck, sorry about the horrendous spelling and punctuation, i had 5 minutes before i had to do something and wrote as quick as i could

Edited by Fossy313, 24 April 2014 - 09:13 AM.

[PeteClark]

Fossy, thank you, spelling no probs (not great Masell)

Have looked on mini spares web page !

Can anyone tell me if this is the one they would use on there pride and joy !!
[hope link works]

http://www.minispare...gs/GHK1805.aspx

[Fossy313]

Mate, these seem to be a new type which have taken over, if I was you give minispares a ring and just confirm these are the new genuine type....other than that they are no different to the rest, the o ring he is talking about just goes on first before u out the hub on, the old kits still have them too

[Fossy313]

P.s when I said apply hand break I meant release

[PeteClark]

Thanks for all the advise guys, bearings arrived at 12:30 and both sides done by 14:30 !

Followed Fossys advice, only difference I put all four races in the freezer while I had a brew !

(Will start a new thread for advice on how to change ball joints as enjoyed getting hands dirty)