Audi 100 Front Wheel Bearing Saga - Days 4 & 5

the joys of old Audi's you wait til you have to press them out, we had to borrow a 15000kg jack as the 10000kg one we have wasnt man enough!

 

Would that be classed as a "hijack"? What do you think danster?

 

Absolutely BF, Daved is not going to be happy with the direction you are trying to steer this thread in Drunkenalan.

TBH he will probably not notice as he is more than likely still stuck under the car trying to remove something or other which will be "Audi great" , but unfortunately "Audi seized"

Golf mk1 and 2 FTW!

 

I always found that the max'ed out 10000kg press did the job when you tapped the bearing housing with a 5lbs ballpain hammer, the bearing usually give way with an impressive bang

 

even with a substantial smack the just wouldnt move, mind you they had been sat outside behind the garage for a couple of years. the big jack was getting towards being maxed and with a good smack the bearing finally gave in. it sounded like a shotgun going off!

 

Audi 100 Front Wheel Bearing Saga - Day 2

Audi 100 Front Wheel Bearing Saga - Day 2

As the poll indicates a requirement for continued embarrassment I am obliged to do so. I hoped you'd all vote as Danny and save me the effort!

Sunday dawns bright and breezy. But I don't.

1000 hrs. - Sunday

Saturday night's soak in the shower has failed to relieve all of the aches and pains. So, it really is a matter of crawling out of bed at 1000 hrs (I've usually had a few hours or so on CGTI by this time), and forcing on clothes. A couple of bananas, tea and meds, and I am in the shed, with the strut.

1100 hrs.

Removing the ABS Sensor is the first task. I don't really need to do this, as the bearing is pressed out to the front of the upright. But, I would like to take it out to avoid damage and to make sure it is removable in future, just in case.
It's been soaking over night with penetrating oil, having first scraped off rust. I remove the rubber boot for access to the head of the probe. After ten or twenty minutes of gentle twisting and levering the thing is still stuck fast. More easing oil, more scraping and more twists and levers and it ain't moved a micron.
Now, as I am going to have to heat up the upright to remove the old bearing and fit the new one, I start to heat the bearing housing, gently, having first protected the probe with an aluminum heat sheild. When the penetrating oil fire is finally subdued, and the fire blanket removed, (Yes, I have a fire blanket, and an extinguisher, fitted to the back of the shed door) I heat some more, until the area of the probe is quite warm. Just a gentle couple of leverings and a twist with the pipe grips and ........ NOTHING! It is still stuck solid. So, more heat, giant 'Mole' wrench, and a 600mm long pry bar, is the order of the day. And the thing just does not do anything more than burn my finger as I remove the heat shield. Luckily, same finger as yesterday.

1230 hrs.

Yes 90 minutes have just flown by. Funny how that happens when you are having such fun.
Please note, I am in the shed, and the weather is fine outside. I really should be up on the roof fitting slates and flashing around the roof window, which I installed on the beautifully sunny Friday. The top of the stairs is nice and bright now, but under a couple of inches of water.
I have decided that the sensor will have to stay, and take its chances with more heat and the old 16lb sledge hammer.
First, I need to get the new bearing into the freezer. So, I remove it from its box. It is a non-descript, €35 kit, from my local motor factor. I don't mind putting this stuff on the 100. Had it been the 90 or the EV it would have been FAG at three times the price. Anyway, the bearing is a Spanish Timken unit, with two circlips, which I don't need, and no bolt, which I do need. No problem, I have a new spare bolt for the Audi 90. Quick clean of the bearing, AND, there is no radius at the edge of the outer race where it fits into the housing. This is crap! All bearings are supposed to have a radius, or they will bite in, as you try to assemble them. So, it's miss daved's nasty old Black & Decker drill, clamped in the vice. Not putting an Atlas Copco machine in there. Flap wheel in the chuck, and away we go. Bearing races are pretty hard, so it takes ages to achieve a decent rad, but, in the end I am satisfied. Brg. in freezer bag and into the depths of the chest. I have instructed the assistant where it is so that I can be speedily delivered when required.

