Don tells me he has never seen rears that needed replacing. And apparently the job is a bear.. I think I may just re-pack mine.
How do you remove the backing plates without disassembling the hubs?
What did you do to your E9 today?
- Thread starter adawil2002
- Start date
How do you remove the backing plates without disassembling the hubs?
Yes, well, you were one step ahead of me. I guess you can't. When I was inspecting the area last week it looked like the setup could be removed like the front, in which you can pull the hub off with the rotor to access the plate, but then could decide not to actually rebuild the full hub. Upon further review, yes, looks like that isn't the case.
I'll inspect the hub/plate area a bit more tonight and read through some of the threads to decide how I want to go. What I have discovered thus far is that some jobs sounds very intimidating to me, like dropping the subframe a bit to add the sway bar, but then in practice are annoying and slightly back-breaking but are not overly technical. Hoping that this is the same...what I am reading in threads is that this is the PITA but fairly straightforward. We shall see - I'll post results here. Thanks to all before me who have posted very thorough pictures which I can follow.
And yeah, I saw Don's comment and he would be the guy that knows. I'll see if he calls me in the next week to tell me not to do it - that's how my brake calipers went from home rebuild to professional rebuild
i had to replace the rear bearing on my e3 - it had 220k on it at the time. just had to replace the drivers side as it was making noise. back in the day (late 80s), i was only able to buy sealed rears, the good news is that expedited the R+R. i remember buying some tools from snap-on to remove and drive the bearings in / out - a big plate with a bolt on handle that allowed you to drive everything in or take them out. bought different sizes for the inner / outer bearings and seals. removing the collar nut was fun, but an air tool did the trick
I happen to have the wheel bearing removal/installation kit borrowed from autozone sitting on my workbench since I thought I might need it for the fronts. Did not - that job only required the smaller bearing installation kit for putting in the races. So while I have the tools maybe I’ll give it a shot. Also have a massive 400lbs torque wrench borrowed to install the crankshaft nut. That will be fun. The engine is on a stand and I have it counter-supported by my floor jack.
ROTFLMAO....Yes, well, you were one step ahead of me. I guess you can't. When I was inspecting the area last week it looked like the setup could be removed like the front, in which you can pull the hub off with the rotor to access the plate, but then could decide not to actually rebuild the full hub. Upon further review, yes, looks like that isn't the case.
I'll inspect the hub/plate area a bit more tonight and read through some of the threads to decide how I want to go. What I have discovered thus far is that some jobs sounds very intimidating to me, like dropping the subframe a bit to add the sway bar, but then in practice are annoying and slightly back-breaking but are not overly technical. Hoping that this is the same...what I am reading in threads is that this is the PITA but fairly straightforward. We shall see - I'll post results here. Thanks to all before me who have posted very thorough pictures which I can follow.
And yeah, I saw Don's comment and he would be the guy that knows. I'll see if he calls me in the next week to tell me not to do it - that's how my brake calipers went from home rebuild to professional rebuild
Don seems to haunt these posts, and when I either ask a stupid question, or am genuinely stumped, he calls me out of the blue.. Like having a BMW Guardian Angel!
As I understand it, the axles are held on with a massive nut that cannot easily be undone. Then you have to press the old bearings out and press new ones in without ruining them.
In anticipation of doing this (and the fronts), I actually bought an arbor press (the relatively inexpensive one-time-use kind from Harbor Fright...) And I may still go there... with Don's avatar laughing in my ear while prodding me with a little pitchfork..
Hmmm I shall be watching how you do this. On my list as well. best of luck!
I will be watching this discussion. Dropping the rear sub-frame and breaking it down for powder coating is on my list and I was not looking forward to dealing with the rear hubs and bearings as the job seemed...daunting.
How far can things be broken down for powder coating (high temps) and do we need to re-pack the bearings without removing the races?
How far can things be broken down for powder coating (high temps) and do we need to re-pack the bearings without removing the races?