Van Front wheel Bearings

[Monty O]

Whilst the drive flange is different on vans to cars, does anyone know if the hub/bearing are the same between maestro/montego cars and the van?
I know there are differences with the early/latter bearings, just wondered if I could swap flanges and use the car ones.

[BIGLAD]

Whilst the drive flange is different on vans to cars, does anyone know if the hub/bearing are the same between maestro/montego cars and the van?
I know there are differences with the early/latter bearings, just wondered if I could swap flanges and use the car ones.

I'm not sure about the hubs themselves but providing your car/van falls into the later chassis no. range iirc then all the front bearings (single piece) are the same.

[E_T_V]

Yep bearings are the same for all late vans and cars i.e. single piece ones.

[E_T_V]

A quick question though. Why do you want to use the car hubs on the front?

[Monty O]

A quick question though. Why do you want to use the car hubs on the front?

cos...

I bought an F plate diesel Tandy after my L plate diesel estate got written off shortly after I changed the front nearsdie bearing.

Now there is a 'werr' noise from the front end, accompanied by a regular rythmic 'donk' noise at around 50 when cornering. We have 85k on the clock

I have lifted both front wheels and there is no play at either bearings, however the n/s feels slightly rougher, and there is slight play on the inner drive shaft bearing.

My proposal to confirm my diagnosis of worn front n/s wheelbearing was to remove and grease up the bearing. If that quietens it, then swap hubs; ie new bearing. If not, then drive shaft, if not thay then.....

[E_T_V]

Ahh I see. Yes it is likely to be the wheel bearing or indeed possibly worse the driveflange itself. My van has new wheel bearings all round any yet it still drones like a swarm of angry bees :(

I was asking the question from the point of view of it being permenant. If it was you'dneed to carry two spare wheels as the wheels from the car won't fit the van and vice versa.

[Monty O]

yep, compare the two side by side.

Ordered off Ebay a 3/4 drive breaker bar; the last time I did a hub nut I bent a 1/2" T-bar, time before that I broke the ratchet!

[Monty O]

With the good weather here, I decided it was time to change the bearing. Having removed the hub, you can feel that it does not run smoothly.

Next step; remove flange. I have previously used brute force and bashed them out with a club hammer. It didn't budge, and anyway the disc is in the way (on the van the disc is mounted behind the flange, not to the front like my montego). Bought a hub puller, however this just pushes the drive shaft right in. Much head scratching!

Before I take the whole hub to the local garage, any suggestions?

[E_T_V]

The only thing you can do is get a close fitting socket and dry and drift out the bearing with that. It is a good sign that the flange isn't worn if it simply doesn't pull off. (Mine do :() Ideally the bearing needs pressing out with a hydraulic press but I've drifted them in with a huge socket and a hammer before now.

[BIGLAD]

With the good weather here, I decided it was time to change the bearing. Having removed the hub, you can feel that it does not run smoothly.

Next step; remove flange. I have previously used brute force and bashed them out with a club hammer. It didn't budge, and anyway the disc is in the way (on the van the disc is mounted behind the flange, not to the front like my montego). Bought a hub puller, however this just pushes the drive shaft right in. Much head scratching!

Before I take the whole hub to the local garage, any suggestions?

You can either use a press or brute force.
You need to press/drift the drive flange out of the bearing from the REAR of the hub.
This means that you have to remove the hub from the Van 1st.
(Although the disc is mounted behind the flange, this isnt an issue as you can leave the disc attatched to the drive flange)
Either press drift out the flange from the bearing, you will probably find part of the inner race of the bearing still attatched to the flange.
(if one/part of the inner bearing tracks is left on the flange you will need to drift it off. You may find it easier to "spilt" it 1st using a very sharp chisel or a cutting disc)
Then remove one of the circlips (easier said than done)and press/drift the remainder (the outer part) of the bearing out of the hub.
Press/drift the new bearing into the hub until it is up against the other circlip (which you can/are supposed to renew)
Fit the other (new) circlip.
Then press the drive flange and disc (as one unit) into the centre of the new bearing.
You MUST support the rear of the new bearing otherwise if your drive flange is a tight fit (as they are supposed to be) it may push the centre of the new bearing out of the rear of the hub (rendering the new bearing U/S).