1330 hrs.

I now need to fettle up my special hub/bearing puch. It is made from a 1.75" dia. x 250mm long piece of steel bar. It was originally made to re-round the wishbone eyes on the forged wishbones of the 90. These eyes become quite quite ovalised when you thump a large rock with a front wheel.
I have not used it since the hub change, to 5 x 112, on the 90, and the ends are a bit battered. So, out with the big file, and shape the ends, with a nice chamfer, to seat nicely into the hub boss. I set up my bashing anvil. A Mk2 flywheel is exactly the right size to accomodate the hub and support the housing. I sit this on a couple of pieces of oak plank across the edge of a nasty Speedline wheel from the 90. I dig out the 16lb sledge, and show my assistant where she will stand and how she will hold the punch, and support the strut. I do provide said assistant with a suitable padded, and Kevlar armoured, motorcycling glove. I also make sure she removes her watch, as I am hoping to sell it, to buy lots of bits for the Golf.
On to the anvil. Assistant in place and set. Couple of bashes with the sledge and it is out.
Back to the shed and loads o' heat into the housing. Back to the anvil, reverse the puch and, wallop - wallop - wallop, the bearing is also out.
I now have a hub with half the inner race on it, and a punch with the other, larger, inner race attached. I need to fit the smaller inner race to the end of the punch, to bash in the hub, once the new bearing is in place. So, I knock off the large inner race, and file a step on the end of the punch to take the old smaller inner race. This punch is from quite soft steel, so it gets a bit out of shape and need a good fettle stage by stage. I must make a set of punches, from better steel, and which are stepped, and chamfered properly.
My €5 bearing puller soon removes the inner race from the hub without the need for heat.
Quick inspection of the hub bearing diameters and face. It's perfect, so a thin coating of ASP, bagged, and into the freezer, with the usual instructons to the assistant

1500 hrs.

After food and a short rest I am back out in the shed.
First job, remove the old dust shield, which is ubber rusty, and falling apart. The usual three, rusted in, screws are now facing me. I am sure we all know the joys of removing these, so I won't dwell on it. But, penetrating oil, heat and a hammer and chisel were needed.

1600 hrs.

I now have a new bruised and bloody knuckle, but I do have a stripped strut. So, it's out with the Dremel and a clean up around the mouth of the housing where the bearing will be slid in.
A quick clean up of the seating face inside the hub, and we are ready to fit the new bearing.
I go in to the kitchen and set the timer on the oven for ten minutes and instruct the assistant to bring me the bearing when the timer rings.
As I am applying heat to the housing sitting in the vice, when, my phone rings. It is miss daved in Bahrain informing me that her heart rate monitor is not working properly. She is in the middle of a 10km training run and wants me to tell her what is wrong and how to fix it, as she has to maintain a strict regimen. Ten minutes later I am presented with a nice cold bearing to offer up to a nice cold housing. Assistants eh! Back in the freezer fool.
We decide the problem is the battery, and miss d. should run to the nearest mall, and get a new battery fitted. Joke. No way she could enter a mall in running gear.
Some time later we are ready, and a cold brg. is delivered to a hot housing and it flops in nicely. I didn't need to round off the edge after all.
I let the assembly sit for a couple of minutes so the bearing absorbs some heat, then back outside. My assistant brings the cold hub, and places it face down, on a very large piece of wood, strut and bearing offered up, assistant set. I will use the 4kg sledge hammer this time, held in my right hand, while I hold the puch/race assembly in my left. Couple of thumps on the bearing inner race and the hub is snug as a bug. ASP really works.

1630 hrs.

