Lancia Motor Club

I now need to change a rear wheel bearing.  Reading the "Servicing an Aprilia" it seems that you first have to remove the trailing arm, which means removing the torsion bar, which means taking tension in the transverse spring via a special clamping device...is that right?

If it is just the wheel bearing - I have done them on the car - but you need good pusher/puller tools

However , if you are looking for a nice winter job, you can drop the whole unit and check all the other bearings and silent blocks as well. The only really special tool that you need is the spring compressor available from the tool coordinator (Tim Heath)

Thanks Simon,

yes its just the wheel bearing, so will leave the fun of taking off the spring and inspecting/replacing all the other bearings/bushes to later as I am keen to drive the car for a bit after the long delays with the front axle/wheel wobble!

David, there are two rear wheel bearings, part numbers inner SKF 6205 2RS and outer 6306 2RS (RS being rubber seal i.e. no need to grease). It is usually the smaller inner one that goes first.
Glad to hear you've sorted the wheel wobble!
Ade.

thanks all, i am now trying to remove the stub axle (see pick)...it is "resisting" in true Aprilia style - should i be able to simply knock it outwards with a hammer and drift...or is there another lock on it somewhere?

Give me 5 mins, I'll get one off the shelf and photograph it

They can be tight, I have used wedges to get them going - see photo with screwdivers, then use a suitable pusher/puller

Then you can take apart - don't forget the circlip which may be buried in roadmuck !

brilliant, tanks for the pictures Simon. v useful..

Also my 'this weekend' job having dismantled everything else from the rear of the car. Must update my thread at some point

dont be suprised if the housing has worn and bearing losoe in housing, common fault, normally caused by the extra load of british drive shafts not being able to go through the angles of an italian shaft, anyway if not badly worn you can use bearing lock, like a locktight specifically for loose bearing and hub fitments, ifor williams trailers use it as standard

It was just awful on one side of my car. We had even to weld some supports onto the outer screw nut.

The opposite problem!   I have a hydraulic extractor which makes such things a bit easier.

thanks all for the advice...so far I have managed to move the hub by about 3mm (via hammering wedges in), it now seems to be immovable. I have tried a bearing puller, but that simply bent under the pressure...i have also tried a Hydraulic puller, but cannot get the feet of its two legs to fit into the 3mm gap between the hub and the wheel plate (that contains the wheel nut studs).  I suspect I will have to bite the bullet and take the whole back axle off etc to get better access...

now trying to remove the rear axle...have disconnected both drive shafts, the prop shaft, brake lines and handbrake cable...now trying to undo the three bolts that hold the axle assembly and the diff onto the car. Of course Lancia do not make it easy!!!  any tips or hints on how to hold the very thin 22mm nut on the left of this picture whilst i then undo the big bolt that goes all the way through these bushes i cannot get a ring spanner onto it as the clearance is too narrow?? (see pic)

I will remind myself in the morning, but the LH nut - the thin one is is inserted inside the LH silent blocks so you do need to lock it whilst you undo the RH side - ie the bolt that goes through the support

You undo it from the right , not the left because that is held in the silent block-  and the bolt moves to the right in your photo. The middle nuts do need to be loose so you can undo the bolt

Pretty much what Simon said. What I find with my Aprilia are the silence blocks are always the issue, as these tend to seize on the nut or housing. With this job being no different and took me an age.

Remove the 4 clamping bolts 2 on the cross member (hidden at top) and the other 2 you can clearly see. Prise them apart and spray plenty of penetration oil, to free the silence blocks and bolt. Then I use one of those bent obstruction ring spanners, which just slipped on to the front (thin) nut, wedging it on. Then on the rear bolt i use socket with a 2m tommy bar and jump up and down until it moved. One side was better than the other, which in the end the rubber of the rear silence block disintegrated, so the bolt could turn, then had to cut of the steel outer from then cross member and inner off the bolt. Another 20mins job that took a day  :)

Thanks Julian,....yes its a very difficult job - i have invested in a thin 22mm ring spanner with a 6pt Hex head that just fits onto the left hand nut...its very difficult to keep it engaged as the other end is undone...but will get there..

I used one of these with a wooden wedge behind to hold it in place, as my wife rarely ventures into the garage to help, let alone any of my old cars.   

Thanks again Julian, i eventually made a very long handled spanner out of a hex socket and some steel bar.  That did the trick...the axle is now off the car and i have removed the spring (with the compressor tool keeping it tight)....to date the wheel bearing is still resisting!  I have it upright on the bench and am soaking wd40 into it...

The whole axle is off the car now, and i have finally after a tremendous amount of pressure and heating to red hot, got the drive shafts out and then removed the bearings.  Phew!  Now onto reassembly!

Anybody attempting this, after getting nowhere with standard pullers and a lot of heat, I invested into one of theses sets, wasn’t too expensive. What a joy, still needed heat, but all came apart nice and easy with 20 tons of pressure. Only difficulty was removing the trailing arm bearing retainer ring, was going make a tool, but thought I would try this and it worked again with heat. Wasn’t the most elegant solution as had to keep lowering the angle in the vice and making sure the bolt was tight. Although starting with the chain wrench I was lucky to find a very large pipe wrench in my late father’s workshop.   

I have that puller set. I think the hydraulic ram is rated to 10 tonnes. The seals let go on an agressive pull, but have managed to get new seals and refilled with grease. I invested in a 20 Tonne press (with gauge) after that....

Hi Tim, this one is manufactured in the US and rated at 20 tons and a lot more powerful than my 10 tons bench press   

That is one hell of a vice to take all that!