Replace, re-pack, or leave ‘em alone? Your thoughts?
08-11-2018, 04:30 PM
#1
Intermediate
Thread Starter
Replace, re-pack, or leave ‘em alone? Your thoughts?
Hey guys, I’m planning a major front brake job in the coming weeks. (Calipers, rotors, pads, rubber lines...etc) The car stops ok but I’ve noticed it’s pulling hard left when the brakes are firmly applied and the rotors are showing signs of excessive wear. I believe these are original calipers and rotors are still rivited to the hubs.
My question is: should I go ahead and replace inner and outer wheel bearings? Clean, inspect and re-pack existing bearings, or leave them alone?
I have no reason to believe the bearings are bad. I don’t really want to open up a can of worms and I’ve got a bad habit of “well while I’ve got it apart...”
Whats your thoughts?
My question is: should I go ahead and replace inner and outer wheel bearings? Clean, inspect and re-pack existing bearings, or leave them alone?
I have no reason to believe the bearings are bad. I don’t really want to open up a can of worms and I’ve got a bad habit of “well while I’ve got it apart...”
Whats your thoughts?
08-11-2018, 06:07 PM
#2
Le Mans Master
Hey guys, I’m planning a major front brake job in the coming weeks. (Calipers, rotors, pads, rubber lines...etc) The car stops ok but I’ve noticed it’s pulling hard left when the brakes are firmly applied and the rotors are showing signs of excessive wear. I believe these are original calipers and rotors are still rivited to the hubs.
My question is: should I go ahead and replace inner and outer wheel bearings? Clean, inspect and re-pack existing bearings, or leave them alone?
I have no reason to believe the bearings are bad. I don’t really want to open up a can of worms and I’ve got a bad habit of “well while I’ve got it apart...”
Whats your thoughts?
My question is: should I go ahead and replace inner and outer wheel bearings? Clean, inspect and re-pack existing bearings, or leave them alone?
I have no reason to believe the bearings are bad. I don’t really want to open up a can of worms and I’ve got a bad habit of “well while I’ve got it apart...”
Whats your thoughts?
As for the wheel bearings, this is one of the easiest things to do on a C3. 90 percent of the job is taking the calipers off and hanging them out of the way, so don't be afraid of "while I'm in there - itis" on this particular job. I used a Lisle 34550 Bearing Packer to do the messy part, but you still need to get grease on your (gloved) hands. Make sure you follow the shop manual instructions to get the correct pre-load, and have a good torque wrench.
You'll need a new bearing seal either way, but if you replace them, be sure to get genuine Timken bearings.
08-11-2018, 06:22 PM
#3
Melting Slicks
Clean up the bearings as if you are going to reuse them, and then inspect them using the attached link as a reference guide. You'll soon know if they're good to reuse.
https://www.timken.com/pdf/5892_Bear...20Brochure.pdf
https://www.timken.com/pdf/5892_Bear...20Brochure.pdf
08-11-2018, 06:34 PM
#4
Race Director
Replacing bearings just because you want to....well...you can do that. OR....you can clean and inspect BOTH the bearing adn races and see if they actually need to be replaced. They only may need to be repacked.
IF you are going to mess around with your rotors...this area DOES take some effort from you to make sure that.... A.) IF oyu install NEW ROTORS...You get them installed and indexed correctly for proper run-out. B.) If you keep the originals and have them turned down they a re NOT being turned BELOW 1.230" .
DUB
IF you are going to mess around with your rotors...this area DOES take some effort from you to make sure that.... A.) IF oyu install NEW ROTORS...You get them installed and indexed correctly for proper run-out. B.) If you keep the originals and have them turned down they a re NOT being turned BELOW 1.230" .
DUB
08-11-2018, 08:49 PM
#5
Pro
Hey guys, I’m planning a major front brake job in the coming weeks. (Calipers, rotors, pads, rubber lines...etc) The car stops ok but I’ve noticed it’s pulling hard left when the brakes are firmly applied and the rotors are showing signs of excessive wear. I believe these are original calipers and rotors are still rivited to the hubs.
My question is: should I go ahead and replace inner and outer wheel bearings? Clean, inspect and re-pack existing bearings, or leave them alone?
I have no reason to believe the bearings are bad. I don’t really want to open up a can of worms and I’ve got a bad habit of “well while I’ve got it apart...”
Whats your thoughts?
My question is: should I go ahead and replace inner and outer wheel bearings? Clean, inspect and re-pack existing bearings, or leave them alone?
I have no reason to believe the bearings are bad. I don’t really want to open up a can of worms and I’ve got a bad habit of “well while I’ve got it apart...”
Whats your thoughts?
Pull and clean the bearings, if they are good, grease them.
If they are bad, put new ones in.
Either way, put a new seal in there.
08-11-2018, 11:33 PM
#7
Le Mans Master
08-12-2018, 08:50 AM
#8
Burning Brakes
Member Since: Sep 2016
Location: Dutchess county New York
Posts: 750
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Hey guys, I’m planning a major front brake job in the coming weeks. (Calipers, rotors, pads, rubber lines...etc) The car stops ok but I’ve noticed it’s pulling hard left when the brakes are firmly applied and the rotors are showing signs of excessive wear. I believe these are original calipers and rotors are still rivited to the hubs.
My question is: should I go ahead and replace inner and outer wheel bearings? Clean, inspect and re-pack existing bearings, or leave them alone?
I have no reason to believe the bearings are bad. I don’t really want to open up a can of worms and I’ve got a bad habit of “well while I’ve got it apart...”
Whats your thoughts?
My question is: should I go ahead and replace inner and outer wheel bearings? Clean, inspect and re-pack existing bearings, or leave them alone?
I have no reason to believe the bearings are bad. I don’t really want to open up a can of worms and I’ve got a bad habit of “well while I’ve got it apart...”
Whats your thoughts?
08-12-2018, 12:04 PM
#9
Race Director
Member Since: Apr 2007
Location: South Western Ontario
Posts: 11,061
Received 845 Likes
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721 Posts
You can index the rotors to the best position you can find and then bolt them to the hubs with 3 wheel nuts or get fancy and re-use the rivet holes to bolt the rotors to the hub. Then when you've pulled the bearings apart, you can get a shop to put the rotor and hub on the resurfacing machine indexed by the bearing races and give the rotors a cut to take away any remaining runout.
