People,

Once again I need to pick the collective brain of VW knowledge out there. I had my 73 up on a jack yesterday to try and identify where a nasty scraping noise was coming from (right hand drum, but thats not a problem). Whilst up on jacks I noticed that I have an uncomfortable amount of play in the rear wheels (ie up / down vertical movement or pushing the top of the wheel in / out).

My brain suggests the only cause of this is bearing damage / collapse in the rear bearings.

Any idea how much play is safe / OK ? Are there any other causes of this sort of play ?

Finally, what should I expect to pay (ball park) to have these bearings replaced ? (I know I cant do them myself, as the races are pressed in, and I dont have the gear to get them back out again).

Thanks in advance,

Doug

Bumperoony.

Surely some has an idea ?

you can do it yourself..........easy as.

$60 a side (each arm)............so $120 to do all (Approx)

could also be a worn axle stub.

Umm, the VW official service manual I have says you need a 3 ton press to get the bearing races out ?

Do you just have a big hammer and a brass drift ?

Maybe you should get a s/h trailing arm and fit that..?

its a superbug so it'd be semi-trailing arm rear end. u dont need a 3 tonne press. To take out the rear bearings you need to

-disconnect CV's
-remove drum
-remove bearing cover
-remove the stub axle
-pull out the old seals and spacers
-remove the circlip on the inner side (approx. 50mm dia circlip - its big)
-get a drift and a mallet and drive out the inner bearing (i think the inner is first - memory is a bit rusty)
-remove the spacers and stuff
-once the inner one is out, the outer is much easier to get at. whack it out with the drift and mallet.

Thats about it from memory. Putting in new ones is pretty easy and is basically the reverse of above.

Oh, OK. Seriously, the Service manual (VW official one, not Bentleys or anything) says 3 tonne press. I guess the rear wheel bearing races are in about as tight as the front bearing race (the one in the disc). Which moved eventually for me with a dead blow hammer and a brass drift (which never looked the same after the job !).

I've decided that I will have my friendly VW mechanic do the job for me, but I will hang around and be nosey, and learn whats involved so that if I have to do it to another car later I will know whats involved.

Given that they are impossible to grease, I figure its best left to a professional if I'm not confident.

Thanks for the advice.