This is a long post, but should be complete with all the information you'll need. Everything from instructions to part numbers, etc. -But let me stress that you should still have a Service Manual of some sort when attempting this project (preferably the Bentley manual for 240s). At the very least, have a Haynes book. Also, when you jack up the car, I would strongly advise you to use 2 jackstands per wheel, set the parking brake, and chock the remaining wheels. You're going to be putting a lot of force on your wrench to get the caliper bolts free and you don't want the car to rock/slip and fall on you. Everybody who is reading this post, please feel free to hit the save button to the upper right of this text and thus save this posting for future reference in your Brickboard archive (for yourself and others who might inquire at a later date).

As for my '87 245, I had my front passenger side die at 213,000 miles, and I'm replacing the front drivers side this weekend at 224,000 miles. I'm assuming that you're doing the fronts and not the rear bearings. -Nobody wants to do the rears unless you have access to a great big long press to remove the races from the half-shafts. The following information is only for the front wheel bearings.

First off, you will need a 19mm socket with a 1/2" drive or a breaker bar. This is required to remove the brake caliper mounting bolts. You can either disconnect the brake lines (thus removing the caliper completely), or hang the caliper on a piece of wire so that it's just high enough to pull the rotor out from under it. The lines are steel, but have just enough flex/bend that you can pull them up a bit (but don't pull too high or go too far because the brake lines will get fatigued and fail). Most people prefer to hang the caliper gently from a piece of wire(s), but I believe Volvo recommends that you remove it. If you disconnect any brake lines, you will need to bleed the system when you are done (which should be done every 2 or 3 years to eliminate moisture from the brake fluid).

With the two brake caliper bolts removed and the brake caliper suspended, remove the rotor (one or two bolts are holding it to the hub/bearing assembly). If it's stuck, don't worry, you can separate it later after the hub is off the car.
Remove the dust cup from the end of the bearing assembly on the hub. Remove the cotter pin from the castle nut and remove the castle nut.
The entire hub assembly should pull straight out and away from the spindle. There are two bearing inside the hub, an inner and an outer. Each one contains a roller-bearing assembly, and a race that it rides on. The races are pressed into position and you can extract them very carefully using various pipes, pipe fittings, hammer handles, wood blocks, etc. If my memory serves me correctly, the inner bearing ID race stayed stuck onto the spindle and I had to use a jaw-puller to remove it. Pressing new races into place in the hub and on the spindle can be done with blocks of wood; hammer handles, and pipe parts/fittings if you have access to a good assortment of them. The hub will be the most difficult and you can have a machine shop do it for about $10.

Clean the spindle and hub thoroughly to remove all traces of the old grease (I use brake cleaner). Follow the instructions in your Haynes book (or whatever service book you're following along with) and pack the grease in to the bearings with the palm of your hand. Roll the bearings back and forth and really get it in deep, you don't want them to scratch when they get turned for the first time. Fill the hub up as full as you can and use as much grease as possible. Cheap grease is ok, but if you'd rather not touch your wheel bearings for another 200k, then I'd suggest getting either a semi-synthetic or synthetic wheel bearing grease. Mobil 1 offers a full synthetic, and Valvoline offers a full synthetic, a durablend semi-synthetic, and also their regular non-synthetic grease. Buy a 14-oz tub of the grease and you should have a good amount left over after doing both sides of the car. Remember that the grease will help dissipate heat from the bearings, so try to eliminate as much air as possible when you put the hub back on the spindle.

After placing the inner bearing into the hub so that it's resting in it's OD race, the metal backing plate to the grease seal (giant flat sealing washer) is gently tapped onto the back of the hub with a hammer. It's counterpart, the rubber grease seal, is sort of like a flat cone shape and the narrow side points in towards the engine of the car. The 'flimsy' thin wide part points back towards the metal o-plate that you tapped onto the back of the hub. Give the rubber seal a light coat of grease where it will contact the sealing washer and a light coat of grease should be on the spindle as well. Push the rubber seal onto the spindle but don't push it all the way to the far end, put it on most of the way and let the hub push it on as far as it needs when you slide the hub back on the spindle. Once the grease seal is on and the hub is packed full of grease, then put the hub on the spindle. The inner roller-bearing should be complete at this point with both the bearing and it's ID race ('inner-diameter-race') on the spindle, and the OD race ('outer-diameter-race') is pressed into the hub from the same position that you took the old one out of.

The outer bearing should have it's OD race pressed into the hub before you placed the hub on the spindle, and the roller-bearing and ID race slide over the spindle (last) after you have the hub in position. The castle nut will seat up behind the outer bearing and ID race, just like when you took it off. Torque the castle nut to 40 ft-lbs while turning the hub. This will seat the bearings to their final positions (you may need to back it off and re-torque to 40 ft-lbs if you don't think everything seated correctly). Now back it off a turn or so until it spins freely. At this point, the Volvo tech who I spoke with, advised me to put the wheel back on the car and use it to help determine the final adjustment for the castle nut. Rotate the wheel as you slowly tighten the castle nut. Just at the point where the wheel starts to experience resistance from the torquing, stop tightening. Pull the wheel side to side and up and down. There should be just a tiny bit of freeplay, no more than a 1/16 of an inch at the top of the wheel (just enough to feel that it's barely there without being completely gone). This is the final position for the castle nut. If you've been using a torque wrench, you'll probably show about 4 to 10 inch-pounds on the castle nut. (If you hit more than 1 ft-lbs or 14 in-lbs, then you've probably gone too far) When the castle nut is in it's final position, stick your cotter pin through it and bend it to stop it from coming out. If it seems that the castle nut has stopped right over the hole for the cotter pin, poke around until you find a second one. There are two complete holes drilled through the spindle (2 pairs of entry & exit points that are offset from each other) to allow you to keep the proper position of the castle nut in case it stopped over one hole. When bending your cotter pin, make sure that it won't interfere with the dust cap after it's put on. There's a tight clearance if you decide you want to bend both halves of the pin over the end of the spindle (mine rubbed a bit but now I have it flat enough). Fill the dust cap with grease before you place it over the spindle and seat it to the hub. Press gently while seating the dust cap. If you smack it really hard with your fist or a mallet, you run the risk of blowing a bunch of grease out the back of the hub and dislodging the rubber grease seal from it's position. (If you smack it hard and the rubber seal moves to far away from the hub because of your "blast-of-grease," it won't keep the water and moisture out of the hub.) Rotating the hub while seating the dust cap will help gently expel any excess grease.

