Brickboard,

I just replaced my front inner wheel bearings on my 1989 240 sedan. The wheel bearings and seal are made by Timken. Anyway, as I see it the bearing seals are next to useless.

The Timken seal is a little like a large metal washer with a rubber part in the middle that is attached to the washer.

The seal fits on the back of the spindle behind the bearing. Mine just slips over the spindle and is held in place by the rubber part of the seal. Trouble is that there is really nothing that holds the seal in the proper position. In other words, I can push the seal back all the way on the back of the spindle and it would do absolutely no good. To mate the rubber part of the seal to the back of the bearing, I have to slide it up about 1/2 inch or so from the back. There is nothing hold the seal in position.

Am I installing the sheild incorrectly? Do I have the wrong part? Is this just a bad design? Or is there a part missing?

I suppose I could come up with a spacer of some type to space the seal out to the proper distance.

Anyone have a comment? Please advise. Thank you.

2OldVolvos

Brickboard,

My bad. The parts store gave me the wrong part. Today I went to Volvo and purchased the correct seals. The correct seals are just as the other posts suggest. They have a metal retainer "washer" that taps into the back of the hub to hold the rubber part. The Timkem part I purchased from my parts store was way too wide and with too small an OD to press into my hubs. Sorry for the confusion.

2OldVolvos

"Today I went to Volvo and purchased the correct seals. The correct seals are just as the other posts suggest. They have a metal retainer "washer" that taps into the back of the hub to hold the rubber part".

No, nothing "holds the rubber part".
The rubber part goes on the spindle shoulder first, and all by itself. The "washer" doesn't hold the rubber part, it just contacts the rubber lip to complete the seal when everything is installed.
--
Bruce Young
'93 940-NA (current) — 240s (one V8) — 140s — 122s — since '63.

Bruce,

Thank you. You could not be more correct.

2OldVolvos

I changed the front seals on my 91 240 before it was totalled. IMHO, it is a very poor design for a seal. It is hard to imagine at first, because the task seems impossible, but the trick is to place the rubber seal half way into the metal retainer, and then slide the seal onto the spindle, only about 1/8 to 1/4 inch. Then, bring the hub (with the bearing alread installed) up to the spindle and gently match it up against the rubber seal. I used a LONG, THIN screwdriver to patiently, slowly and carefully, with ever-so-slight pressure, wedge the metal seal into the hub, without allowing the seal to slip off the spindle.

Believe it or not, it is doable, and after the first one, u will wonder why and how on Earth Volvo ever designed and accepted such a terrible design..and it was used for years??

good luck

IMO, there's nothing wrong with the bearing/seal if you install the parts correctly.

1 - The rubber seal goes onto the spindle shoulder first, lip side out

2 - The metal seal ring / bearing retainer is pressed or tapped flush into the hub

3 - When installed, the (stationary) seal lip rides on the smooth (rotating) retainer and makes a very effective grease seal.

The seal installation is well-documented in the Bentley Manual(770-3,4). But the Haynes photo (1-32 fig 7) has it wrong, IMO, unless it's a seal like 2odvolvos describes, which I've never seen.
--
Bruce Young
'93 940-NA (current) — 240s (one V8) — 140s — 122s — since '63.

Miracleman,

Thanks for your reply. Once the retainer was wedged into the hub, did the retainer turn with the hub? If so, did the rubber part turn also on the bearing back as the car moves?

The Timken seal is a one piece unit with the rubber molded into the retainer but I suppose the same idea would work as long as I can get my seal to wedge into the hub too.

Please advise. Thank you.

2OldVolvos

"Once the retainer was wedged into the hub, did the retainer turn with the hub? If so, did the rubber part turn also on the bearing back as the car moves?"

those are two very good questions that I never considered. Giving it some thought, it only stands to reason that the metal retainer turns with the hub, and since the rubber seal becomes an integral part of the retainer, it must turn also. But, you state that your Timken seal is a one piece unit with the rubber molded into the retainer. I could not find such an animal and when I bought mine from FCP Groton, the retainer was separate from the seal. I can say with certainty that my seals did not leak.

Because ur seals are different, I would suggest you repost and get alternate advice. In fact, there is another response to your post below mine. Perhaps that person can answer your questions better, he clearly does not agree with my installation procedure.