D3 front wheel bearing replace.

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Originally Posted by PerthDisco

It was reduced to 230Nm

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Because 5m long breaker bars were hard to come by? [emoji23]

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Originally Posted by DiscoJeffster

Because 5m long breaker bars were hard to come by? [emoji23]

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Early failures I believe

Righto. Unsuccessful day. Axle nut too big for my largest socket. New nut is a 32mm socket but existing nut is bigger. By the time I got to it today couldn't find a bigger socket from any of the usual, open Sat afternoon, suspects.

Does anyone know what size socket it might be?

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Originally Posted by Dagilmo

Righto. Unsuccessful day. Axle nut too big for my largest socket. New nut is a 32mm socket but existing nut is bigger. By the time I got to it today couldn't find a bigger socket from any of the usual, open Sat afternoon, suspects.

Does anyone know what size socket it might be?

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This may help.

DISCO3.CO.UK - View topic - Hub nut size

Try to get 6 point sockets. I found the 12 points used with a breaker bar twist and round off the nut. The 6 point was much better.

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Originally Posted by banjoship

One thought in the back of my mind is whether to carry a spare. With previous 4wds I always carried spare bearings, as they were serviceable. And with old style bearings, I found they often deteriorated with frequent river crossings (on my farms, up to 6 crossings a day). With my D3 I wonder how often the sealed bearings fail, and whether it is advisable to carry a spare hub. Any thoughts?

Lee

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They are a sealed unit and usually give plenty of warning. I couldn't hear mine from inside the car and only knew because mechanic told me they had 'play and a slight grinding noise'.

I would just check each wheel every few days if it's something your worried about. The hubs are heavy and aren't really necessary as a carry on spare.

How did you go? If you have a larger 32mm nut I could mean that the driver shaft has been replaced and the 32mm nut won’t fit as the thread will be different.

Just some info...

*Basically the same setup as the previous Discovery 2, complete bearing/hub assembly.
*Good setup and just like a Discovery 2 could easily be changed in the bush.
*Dont get all hung up on the centre retaining nut, it secures the splined axle to the hub, nothing more.
*Again its a use a genuine (or OEM) or you will be replacing the cheap one down the track.

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The other end (the rear bearing assembly) is the ugly bit and prolly impossible to change in the bush unless you happen to have a tray back Defender with a press on board.

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Originally Posted by SeanC

This may help.

DISCO3.CO.UK - View topic - Hub nut size

Try to get 6 point sockets. I found the 12 points used with a breaker bar twist and round off the nut. The 6 point was much better.

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Great. Thanks. 36mm. Supercheap have them in the 6 point version in stock.

I managed to get 280,000 k's out of my 1st wheel hubs. But I operate mostly on dry roads with very few water crossings, and on reasonable unmade roads.
That said I did have to navigate 8k's of continuously flooded Kimberly roads, and a few
Wasn't aware of any problem with them until I left it for big service and they reckoned they had to replace all 4 hubs.
Seems that if you can wiggle the wheel (top to bottom, rather than side to side), then that indicates bearing going/gone.
I always carry a front hub as a spare anyway as I am remote (and I suppose I should also carry a rear spare).
And the Timken bearing hubs are the way to go (avoid the cheaper options).

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Originally Posted by banjoship

One thought in the back of my mind is whether to carry a spare. With previous 4wds I always carried spare bearings, as they were serviceable. And with old style bearings, I found they often deteriorated with frequent river crossings (on my farms, up to 6 crossings a day). With my D3 I wonder how often the sealed bearings fail, and whether it is advisable to carry a spare hub. Any thoughts?

Lee

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Originally Posted by garrycol

Ok thanks - I have now done 160,000km on my original bearings and was considering changing the lot - an expensive job as a precaution.

While the car is just being a runa round I might leave it and replace before the next big trip if it happens. As mentioned, usually there is not a catastrophic failure and you get warning but both front collapsed on my old series 3 on the way home from work without warning - the front right wheel fell off as a result.

Cheers

Garry

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Hey Garry,
I wouldn't bother changing them out premptively. They give you alot of warning. First you hear them, then you'll feel them and then you'll have a few thousand K's before you really need to do anything about them[bigwhistle]... I first heard the front left on the great ocean road and made it back to Perth without any problems, in fact the bearing wasn't anywhere near as bad as I thought it would be when I took it off. Clearly rattlely but looked along way from completely disintergrating. I've had all of them changed out.
Front left at 110kK's
Front right at 180 K
both rears at 210K
front left at 287K
and I would have done hundreds of K's minimum on all of them after the first sign of trouble before changing them out.