TurboTiger951

Hello everyone...I'm new to Porsches, which means I'm also new to this forum...everyone I've talked to so far says that this is the best place to find stuff out, so here I am...

I bought my car a couple weeks ago, and took it to get aligned today. The shop said that both front wheel bearings were shot and that the rear tie rods were worn. I talked to the guy that sold me the car, and he said that the front wheel bearings probably don't need to be replaced, because they can be adjusted.

My question for you folks is this: How do I adjust them?

Thanks,
Stephen

ERAU-944

fronts are easy, take the wheels off and pop the caps off the spindles. then loosen the nut that tightens on the spindle and tighten to spec, just enough to make the wheels not wiggle when you hold the top and bottom of the wheel and push in and out. i did this on my car. rear tie rods??? do you mean drive shafts?

dont let that shop sell you rear tie rods... the axles may just need greasing. both of these things are fairly easy to do if you have tools

the axles require star shaped tools, the bearings require allen wrenches.

good luck!

rihaa

I'm not sure if the cap is the same on early and later model 944's, but the caps on my car are on there pretty tight. Is there a trick to getting them off? It has the one little notch cut out on the side, but not too much you can do with that. Please enlighten me (even at the expense of making me look like an idiot for not having figured it out.)

newoldguy

Seems like this came up a while ago on this board or maybe another. Anyway---the problem is that the cap is frictioned on so damn tight that you can't believe that you aren't hurting something in the process of taking it off. Basically you need to get a drift on the edge of the cap, point it as much as you can to the outside, and start hitting the punch pretty hard with a big ol' hammer. Try using the notch to get a little more "purchase" on the cap. It will come off/out but you will probably also be afraid you're screwing something up. At least in my case, it just didn't seem possible that it would require as much force as it did but ultimately man wins over machine!

TurboTiger951

awesome...that definately is going to save me a lot of time/money. I think I'll take it to a real shop next time, instead of taking it somewhere close-by.

Stephen

ringo951

Welcome aboard.... <img border="0" alt="[cheers]" title="" src="graemlins/beerchug.gif" />

Front bearings are easy. Just pack them with new grease and tighten to spec. Just until the washer behind the nut can barely be moved.

Tremelune

Don't take that car to a gas station. Trust me. Ask around here about shops.

If you haven't already heard about it, watch that timing belt. Do a search on this forum. They need to be adjusted often (it's not a simple procedure), if it goes, your car does.