[Monty O]

Well, after banging the whatsits out of it, attacking it with the hub puller, removed it & took it to the local garage in the morning, picked it up in the afternoon, refitted it in the evening. It's soooo quiet now and you can hear all the other noises....

Oh yes, the garage charged me a tenner; why didn't I just do that to start with.....

[Peter J]

Hi,

I wonder if anyone can please tell me the tightening torque for the big centre of the roadwheel driveshaft nut on the 1991 Maestro 500L Van - with single piece taper roller front wheel bearings?

[Monty O]

150lb!

[Peter J]

Many Thanks for that Monty. That’s what I thought as it gives that in the Haynes manual, although that seems to be referring to an earlier model, since it mentions the nut being held by a split pin, and this one is held by hammering a lip into a groove in the driveshaft. I find this Haynes manual rather tiresome sometimes as it seems to have supplements and additions spread out all over the place so you seem to need to read the whole book to find anything, and then it maybe isn’t in!

I tightened the driveshaft nut to 150lb and it has been running like that for several years, but it does seem a tremendous amount of pressure to put on the bearings as all the play appears to be taken out of the wheel when the nut is not much more than finger tight! The reason I asked is that I wondered whether I had got it right, and also someone mentioned that Maestros are prone to wheel bearing failure so I just began to wonder if this is the reason :confused:

I’ve had the van from new and been very pleased with it. Incidentally I haven’t seen anyone mention Partco (a nationwide company who are usually to be found on industrial estates) In my limited experience I have found Partco to be the best place in my local area for Maestro parts :)

Most of all Thanks to whoever is responsible for this very interesting website :)

[Peter J]

Then press the drive flange and disc (as one unit) into the centre of the new bearing.
You MUST support the rear of the new bearing otherwise if your drive flange is a tight fit (as they are supposed to be) it may push the centre of the new bearing out of the rear of the hub (rendering the new bearing U/S).

Thanks for the info on fitting the new bearing Biglad, I took my hub into the local garage to have a bearing pressed in, but I think next time I would try drifting it in with a socket as you say.

The second time I only needed to change the brake disc, not the bearing, so was able to do it with the hub still fitted. I separated the flange from the hub by levering it off with two flat pieces of wood levering on the brake disc. I wasn't bothered about damaging the brake disc as I was going to replace it due to wear and corrosion (it had rust patches where it snagged on the pads and had lost over 1mm in thickness!), but it didn't appear to damage it anyway as I was levering about equally on both sides of it with pieces of wood. When I pressed the flange back into the hub I was able to do it just by tightening up the driveshaft nut to pull the parts together.

---------------

Incidentally, Several times I have found my Haynes manual tells you to dismantle things when it isn't necessary. Typically telling you to take the alternator off (an awkward job) to check the alternator brushes, when on my van this is far more easily done with the alternator fitted. The inspection cover for the alternator brushes is in fact far more accessible than the bolts to remove the alternator!

[Peter J]

I tightened the driveshaft nut to 150lb and it has been running like that for several years, but it does seem a tremendous amount of pressure to put on the bearings as all the play appears to be taken out of the wheel when the nut is not much more than finger tight! The reason I asked is that I wondered whether I had got it right, and also someone mentioned that Maestros are prone to wheel bearing failure so I just began to wonder if this is the reason :confused:

When I wrote that I didn't know that tightening the driveshaft nut pulls the two inner races of the single piece bearing tightly together so they are touching each other, and so the full tension of tightening the driveshaft nut does not go on to the bearings. I hadn't seen the bearing at close quarters because it was supplied and pressed into the hub by a local garage, but having just bought a spare on ebay I can now see how it works. I had never seen a single piece wheel bearing before. As there is then no way of adjusting the bearings I guess they must be incredibly accurately machined or they will fail very quickly.

Incidentally a lorry wheelbrace fits the big centre nut and is ideal for undoing it.