Changing a wheel bearing

After the TV4x4 outing to Childrey Quarry we came home on a trailer after the wheel bearing failed on the way home.

Remove the wheel and then remove the drum. 

If the drum is stuck then first of all check that the handbrake is off then insert two small bolts in the holes of the drum. Reach around the back and feel near the top for a rubber bung. Remove the rubber bung and insert a flat bladed screwdriver. Angle the screwdriver so that the blade is pointing to the back of the car and the handle towards the front, you chould be able to feel the adjuster wheel. Using the screwdriver turn the adjuster downwards a few clicks. Then tighten the bolts you inserted in the front, the drum should come off.

With the drum removed strip out the brake shoes, the best way of doing this is to carefully release the springs first and then remove the retaining clips by twisting the pins. WIth the shoes hanging loose you can then push out the clip holding the handbrake arm to the shoe and remove the shoes.

Then you have to withdraw the handbrake cable from the back plate. The handbrake cable is pushed into the back plate and held in by a spring clip. You have to squeeze the spring clip and pull it backwards, this was the most difficult bit. The picture below shows the spring clip that needs squeezing to pull it through, the prongs stick out and stop you pulling the cable out.

Next disconnect the brak pipes from the back of the brake cylinder, you can use one of the rubber covers from the bleed nipples to stop fliud dripping from the open pipe end. Then under the four nuts on the rear of the brake drum plate. 

With everything undone you can draw out the driveshaft and brake backing plate together. This is not easy as it can be stiff. I used a slide hammer attached to the flange but you can also re-fit the wheel and use a hammer on the wheel itself.

This then leaves the axle end bare apart from the oil seal and oil seal protector and leaves you with a halfshaft and bearing.

Now you need to remove the retainer ring. This needs an angle grinder to grind away one edge of the retainer until it can be split with a chisel. This is a slow task as a lot of metal needs to be removed carefully without marking the driveshaft. The picture below is "nearly there!" 

With the retainer removed it should be possible to drive the bearing off. However mine was broken up. Half of the inner race was stuck to the shaft and needed a bit or persuasion to move.

This shows just how bad the bearing was. The middle of the bearing has parted company from the rest of the bearing and has fractured.

THis is what the parts should look like!

The bearing and its related oil seal (see the picture of the axle casing end) are the same as other vehicles in the Suzuki range.

The bearing is a KOYO DG357222DW (Suzuki - 09269-35009 - see BigJimny Shop) and the oil seal is a 48x62x9 (Suzuki - 09283-48007 see BigJimny Shop). The bearing retaining ring is Suzuki Part 43485-73000 (without ABS)

(Note: for ABS vehicles the retainer is 43485-77E51)

So now to put it back together....... 

Putting it back together is really simply the reverse process.

You will need to press the new bearing and its retainer ring back onto the shaft. The best way to do this is to seek out your local friendly garage or engineering shop and get them to press it on. Make sure everything is cleaned up and lightly greased and the brake back plate, bearing and bearing retainer are assembled the correct way around. Then it should be literally a 30 second job for your garage to press it all together for you.

Everything else is then re-assembled, I also changed the axle oil seal as it woul dbe stupid not to do so once everything is apart.