Assemble your brake rotor (now might be a good time to throw on those new Brembo rotors if your old ones are scored or warped), and then re-attach the caliper. You must use Lock-Tite on the threads of the brake caliper bolts, the safety of your passengers depend on this. Off the top of my head, I think the torque values for the caliper bolts are somewhere around 90 ft-lbs or more, but check your service manual to be certain.

As for buying/purchasing parts, here are the part numbers you'll need to complete this task. If you plan on buying all your parts directly from the Volvo dealership, here's what you'll need to complete one side of the front of your car (driver or passenger side, they use the same parts). I'll list the parts first by their index number on the exploded diagram that the dealership has in their 3-ring binder, followed by the description and official Volvo part number (the long Volvo number is the one you need to use when ordering the part). The prices are quoted from Betten Imports Volvo Group in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and are current prices as of 9/7/03.

#43 Rubber Grease Seal Ring, Volvo# 944185, $5.64
#42 Metal Grease Seal Washer, Volvo# 1229075, $2.89
#40 Inner bearing and ID race, Volvo# 183576, $28.82
#38 Inner bearing OD race only, Volvo# 183577, $23.23
#41 Outer bearing and ID race, Volvo# 1387690, $34.43
#37 Outer bearing OD race only, Volvo# 1387691, $9.70
#44 Castle nut, Volvo# 12729182, $6.85
#45 Cotter Pin, Volvo# 907861, $0.43

Of the items listed above, there's nothing special about the cotter pin and you can probably get it elsewhere for 10 cents. The castle nut typically doesn't need replacing, unless your outer bearing has failed and started to grind/rotate against the flat side of the castle nut. If this is the case, then the bearing will cut into the castle nut and chew away at it. Just as a precaution, you might want to have one sitting around incase the original one is damaged. A good condition castle nut from the pick-n-pull parts yard would be a cheap alternative if you want to save $5. Be advised, some of the early 240s used a smaller castle nut and a thick washer, but the later ones have great, big, fat-bottomed castle nuts that do the job.

You're probably looking at the cost of $111.99 for the above parts and you'd like a cheaper alternative. -And yes, there is one. When I change a front wheel bearing I buy my bearing assemblies from Napa. Note: Napa sells the inner and outer bearings as complete units, which include the OD race. They do not sell just the races by themselves, thankfully.

Inner Bearing complete, Napa# BR17, $9.29
Outer Bearing complete, Napa# BR16, $8.29
Rubber Grease Seal Ring, Napa# 400451, $7.49

You may notice that the rubber grease seal ring is more costly at Napa than at the Volvo dealership, and you are correct. Buy this item from the dealer if you have one nearby. I would also strongly advise you to buy the Grease Sealing Washer (#42 above) from the dealer as well (unfortunately this is a dealer-only item). You will probably bend the original one when you remove it, and it's a good idea to have a perfectly straight one in an effort to keep water and moisture out of the hub. If you purchase the two Napa bearings, and get the grease seal and washer from the dealer, your total cost should run about $26.11 per side of the car.

You're probably wondering if the Napa part is of lesser quality than the Volvo part. Well, fortunately they're the exact same part. When Volvo assembled the car, they bought their inner bearings from SKF and the outer bearings from SKF and TOYO (they started with SKF and switched to TOYO at some point in the late '70s or early 1980s). SKF made their parts in Germany, and TOYO made their parts in Japan. The part numbers that I listed for the Napa bearings are SKF bearings that are currently made in their Mexico plant. I don't thing that they make any in Germany anymore... As for the rubber grease seal, this is made by Forsheda, and both Napa and the Volvo dealership carry the same part. Save your money and buy the grease seal from the dealer.

FYI, Napa also carries a dirt-cheap set of bearings that are made in China, but I'm not going to give you those part numbers because you probably don't want them. China uses most of their good high quality steel to make tanks and guns, and they aren't famous for using great quality steel in their exported parts. If the guy behind the counter at Napa tries to sell you the Chinese bearings, I would strongly encourage you to hold out for the SKF bearings. Even if he has to order them, it's worth the wait.

With all of that, I wish you the best in your wheel bearing replacement. Set aside a Saturday or so and take your time. Enjoy yourself, relax, and feel free to take as long as you need when doing the final tightening of the castle nut. If you overtighten it, your bearings will be toast in about 50 miles. After you've taken it for a test drive and put it through a few corners, don't hesitate to check the castle nuts again if you're feeling uncomfortable.

God bless, and work safe.
Fitz Fitzgerald.
'87 Blue 245, NA 224K

P.S. For those of you who wish to acquire the bearings through other sources, here are the industrial trade numbers for the individual parts:
Inner Bearing and ID race: L68149
Inner Bearing OD race only: L68111
Outer Bearing and ID race: LM12749
Outer Bearing OD race only: LM12711