[Vwdiesel] Rabbit 1980 - 1984 Front wheel bearings --Noice.

[Val Christian]

My experience has been that you damage one of the inner races when
you press the hub out of the bearing.  But alas, it's time for
another good front bearing story.

On a 78 Rabbit Diesel, after perhaps 80K, I found I had a bad right front
bearing.  With my handy 12 ton Harbor Freight press (the BEST $99 I've
ever spent), I replaced the bearing, put everything back together, set
the camber and then the toein.

Alas, 60K later, the same bearing failed.  Perplexed, I did the same.
Somewhere around the 4th bearing, I got fed-up, and went to a junkyard
and picked up a new hub assembly, and put my new bearing into that.
The next bearing lasted over the remainder of the life of the car.  The
other front bearing lasted the life of the car.

I figure that there was something wrong with the inside dimensions of
the casting, or the outside dimensions of the hub.  Or that perhaps the
assembly flexed funny.  I've only heard of this happening to one other
person, and that was on a different manufacturer's vehicle.

It's not diesel, per say, but at least the story has VW content.

Finally, ever wonder why you should get a 3/4" socket set?  If you have
farm equipment is a good answer.  The right answer is if you have a
$99 shop press.  The sockets are your friends.  Just avoid pressing with
them near 0F, a point where the socket metals are near max shatterability.
Well, they might shatter better at colder temperatures, but then the air
would be liquid at those temps...

Val

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> Front wheel NUT can come loose (did on me)   limped home and fixed by doubl=
> e nutting.
> The bearings can be removed and inspected and reassembled successfully ---v=
> ery tricky.Hagar did it. Front has only ONE bearing ! ----a split double ro=
> w ball bearing. The tricky part of removing is to avoid putting force on th=
> e balls.  As said it can be done.  That one for Mark "the cheapscate fixer"=
>  Shepherd ---as well EH-Mark ?      Hagar.
> --
>