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The old Cavalier goes "wumwumwumwum" on right-hand bends, but not left. I assume it's something to do with a wheel bearing. Is this a correct assumption? Are they rollers, or balls, if so? Is it a real bind to fix? If I don't fix it, is the wheel likely to fall off?
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hello mate im new to this site, defintly sounds like wheel bearing ,to find out witch side, jack it up and spin the wheel and listen for roughness whlie you spin it, do both sides, and dont get confused ith pads touching the disks either !!
you will have to take strut off, remove hub carrier, remove big circlips and then bash it out.it takes a lot of bashing, but can be done use old bearing to insert new on, by this i mean line up new bearing and tap in a little way then put old bearing on top and belt it in, taking care it goes in straight!
not a hard job and will take a few hours to do. have fun
if i can do it then anyone can !!
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My local car parts shop will press out the old bearing and press in the new for £15 if you buy the new bearing from them. Just supply the hub carrier with the strut still attached. Leaving the carrier on the hub avoids messing up the geometry. Getting the new bearing pressed in rather than bashing it avoids the risk of damaging the bearing, or your knuckles.
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OOPS! That should read "leaving the carrier on the strut avoids..."
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oops i seem to have made a mistke in my typing, thanks for pointing it out dave!what i meant to say was remove the hub, not the carrier, and the only way you mess up geomitry is by altering steering joint length, all the parts i was refering too are hard bolted, ie no adjustment can be made, so nothing can be moved .
blimey this sounds like ive got the hump dosent it , the wife is laughing at me!!!.
a nice 2lb copper faced hammer and and a copper drift wont damage anything, apart from you knuckles should you be unluky enough to 'bash' them !!
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Front are ball bearings, rears up until around 1992 were taper roller bearings, then Vauxhall fitted ball bearings instead from around 1993. Easiest way to tell if yours are taper or ball bearings at the rear is to remove the wheel trim or centre cover if you've got alloys and look at the centre of the hub. If you've got a removable metal cap and under that there's a castle nut and an axle stub, it's tapers. However, if all you can see is a solid looking centre hub, it's ball bearings.
If I don't fix it, is the wheel likely to fall off?
Eventually the bearing will break up and cause even more damage. As it wears it will also get hot. If it is a wheel bearing gone, best get it replaced asap.
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When replacing front wheel bearings in Cavaliers (and other FWD Vauxhalls), I find it preferable to use a hydraulic press* to put the new bearing in. The bearing is quite a tight fit, and unless you are expert with a big hammer, I wouldn't recommend it.
The hub carrier and strut is integral on Cavaliers, so there is no possibility of losing the geometry there. It is, however, good practice to mark and retain the alignment of the strut top relative to the car.
It is also good practice to follow the, rather convoluted, tightening procedure for the front bearings, which is;
1) Tighten to 100Nm
2) Slacken off
3) Tighten to 25Nm
4) Tighten a further 90 degrees
5) If further movement is required to align the split pin hole, this must be acheived by *slackening* the nut.
Number_Cruncher
* a clear invitation for none to advocate the sledge hammer as the tool of choice! :-)
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NC, couldn't agree more about using a hydraulic press, I use one when it's necessary.
One place I worked at had a large fly press. Now that really shifted things - you had to be VERY careful when positioning hubs etc. The thing about a hammer is that it stores a lot of energy, to be released at exactly the right spot, instantaneously. Within reason, the more energy it stores, the more effective it is. I mean, you could spend a whole day gently pressing a bearing in by hand, use a lot of energy, and get nowhere !
To get back to wheel bearings, today I serviced a 2yr old 60k mile FWD Transit, no customer complaints and I've driven the van recently and heard no wheel bearing noise, but
the o/s/r wheel had about 1" of play at the wheel rim. The outer bearing had seized solid and the races were turning (nice and quietly) on the stub axle and in the hub. I've come across this sort of thing before and if left long enough it always results in a seized / locked wheel - with very little warning.
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hello there, yes your spot on i wouldnt advocate the use of a hammer either if you dont have the skill and expertise in using one, no offence meant and i hope non taken!
i was merely trying to give some freindly advice to someone who asked a question, i thought i could be of some use to, but maybe some users have found my idea of using a hammer a bit extreme! sorry !. i fix aircraft for a living, and the way we replace wheel bearings is to use a copper hammer and drift,prior to this i was a hgv mechanic and used to replace bearings the same way, and ive never known anyone of my work collegues to use a press, although a press would be great tool to have and im sure would save on knuckles and effort! i suppose i just like saving money when i comes to repairing my car, or even aircraft for that matter, for the 15 quid id save versus spending 30 mins removing and replacing the bearing by hand to me is money well saved.
but yes by all means get your bearing pressed out it will be a lot easier then the hammer method if you dont like using one.
these views are my own and people have differnt views , dont they, i was just very suprised to see a post like the shock horror above.
hope you fix you car up mate and dont have too much hassle doing it.
cheers
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Harrierlee, Hope you didn't take offence at my post. Like yourself, I've worked on all sorts of machinery for a living and find that used with expertise, the right hammer is an indispensible tool. The problem with some contributors is that they read a Haynes manual and then know everything !
Nice to communicate with a real mechanic.
Steve
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hello mate, no offence taken, just a bit wound up.
cheers
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I hope that my post has not been the cause of offence or hassle to anyone.
In one garage where I used to work, we had the luxury of a hydraulic press. It made the job so much easier, and I felt that someone asking on this forum would be able to make a significant labour cost saving by stripping the strut, and then getting the press work done, rather than suggesting they get all percussive.
It can be a bit difficult when a customer is standing over you. I sometimes would ask colleauges to take them off for a cup of tea before getting the hammer out!
none - I hope the accusation of being a reader of Haynes manuals isn't levelled at me! If I were thinner skinned, I might take offence at that! :-) I haven't earnt my wage in a workshop for a few years now, but this site enables me to keep a bit more in touch with faults with more modern motors.
Number_Cruncher
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If you haven't got access to a hydraulic press, sometimes you can get away with using a threaded bar and large washers or nuts to push the bearing into the hub. The beauty of this is that you can control the speed and pressure used, unlike when using a hammer to knock them in with.
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It's all about preparation and experience, really. The main thing I attend to is making sure that the new bearing is undamaged and the shaft/housing is perfectly clean and has no burrs or other damage anywhere. Correct alignment of the bearind, then pressure on the inner or outer race from hammer/press wieled in a suitable manner does the trick.
I am lucky, I have access to both hydraulic and fly presses.
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