Front wheel bearings

[TonyB]

I've just begun this job. Everything is apart, but I am having difficulty in removing the inner race from the hub - it stayed with the hub when I pressed the hub out of the strut housing. Does anyone have a suggestion how to get the race off the hub without the special VW tool? None of my pullers will fit in the small space between the hub flange and the bearing!

Tony B.
81 Dasher 1.6na
Jacksonville, FL

[82vdub]

I've had the same issue as you have, and I just took it to my mechanic and had him press the rest off, and the new bearing in. Someone here probably made a tool or something to get it off, but I ran out of patience/time with mine.

[damac]

Are the parts on yours the same as my 85 jetta?

I actually did my whole front job with allthread, bolts and thick washers from the rebarb section of my hardware store

And I had a generic cheapo puller type kit with a strong main bracket that had holes in it so I could piece together my own spacers, etc. with misc. nuts and bolts.

I also ended up using a black pipe reduction fitting from the hardware store that actually fit inside the hub, almost a perfect fit for the bearing. So I could use it to pound out the old pieces with a hammer if I wanted, and also use it to hold the edge of the bearing to clamp and seat the new ones when I made my press out of the allthread.

[VWCaddy]

Did the same pipe fitting trick on mine:
- http://www.4crawler.com/Diesel/CheapTri ... ring.shtml

[redsqwrl]

I've just begun this job. Everything is apart, but I am having difficulty in removing the inner race from the hub - it stayed with the hub when I pressed the hub out of the strut housing. Does anyone have a suggestion how to get the race off the hub without the special VW tool? None of my pullers will fit in the small space between the hub flange and the bearing!

Tony B.
81 Dasher 1.6na
Jacksonville, FL

I just fought this battle and here are my tricks. I use them all depending on which tools are where?

If you have a good cold chisel don't be a afraid to give it n(the race) a good blow and crack it.

If you have a torch heat a small section to enlargen it (the race)and that will help motivate it to move.

Lastly a 4" type grinder can by you some real estate to get a bite on the race. make sure you grind equal amounts on each side.

Mike

[surfcam]

If you happen to have a welder handy you can weld in the center of the race and it will shrink it.