It's flipping well raining again. Ah well, I have to fit the spring and top mount back on the strut so it's in the shed again.
The spring is clamped in my little spring clamps, just as I removed it from the car. Trouble is, the spring is not clamped down quite enough to fit all of the top mount parts and the securing nut. I thought it had popped a bit when I loosened the nut in the car!
I try tightening some more, but to no avail. It is so difficult to turn the screw of the clamp, I am scared of things slipping, and a spring chasing me around a very small shed. It would catch me for sure.
So I remove the clamps, hoping to get them to fit over three coils. No chance, two coils is a max. So back onto two coils and as tight as I dare. Then I wrap fence wire around the compressed coils, and release the clamps. The wire holds the coils enough for me to get the clamps on to three coils, and compress the spring enough to fit the top mount.

1700 hrs.

It's siling it down outside and there is no way I'm going out there tonight. If it's still raining tomorrow, fair enough, at least I'll be fresh.

 

An epic tail of shear commitment.

It is however a pity that none of miss daved's energy could be utilised in a more productive way though. Just running around burning up the earth's oxygen supply seems a little wasteful to me.

 

Crikey, you two must be actually reading this garbage!

 

..but only one of us voted for you to carry on.

 

Very astute Brisfit.

 

All these stupid polls and votes are a bit of a pain TBH. Every time I visit a thread that has a poll on it, I need to come out, then go back in, and come out again to clear it from my active topics page.

 

How does that get you out of (basically) telling daved to shut up?

 

Audi 100 Front Wheel Bearing Saga - Day 3

Audi 100 Front Wheel Bearing Saga - Day 3

Sunday night's soak in the shower has again failed to relieve all of the aches and pains. So, I again crawled bed at 1000 hrs, and forced some on clothes. I had my usual breakfast of bananas, tea and meds, and I am once again in the shed, with the strut. Because, it is pouring down again.

1100 hrs. Monday

Mrs daved's up and about, so I ask her to get wet weather gear on and help.
First job is to fit the strut up to the top mount holes and loosely bolt it in place. The thing is heavy, and I really do struggle to lift it in, while the assistant fits the nuts loosely. Then the 3m scaffold pole is inserted between the arb and the subframe and my partner stands on it while I manouver the bottom of the strut on to the ball joint. I have of course lubed the ball joint with ASP so it will slide together smoothly!
No chance, I just can't get the joint shaft to enter the housing bore. There is no way it is going in, so it's out with a chisel to drive into the slot of the housing, to open the bore. But, I can't get the tip of the chisel into the slot? A quick inspection shows that the slot has closed up, for some misterious reason, so the bore is much too small.
Off with the strut again and back to the shed.

1130 hrs.

By now we are both wet through, but in good spirit mrs daved offers to cook me a full Irish fry-up. But I decline, as the car must be ready by 1530 hrs. for the worker to leave for the factory, and time cannot be lost either sitting for a meal, or the assistant cooking and not being on two seconds call. So, it's on with the eggs to boil. Easy on the move food. And, you can hold the shell in dirty hands while munching.
It is obvious now that I have closed up the bore for the ball joint. Probably when heating the housing and trying to remove the ABS sensor. My vice is too small to grip the strut, so I held it on the ball joint housing.
Opening it out again is not too difficult, some heat and a bar in the bolt holes. I have the old bottom link with ball joint that I removed last Oct. as a test piece and after ten minutes or so everything is hunky-dory and ready for a re-fit.
Back out in the rain, and repeat the proceedure, where all goes well and the strut is back in it's proper place. Just have to put everything back now.

1200 hrs.

Still can't find two new self tappers to fit the 'p' clips of the asb sensor cable. I have got drawers full of old bits and pieces, but no two identical screws of the correct diameter and length. So, it's front wheel off the 90 and borrow the screws from that. I know they are good because I fitted new ones when I changed the hubs. (Poor old 90. It has now donated it's ISV, HT system, and wheels to the 100. Plus rear hubs and cv joints, for the Golf re-build.).
Cable in, screwed up and connected. Will it still work? That remains to be seen.

1230 hrs.

