MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
We will be in touch
Just wondering if it's worth the hassle to change the front wheel bearing on my gf's polo or just to let the garage do it... I've looked online and the removal / install tool looks about £50 on ebay and the bearing is about £30... so can probably all be done this side of £100 with the tools for future episodes...
Any mechanics want to issue words of advice or warning?
Without knowing what year polo it is it's hard to say. Though not all wheel bearings will come out even with the right tools without applying heat so unless you've got oxy acetylene gear you may have to take it to a garage anyway
I think it's a 6n2 off the top of my head (early 2000's) I've got a heatgun and impact guns ect - I've not actually used the heatgun to remove car parts but it does get bloomin hot!
Won't get hot enough to expand the hub. oxy acetylene is only way to do that. Till you try you won't know. If it is seized you ll be taking it to the garage. I had one on a bmw e46 so seized that didn't work either. Labour charge wise it worked out cheaper to fit a brand new hub aswell.
get the garage to do it - you have no idea how the job is going to go
are you in a position to be able to sort out a problem such as stripping threads of some component, dealing with siezing etc etc
there are some jobs best left to garage and this is probably one
As above if you have to buy expensive special tools then give that money to the garage.
I used to do a chunk of my own mechanical work and what that taught me is if it could turn into a weekend of hell and swearing then pay someone with the right gear and training.
[Thread hijack]
How about on a 2004 Transit? FWD. Need to change the front discs and pads, and apparently they live behind the bearings. If it is a DIY job replace the bearings or fit new ones while they are off?
[/Thread hijack]
I've not done a Polo, but for the ones I've done it's still had to go to a garage to get the actual bearing swapped (different designs vary o'course), and it's a pretty timeconsuming and hassly job so it generally works out pretty reasonable to get it done by the pros. I do most jobs myself but this one I palm off.
Oh- @andrewh, haven't done that transit but the job doesn't look too complex, looking at online guides. You'll probably need Ford's extra long T55 Torx bit but it's not expensive. But, 10-years-stuck rusty torx are, basically, a total bastard- they use them in the mondeo too and I hate them for it.
How long are you planning on keeping the Golf and how many times do you expect to have to replace the wheel bearings?
That £50 tool could well end up sat on the shelf long after you've sold the Golf and bought something else that needs a different tool.
A good compromise to minimise labour charges would be to take the hubs off yourself, take them to a garage to get them to press the new bearings in, then refit them yourself.
Regarding the Transit, I don't know, but I would guess they are unitised bearings.
If so, these are pretty easy, just undo the big nut on the end of the stub axle, slide off the hub and bearing complete, replace the disc, slide it back on and torque the nut.
On my old Polo it was a press fit into the stub and couldn't be removed. I dismantled it and took the strut into a garage where someone took it in the back room and popped it out FOC!
Might be worth a try although offer cash obv 🙂
Garage - life is too short and there there are too many things to go wrong.
Garage job, IMO. Unless you have nothing better to do.
yeah they quote £125 which is pretty much what the parts would cost me with the additional tools... but then id have them for next time and they are fairly universal and probably handy for working on my newly acquired old landy.. I'll have a think - it seems like it'll be down to how corroded it is rather than anything technical which is probably something I should get used to with working on the landy anyway!
If it goes wrong, you'll probably lose the £25 potential saving in having it towed to the garage. I guess it's different if it's a skill you are looking to pick up for future projects.
If you think the tools will be useful in future then I would remove the whole hub carrier and have a go. If you get stuck then take it down to the garage off the car and get them to do it. You will still save on labour which will probably pay for the tools.
id have that too the garage.
whats the tool thats needed ? when ever ive done wheel bearings i just open the vice and use a mapp torch and a lump hammer to remove it from the hub - frontera(adjustable hubs) and peugeot partner (unit bearings) front bearings.
or my top tip for home hub bearings - pay a bit more an buy a hub ASSY with bearing fitted. its a caker of a job then - its not usually much more ime.
How ever i was recently defeated by a 12 year old rusty transit and had to have that done at a garage. it was a RWD model though.
in my defence the garage did say - that was a tough one to get out.
I did a Mondeo rear wheel bearing – never again, get through the little hole to get at the bolt heads and even with Halfords professional bits it was a see you next tuesday. Although I did source Jaguar parts cheaper than Ford (it’s the same on the X-type, mk3 Mondeo and the last version of the transit).
30 tonne press is useful, never heated a hub yet.
Transit hubs are usually a battle.
I was just going to buy one of these (the full hub with bearing)
A ball joint separator and one of these kits:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/271558705091
those are not vehicle specific tools and will come in handy for the landy.
try and pick up a sykes pikavent press type balljoint splitter and not a fork type - fork types usually result in split boots.
the double hammer method is a bit rough 😀
also top tip for folks new to car maintainance- YOUTUBE. even if its not specifically a polo - a golf or a passat or a lupo it will be similar. use that to judge if its within your capibilities.
I did youtube it but the guy wapped out a big 5 bolt hub puller 😛
Got a link to the sykes thing ? my ebay skills show thats an expensive part vs the £15 balljoint one I saw?
its worth the extra tenner in that it wont break like cheapo mechanical splitters and it wont chew your boots on ball joints (so you can reuse em) like percussion fork type ones do...
my buddies old style mini destroyed both cheap mechanical And fork type splitters and still his ball joint was in place.... that one above broke it with ease.