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+--- Thread: Front wheel bearings (/showthread.php?tid=37641)
Front wheel bearings - Mighty306 - 22-08-2020
One of my wheel bearings started to rumble about a month before the MoT was due. In the end I decided to replace them both and do it myself. I'm glad I did do both as the n/s was heading the same way as the o/s. I'm sharing this because it was the first time I'd done front wheel bearings & can tell you it isn't for the faint hearted.
I thought I'd share what tools I used and what process I had to go through. I won't go through getting the hub off as there are lots of places you can look that process up. I bought the kit below to remove the bearings. You can theoretically use it to remove / press in bearings while the hub remains on the car. In reality you can't really do that because nothing is going to come out easily and in the first instance you definitely need the hub off the car to remove the circlip, which has likely corroded to the hub. The kit worked fine & has a few more bearing jobs in it but I doubt at the price it's good enough for really regular use.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Silverline-588812-Wheel-Bearing-Removal-Kit-22pce-Black/183702659185?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649
In my case the circlips were really bad. They took a long time to get out. Luckily I'd watched this guy's vid on Youtube and ended up having to use all the tips & tricks / techniques he did, including for getting the outer race from of the hub.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9h2MI0QXz0 .
I only have a small inverter stick welder though but a 2.5mm rod worked fine to put a bead around the inside of the race. After that it came out pretty easily. (The heat helps as well). For getting the circlip out a friend who works in a garage suggested drilling a small hole to get behind the circlip with a pin punch. Next time maybe. I don't have a bench vice which made it tricky in places. I used an impact gun with the bearing press but if you were trying to use hand tools I think you'd definitely need to have the hub well clamped in a vice. Here's another good video showing one being done on the car if you're interested.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-39-6imZYCI
I think the bearings were probably original, which may be why they fought me the whole way. Only other thing to mention is that I had to cut a notch out of the cup which needs to sit in the back of the hub. This was the only way to use the cup with the ABS sensor still fitted in the hub. From experience trying to remove the sensors if they've been in there a while means terminally damaging them.
If anyone is looking for quality bearings I bought these Motaquip ones and they look exactly like the originals. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Front-Wheel-Bearing-Kit-for-PEUGEOT-306-from-1993-to-2002-MQ/223929978813?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649
Sorry I didn't take any photos to share with you all. Was in too much of a rush to get the job done & tbh it took a long while as it was. Also had to sort out a driveshaft boot for the MoT. Thankfully it passed with just a minor advisory on the rear brakes.