All the stuff to be re-fitted, is taken to the shed to be fettled.
Firstly, the discs are cleaned up. The ridges around the edge and the centre are groung off, as is the rust from the perimiter. The braking face is linished nice and clean as well.
The caliper mounts have all of the hard rust scale knocked off them, and the mounting faces are cleaned up with a file. A good hand wire brushing is followed by the application of some ASP on the sliding areas for the pads.
The pads are cleaned, and ASP applied to the backs.
Caliper slid bolts are polished up and coated with silicone grease.
The caliper bracket mounting bolts are wire brushed to remove the rust which stopped them being removed easily on day 1. They are given a good coat of 'copaslip'.
I find a new bolt and nut for the ball joint, and give them a good coating of 'copaslip' as well.

1330 hrs.

Believe it or not, that has just taken an hour, even eating food on the move.
The rain has stopped, and I am happy as I recon. I'll be finished by 1400 hrs, or 1430 hrs at the latest.
First job, fit the bottom ball joint bolts and torque up. I am leaving the top mount bolts till last as I might need some lee-way to get the arb back in place.
Then, bolt on the disc. I used one bolt and an old Mk2 cv joint nut, as a spacer, to hold it while I fit the carrier and caliper. Audi don't use the small screw to locate and DRIVE the disc!
Two bolts in and torqued up, and the carrier is fitted.
One brake pad into the piston , and the other in the carrier. Caliper offered up and top slider bolt fitted and tightened just so. Second bolt into the caliper hole and push the bottom of the caliper home. Well, it won't go. I have got the dust cover for the bottom bolt stuck behind the caliper. It is attached to the brake pad sensor wire and has slid down. Top bolt out, cover pushed back, caliper offered again. This time both slider bolts fit, and are torqued up. Covers are replaced into the ends of the rubber sleeves.
I tighten up the top mount fixing bolts and adjust the top mount back to the postion it was before removal. I have scribed marks around the adjuster to permit this.
All that needs to be done now is re-fit the arb brackets with their rubber bushes, and bolt the arb back to the sub-frame.

1430 hrs.
I still have a good hour 'till deadline, so I am confident that I'll be able to shower and sit down to lunch with mrs daved before she goes to work.

1545 hrs.
I have just spent 105 minutes getting the arb back on, and the cv bolt torqued up.
Don't want to talk about it. But, I am covered in mud. Bleeding from at least two new places. And have bruises all over my back, bum and thighs. Pry bars, scaffold poles, silicone grease, two hydraulic jacks, baulks of timber, to name but a few items I used to get the sod back up there.

1546 hrs.
Quick kiss, and mrs daved is hammering down the road, desparate to get the 7 km to work, by 1600 hrs., or lose 5 from her wages.

Can't wait for next weekend to do the other side!

 

Shear commitment to the power of 2.

 

Will the wheels stay on long enough for mrs Daved to make it to work on time? Will Daved get his fingernails clean in time for next week's thrilling episode? Find out here, only on clubgti!

 

How's it going Daved? I hope it's not raining too hard out there!

 

Saturday 1030hrs. It's raining!



Saturday 1130hrs. It's still raining, but I've made a start!



This is the river I worked in last weekend.



Saturday 1356hrs. It's stopped raining and the strut is off.



All ready for removing hub and bearing.



Hub removed.



Bearing removed. After a good warm up with the brazing torch.



I believe that this bearing has been replaced before.
The cv retaining bolt head was mangled. Not by me!
The bearing was covered in grooves, as was the inside of the housing.
The grooves were obviously made pushing a bearing in.

The previous side was clean and smooth.



The hub shows evidence of corrosion fretting.



This is the edge, on the bearing, where corrosion fretting was induced in the hub.



Sunday 1100hrs. Nice cold bearing dropped into a nice warm housing.



Sunday 1110hrs. After waiting for heat to soak into the bearing, the hub is knocked home.



Sunday 1408hrs. All back together, just a wheel to be fitted and the cap screw torqued and turned.

 

Good work Dave, at least it didn't take as long the second time around