Thread: The dreaded viscous fan hub bearing...

Could you use a bearing puller with the legs faceing out?
Just don't push on the back of the housing.

Cheers.

Dont know if you have a welder or can use one but if you run some welds around the inside of the outer race/shell it will shrink as the weld cools and will most likely fall out in your hand. It will suprise you how much it will shrink.
cheers
blaze

Try a can of Loctite freeze and release spray,works on trailer bearings so could be a cheap try..CBC in darwin sell it so anyone who stocks loctite gear should have it.
Good luck..Cheers Ean

I wonder if that freeze stuff will work with the Al housing. Al has a much large coefficient of thermal expansion than the cast iron trailer hub , so it will contract more.

Vote no.2 for the welding if you are careful. Very nice technique.

You could also die grind a slot in the outer race until almost through to the locating bore, tap it to crack the thin web then pull it out. (if the grinding bits aren't going to contaminate anything)

Originally Posted by akelly

Oh, by the way, if you need a 36mm fan hub nut spanner - Supercheap have a tow ball spanner for 12 bucks, its only 32mm but a bit of zing,zing with a grinder and hey-presto, a 36mm fan spanner for a lot less than a tool shop one! It is almost exactly the same as the 32mm Ford hub nut spanner.

Now thats a good idea!

Hi All,

thanks for the replies and advice. After 2 days of battle I had to admit defeat and ship the disco off to my local LR guru. Although I tackle almost everything myself I was reluctant to start shelling out for special tools, die grinders etc... that would be a one-use deal. Plus I was concerned about trashing the timing case.

For those that are interested I tried welding, a modified puller, gentle taps, a slide hammer and swearing - nothing worked!

I pick her up this arvo - I've arranged for an emergency second mortgage on the house to make sure the funds are available!

Cheers,

Adam

Hi all,

It took me ages to find you all to thank you.

Welding the outer race of the shattered bearing to shrink it did the trick! The trickiest part was wiggling it out once it started to move. 2 hours from the start of welding to extraction. (remember to let the weld cool before each attempt). I will post a pic of the final 'welded' bearing soon).

The link below is the rest of the story attached to a later post. It also has (another) link for anyone else who has the problem - PLUS a link to a LR UK site that shows how to pull it apart with the right tools and bearing that hasn't collapsed.
It is still great to see what you are up against though.

http://www.aulro.com/afvb/showthread...58#post2007458

Bottom line - if your Disco 'chirps' when you turn it off, get that bearing swapped out before it collapses because if you cannot shrink the casing to get it out it is then sump off, timing case off, harmonic balancer off, new seals and $1000 for LR's pocket. (as against $250 if the bearing stayed in one piece and $390 cos is disintegrated and added 2 hours to the job)

Thanks again.