87 240 rear wheel bearings

just replaced the front bearings with no problem, got to the back and
a whole different story. it seems to be all inclosed with no chance
of getting to the spindle. has anyone tried this or know where to
find help with it?
thanks

 

Are you sure they're bad? I've never even heard of the rear wheel bearings
failing on a 240, if they're ok then by all means don't screw with them. If
I had a bearing problem I'd replace the whole rear axel with one from a
scrap yard, probably easier.

 

You need to remove the halfshaft (remove rear brakes, caliper, rotor,
handbrake shoes), then the 4 bolts holding the plate that holds in
bearing. Then pull out the halfshaft, break off the collar (I use a
high speed grinder) then press off the bearing. Pop on a new seal, the
new greased bearing and a new collar. You need to use a pipe or similar
so you're only pressing on the inner part of the bearing. Pull the race
and inner seal out of the axle tube, put in the new and reassemble.

--
Mike F.
Thornhill (near Toronto), Ont.

NOTE: new address!!
Replace tt with t (twice!) and remove parentheses to email me directly.
(But I check the newsgroup more often than this email address.)

 

just replaced the front bearings with no problem, got to the back and

i guess i'm not sure, i have some really weird wear on the inside of
the rear left tire and sometimes when i drive into a driveway it
bottoms out and i thought that that was bearing related. any other
thoughts on what it might be?
thanks again
jt bates

 

sounds more likely to be a suspension problem.... I think there are some
rubber bushings that can wear or rot out, and that might allow the axle to
shift slightly, causing the wear pattern to be abnormal.

 

Trailing arm bushings are the usual cause, the torque rod bushings wear out
eventually too and rear axel alignment suffers.