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A few months ago my nigh on 60 year old left side wheel bearing failed. As its assembled into a split bearing holder I only realized the problem when I saw oil on the outer surface of the rear brake drum. ( As I found out on removal, the bearing cage holding the balls had cracked and broken into pieces!! ) The wheel still turned okay and you could not hear it playing up. So, I removed the brake drum and taking note of each stage removed the brake shoes and handbrake assembly and its cable attachment ( on the T2 I left the cable itself in place as there was enough room for the brake back plate to me moved away to gain access to the bearing ) The bearing split casing with the 4 bolts removed allows you to see the half shaft bearing that is entered into the remaining half of the bearing case and remove the back plate away from the working area. The bearing is inserted into this half case leaving an amount still protruding that finally will enter the bearing half I removed.
Now to extract that bearing I needed an extractor with long enough arms and small enough gripper jaws to gain access. None of my extractors fitted nor any of my friends ones. The special VW one seems non- attainable I tried all around. I found out Stoddard have an excellent one but it was I was told around $300- So with some scrap metal and two high tensilke coach bolts from the local DIY shop hacksawed and filed the extractor jaws photo shown below .
So now I have found out how to post the photo on here, I can explain a bit more. In the middle of the steel stretcher bar is a large diameter hole this allows the stretcher bar to pass over the threaded end of the half shaft which accepts the 36mm nut to secure the drum. Its pushed on to reach the splined end of the shaft. This keeps the stretcher bar perfectly square to the axle shaft. The extractor arms I made then go through the slots you can see. They need to be slotted so you can twist the arms into place in the bearing. Then slowly tighten each nut evenly to extract the bearing which I found worked perfectly.
The extractor stretcher would work as well I think made from a similar sized piece of wood !! After all its not used that often and it can be made for well under $10-
IMPORTANT!! The car is jacked up I made it so the gearbox oil would not easily drip down the half shaft to the oil seal you will by then have removed. BUT !!!
the axle half shaft now not supported can easily move out of the transmission area as only fulcrum pads hold it in place.You must stop that from falling out no more than I guess 10 mm movement lateral at any time.
IMPORTANT !! The rubber O rings and oil seal were worn out like also the distance pieces the seal rests on. You need the full kit bearing, o rings and seal and the distance pieces and also the shims that allow the correct compression of the bearing box assembly. I used a long ally drift to insert new bearing into the bearing housing. If your assembly has been apart before the compression must be done properly using micrometers to obtain the correct figures from the factory manual.
I have more phots's and a drawing I made of the extractor if you need me post on here. Took me while to do this job never attempted in the 50 years I have had the car. I guess the other side will fail next.
Roy
Now to extract that bearing I needed an extractor with long enough arms and small enough gripper jaws to gain access. None of my extractors fitted nor any of my friends ones. The special VW one seems non- attainable I tried all around. I found out Stoddard have an excellent one but it was I was told around $300- So with some scrap metal and two high tensilke coach bolts from the local DIY shop hacksawed and filed the extractor jaws photo shown below .
So now I have found out how to post the photo on here, I can explain a bit more. In the middle of the steel stretcher bar is a large diameter hole this allows the stretcher bar to pass over the threaded end of the half shaft which accepts the 36mm nut to secure the drum. Its pushed on to reach the splined end of the shaft. This keeps the stretcher bar perfectly square to the axle shaft. The extractor arms I made then go through the slots you can see. They need to be slotted so you can twist the arms into place in the bearing. Then slowly tighten each nut evenly to extract the bearing which I found worked perfectly.
The extractor stretcher would work as well I think made from a similar sized piece of wood !! After all its not used that often and it can be made for well under $10-
IMPORTANT!! The car is jacked up I made it so the gearbox oil would not easily drip down the half shaft to the oil seal you will by then have removed. BUT !!!
the axle half shaft now not supported can easily move out of the transmission area as only fulcrum pads hold it in place.You must stop that from falling out no more than I guess 10 mm movement lateral at any time.
IMPORTANT !! The rubber O rings and oil seal were worn out like also the distance pieces the seal rests on. You need the full kit bearing, o rings and seal and the distance pieces and also the shims that allow the correct compression of the bearing box assembly. I used a long ally drift to insert new bearing into the bearing housing. If your assembly has been apart before the compression must be done properly using micrometers to obtain the correct figures from the factory manual.
I have more phots's and a drawing I made of the extractor if you need me post on here. Took me while to do this job never attempted in the 50 years I have had the car. I guess the other side will fail next.
Roy
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