Hello folks,

Has anyone out there ever done a rear wheel bearing on an AWD?

I looked up the procedure in VADIS and ALLDATA and it seems like there is a lot involved. The procedure calls for a special suspension tensioner bar to take the slack out of the suspension while you unbolt and remove the wheel 'carrier', and then proceed to press the old bearing out and press the new one in using a bearing press.

I have been getting some noise in the back end and I'm trying to narrow it down to where the problem is. If the rear bearings where as easy as the front hubs I'd just buy them and do it but after reading up on it I'm a bit worried about attempting it...

I'd love to hear from someone who's done one of these before to let me know if it's possible to do this while leaving everything else (rear suspension) in place. I know I have heard from 'the old guys' that the practice of freezing a bearing (for a few days in a deep freezer to shrink it up) has eased the installation of many parts like this... is it possible to do? I hate taking the car to a mech for stupid crap like this that should be easy, esp when I'm not entirely sure it's going to fix the problem for me.

On the issue of the noise, I'd love any opinions on what this noise might be in the back end. I'm really hoping it's a wheel bearing (or both) and not the rear diff making noise... FTR I have the center prop shaft removed and the car runs in FWD mode :)

Any and all opinions welcomed as always.


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1998 V70 AWD Turbo 195k+

i am attempting the replacement of my passenger side rear bearing on my manual drive 1998 awd (centre shaft removed so now 2wd) v70. what is the trick to removing the carrier? have the bottom nut and bolt out, top nut and bolt loosened but not coming out and bolt for torsion bar out, but can't pull torsion bar off. seems to be a lot of tension on the top bolt, jacked up suspension does not seem to make it easier. do i remove the other end of the torsion bar and disconnect from car to release tension to remove top bolt? i have a feeling there is an order of operations which i have breached and made life more difficult for myself. reading that thread i will likely take it to a shop to have the bearing replaced once the carrier is removed.

An extra thought.

If you get a bearing from your bearing 'house', you will not get a new internal circlip.

If your car is as corroded as mine was, you will certainly need it.

The volvo bearing kit includes one.

Despite having at least six sets of circlip pliers, I had to buy a nice new big pair of strong German ones, just to do this one job (£40 but realy nice).

I needed them as well! But I still would not have got it out, without the oxy-acetylene!

Once the ends of the red hot circlip were pulled from the groove with the pliers, I was able to work the rest out by keeping it red hot and levering it with screw-drivers.

This is precision blacksmithing...

Thought you ought to know.

Howard.

wow this really sounds like quite a job.

I really had kind of been hoping to be able to change the bearings just to eliminate them from the running for my noise - if it fixed then great, if not well then the noise must be somewhere else but at least now I have new bearings... that's how I approached a recent front end noise that I thought was wheel bearings and turned out to not be. I spent a small amount of money (relatively - I guess ~$300) to put new bearings in, and I pretty much knew for sure it wasn't them making the noise, but now I have new bearings...

maybe I'll have to spend more time trying to pinpoint my noise before going ahead on this one.

Your advice has been invaluable sir.

I have Spent over four years 'pinpointing' my noise, and I think it is mainly harmonic chatter in the prop-shaft (drive-shaft) CV joints.

It will not do it when up in the air on my 'wheels free' four poster ramp.

It recently became harsher, and more metallic and I thought the end was nigh, but it turned out to be the small heat shield on the down pipe that had carried away from it's mounting bolt, and it was resting on the drive flange of the rotating front CV joint. It all 'looked' OK untill I started poking round, and found it loose, so I secured it with worm drive clips as best I could....

If you 'dig' back through my postings (I think my very first), you will find a long report about that shaft, and it's joints, and how I improved it by lubricating them.

I still stand by what I wrote then.

Best regards.

Howard.

Isle of Skye.

PS. Having wrote this, I must say that your noises may not be the same as my noises. The wheel bearing noise was clearly cyclic in nature and not very nice. I have heard of them seizing up if left, so I confined it to local trips untill I did the job.

In my first reply I see I said that the car was a C70, it is not, it is V70.

Srry.

Howard.

haha I did wonder if they gave you crazy brits AWD ragtops :D

actually that would make a pretty sweet hot rod -

R engine + R suspension upgrades + AWD drivetrain + ragtop

what a monster!

