teamking

Hey all,

I just changed my wheel bearings. On the right side, the caliper is now contacting the rotor, barely. Upon examining the hub, it seems to be about 1mm further outboard than it had been before (looking behind the hub, there is about 1mm of very shiny spindle exposed, that hadn't been exposed before). So the hub is sitting further out by about 1 mm, and that has moved the rotor relative to the caliper.

So what went wrong? Is there any explanation other than I didn't get one of the races seated properly in the hub?

BTW, the hardware concerned is all from an S2 (spindles, hubs, rotors, calipers).

Thanks.

MAGK944

You are probably correct. The rear/inner race is not seated all the way. Easy to do, normally caused by nicking the inner hub with a sharp tool while getting the old race out. The nick stops the new race from seating properly.

teamking

I was using a brass punch, but yeah, I could see that happening.

So, take it apart, find the nick and smooth it down the a dremel or sandpaper?

MAGK944

I would, you will have to take it apart just to confirm the problem anyway. Dremel the nick smooth and reseat the race. First though, if you can see that there is a 1mm gap between the race and the seat it butts against I would just take the bearing out and try bash that race in all the way. You might have just not seated it in fully.

Darwantae951

You should get a race driver set:

teamking

@magk: Thanks! The thing is, I'm sure that I checked and both races were all the way flush, but I guess I was wrong.

@modded: yep, I bought a harbor freight set and a brass punch for exactly this purpose.

Darwantae951

Hmm...hope you find out the issue soon then!

MAGK944

Keep us posted. Other causes are too far out there but I suppose possible:
Bent shaft
Out of spec bearing
Loose hub nut

When I put the hub back I tighten that hub nut very tightly, then back it out and adjust as per the manual. Just a thought.

teamking

OK, just took it apart and discovered that the bearing seal spring had partially dislodged itself and wedged itself in the way. That was the ~1mm.

The downside of using a brass punch is that it leaves little shards of brass behind (in this case, when I punched out the seal). And I can't get them all out with the races still in. So, I'm going to punch those out too. And I found one shard on one of the bearings. I don't think it's possible to verify with 100% certainty that there aren't more that I can't see.

So, I'll be ordering new bearings and a seal and starting from scratch on this side. Looks like the car will be staying in the garage for a little while (I'm not optimistic I'll be able to find the parts locally).

Anyway, problem solved.

mazdaverx7

glad to hear you were able to solve the problem. odd that the spring would dislodge, but its good that you caught the issue now. i have a seal driver from harbor freight that works very well. it uses plastic discs that you can stack on a "driver" and secured with a bolt. it wouldn't drive a race in but works wonders on seals. i usually use a socket the same outside diameter as the race and use that in conjunction with a hammer and some grease on the outside edge of the race and drive the race in using that method. its a little odd but works very well and does not leave any shavings behind.

Funn944

I use an old bearing race that I cut a slot all the way through with a Dremel. Perfect fit, and with the slot very easy to get out.