Hello gentlemen, I took off my front wheel bearings to clean the old grease and pack in new. Do I have to take the outside bolts off and the big nut to further disassemble the bearing? Or do I just clean the ones shown and repack those? Thanks for your help. The ones I cleaned look ok, but the grease was pretty dry and gross. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Don't think that you necessarily have to take off the outside bolts (but lugging the brake disc around maybe isn't handy), but you do need to remove the big nut. There are two rows of balls, and you've only cleaned one of the rows -- see the cross-sectional drawing on page F7 of the TR WSM.
James, also look at page F13 of the Testarossa Workshop Manual. It provides the steps for "replacing front bearings," so you don't need to follow all of the steps just for repacking. When I regreased mine, I looked at same for guidance BUT because I did not want to mess with the seal, I only exposed the second row of bearings just enough to allow a complete cleaning but not enough to disturb the seal underneath or remove the lower row of ball bearings. EDoug
If the bearing is removed from the hub of the rotor the inner row of balls can be removed, the bearing separator can be removed then the outer row can be removed and the races cleaned. The seal is crimped in place and cannot be removed.
Ok, follow up question. Do I get access to the hidden ball bearings by hitting the bearing through the 2 access holes inside the splined hub so the bearings poke out? Or am I missing something? Then press the bearing back into place once I cleaned it? Or is there a way to pull out the balls without doing that?
Yes, I believe so. On the later 5-lug design, they made those access holes perpendicular to the inner race faces IIRC -- so those angled holes on your single-lug design seem more iffy.
James, yes you got it and are not missing something (at least on my 1986 Testarossa). Tap tap tap and then alternate to the second hole and tap tap tap, rinse and repeat, until the outer row fall out with its race and be READY to catch it all. Then lift out the plastic cage exposing the second row. Below are a few pics to give you some encouragement. As I previously said, I stopped tapping once the second row was exposed just enough to allow me to completely clean it out. Others may keep tapping to completely remove the second row. EDoug Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
oh great pics, thanks so much! Normally I just go for broke, but am super cautious since I don't feel like paying for a new bearing.