I have changed the LH rear wheel bearing on my 97 C70 AWD.153,000mls.

I found very little help on line.

I did not need any special bars for the suspension.

It will be costly.

I bought a press £225.

If you can get the ABS sensor out of the housing, then you can replace the entire bearing carrier complete with top suspension bush, for about £400GB.Exchange.

If you can not remove the ABS sensor, then that will be an extra £100 or so.

I could not remove it, so I cut the wire, and spliced/soldered it up later, Verrry well sealed up though, works ok.

I pressed out the old bearing and fitted a new one into the carrier(£90), but I destroyed it when I came to press the drive flange through the 'split' inner race, through foolishnes.....SO I had to buy another.

If you do not have a good workshop, and good experience, then you can get into trouble on this job.

I have both, but I would recomend most people pay up for the EXCH-ASSBY. Sorry.

My Car was of the road for about two weeks.

It cost me about £450, inc press.

The bearing circlip was very badly corroded in, and I had to use oxy-acetylene to remove it.

Do not use an air impact wrench on the top bush as it destroys it, and makes it hard to remove.

I used to expect to be able to change wheel bearings in an afternoon, for about £30GB. But not anymore...

The noise did go away.

My Belgium built, Swedish car:now runs like a Swiss watch.

'Hope this helps'

Howard.

Isle Of Skye.

Hello again howard14,

I wanted to ask for more clarification on how this all fits together.

You mentioned a circlip on the bearing. Where is this circlip exactly? What is it's purpose? to hold the driveshaft in place inside the bearing?

Also you mentioned the bearing has a 'split' inner race. Can you elaborate on that for me a bit?

Any further information you have on this will be much appreciated.

--
1998 V70 AWD Turbo 195k+

Hello howard14 and thanks for the advice. I have seen very little info on this online as well. As I said, VADIS and AllData refer to special tool this and suspension retainer that etc etc etc - according to them I need $10k worth of special tools to do this job. I can source the bearings from FCP:
http://www.fcpgroton.com/product-exec/product_id/18551/nm/Volvo_V70_AWD_Rear_Wheel_Bearing_1998_2000_/category_id/103

Maybe I'll get in touch with someone there and see if they have any ideas. If they're selling this thing there must be someone installing them.

What do you think of the prospect of removing the carrier from the car completely, leaving the bearing in it, and taking it to a transmission shop (etc) to have THEM do the bearing removal and install?

Do you know where I could source the completed exchange assembly you speak of?

--
1998 V70 AWD Turbo 195k+

It looks like a double row taper roller bearing. That would explain the split in the inner race.

If the bearing in FCP's picture is the actual bearing, SKF #BAHB 633809 AE, (or if you can get the number off yours) then it may be worth checking the price against that of your local bearing supply house.

-Will
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854 - 244 - Mini

RockAuto.com has a listing for a few different manufacturer numbers for these bearings:

TIMKEN # : 513130

BECK/ARNLEY # : 0513971

BCA/NATIONAL # : 513130

and the BCA/NATIONAL listing even gives bearing dimensions:
Ball Bearing Outer Race Radius=0.0315"
Bore=1.7717"
Outer Diameter=3.3071"
Width=1.5354"
Inner Race Radius=0.189"
--
1998 V70 AWD Turbo 195k+

I have measured the 'damaged'(Volvo supplied) rear wheel bearing, and the dimensions correspond to the ones quoted in your posting.

Best regards.

Howard.

I will try to find one of my bearings and measure it for you...

Howard.

Hi,
It is a sealed, double row, angular contact bearing.

My local bearing house was dearer than main agent!

It's a realy nice bearing, and it was a real pity to destroy the first one...

Best regards.

Howard.

Isle of Skye.

Hi again.
If you don't have the set up for pressing in your workshop, then taking the carrier to a 'GOOD' specialist is the way.

The EXCH-ASSBY is available from main agents, here.

If you look at the picture on that link you posted, you can see the 'split' in the inner race, they need to do this so that they can put the bearing together.

That looks very like the bearing to me...

The circlip locates the outer race in its housing.

Undoing driveshaft etc. only requires normal workshop methods, watch that top rubber bushing though.

Dont break the ABS sensor!!!!

Howard.

Isle of Skye.