Re: Milano Front Wheel Bearings

[Rodney Tidwell <rodneygt@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hirsch (Rich) wrote:

> Dear Alfisti,
>
> There have been many postings as to how easy it is to change the front
>
> wheel bearings on a Milano. I must say I found the job of changing the
>
> front bearings on my '87 Milano Pt quite difficult. This is due mainly
>
> to the difficulty of knocking out the outter race of the larger
> bearing. There is only a very thin circle of the outter rim visible,
> and almost any tool that can sit comfortably on the rim of
> the race is too fragile to apply enough force to dislodge it.
>
> Apparently other cars use hubs that have a couple of notches to allow
> using a fairly stout punch to remove the race. I did this job some
> years ago and remember using a sacrificial drill bit to drill thru
> the hub near the race rim to create my own notch large enough for
> a small punch.

Rich makes a good point, it is a bit of a PITA to get the races out.  I
have an ~6" taper punch I prefer to use on this job.  After removing the
hub, I clean the grease out, sit it on the work bench and use the same
procedure to remove both outer and inner races. I take the punch and
position it on the very small lip of the race (the side of the punch
will be about 45 to 60 degrees of horizontal and resting on the opposite
outside edge of the hub).|/|     <-That's supposed to show ~1/2 the hub
with a punch on a race.

Anyway, at this point I use my left hand (I'm right handed) to exert as
much force as possible on the punch. I now begin hitting the punch with
a hammer and rotating the hub to try and equalize as much as possible
where the force on the race is exerted.  Using this method I've found it
fairly easy to remove the race.  The PITA is getting the feel of how to
keep the punch on the race.

The drill bit method Rich discusses seems like a masterfully good idea,
especially if you plan on turning the car into a high mileage machine
that will need bearings 2 or 3 times over it's life.


> 4) Take some time and really work the grease into the bearing
> before inserting the bearing into the hub. There are devices to
> do this, or use a baggy. And use a good grease!
>

I use the old pack it in the palm of your hand method.  I tried using a
baggy one time but found it difficult to really get the bearing full
(all of the air out I guess you could say).  I just put a bunch of
grease in the palm of my left hand, take the bearing with my right hand,
point the larger side of the bearing toward the grease and begin forcing
the grease in by pushing it into the grease.  You'll see the grease work
its way between the bearings on the smaller side.  Of course, you'll
need to rotate the bearing to get all of the bearings and do it several
times to be sure it's full.

Rodney

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