Thread: Defender wheel bearings

harro/Paul has been an absolute legend and let me use his nicely grassed front lawn to get the 130 back in top shape.
He even lent me tools, offered advice on the job at hand and gave me some thread lock and sealant to use.
Then he was nice enough to give us a real bed to sleep in, a shower to use and even some beer!

To do all this for a complete stranger is quite amazing! Paul we can't thank you enough

I'm sure the 130 will be all back together tomorrow.

I am converting the rears to the double lipped oiled bearings.

I'm guessing the front is a little harder to do though right?

thanks
Ben

YOu can use the RTC3511 seals on the front, they are so much better it's worth it, and just re-pack the bearings with grease and then every so often just nip them up when they loosen a little (they will) and pack some grease under the rubber cap to keep the stub axle splines lubed.

IME oil lubed bearings need far, far less adjusting than greased bearings, but I don't have a huge problem with greased ones either and have left the front of my Deefer greased.

Were the rear bearings OK when you pulled them out Ben? Did you end up just greasing and refitting or replacing them?

Steve

Originally Posted by steveG

Were the rear bearings OK when you pulled them out Ben? Did you end up just greasing and refitting or replacing them?

Steve

I'm replacing all of the wheel bearings.

One of the rears had a loose hub nut. tightened it up just to see if it would fix it but the movement was still there.
the other side on the rear was fine but i thought it would be a good idea to do it anyway and I am changing the rear disks while I'm at it. one side had some metal on metal breaking going on which kind of ruined the disk somewhat

I will leave the front greased. I have maxi flanges on the back and I can seal those up pretty easily. the front has standard rubber caps and I know they will leak making a mess. I will use the double lipped seals though as they are much better.

Will do the front over the next few hours.

Good news that they weren't stuffed.
If the old bearings are still in reasonable shape, clean and regrease them then store away in a snaplock bag with your spares.
No point carrying all 8 of them with you so just choose the best pair and leave the others.

Steve

If doing what Steve said, try not to mix up the cup and cone of each. A zip tie keeps them as original pairs.

Originally Posted by uninformed

If doing what Steve said, try not to mix up the cup and cone. Of each. I zip tie keeps them as original pairs.

Good point. One of those things I do automatically and didn't think to mention.

Not something to get super hung up on though. If you were changing a bearing on the side of the road and dropped the matching cone in the sand, I'd fit a non-matching one in preference to trying to clean out the contaminated one.
Likewise if you've already thrown them all in one bag don't toss them all out because they're no longer matching.

Steve

all done now!

on the front the drivers side was fine but the passenger side, the one with play, had water in it...
just as a test I tightened that one up to spec and it took the play out but it still sounded horrible as I spun the hub.

I changed the bearings on both sides just to be safe. I haven't even looked at them since I bought the car so it feels good to know they are all sweet now.
I also have fresh break pads on all 4 corners and even new disks on the rear.

again Paul has been very kind to us. I don't know how to repay him. His hospitality really has surprised us, it's almost like staying at a fancy hotel at his place.

Thanks to all who offered me information.
and a super big thanks to Paul for welcoming us into his lovely house.