SRaouf

I am in the process of replacing the front wheel bearings and oil seal as part of what has turned into a nut and bolt restoration. I couldnt find it anywhere in the forum so thought I would mention it. The inner bearing race is NOT seated against the lip in the hub, but sits a couple of mm proud. I bought two kits, spent hours with the hub in the oven, tried hammering and pressing before I thought it would be a good idea to open up and check the other side which looks like it had never been touched.

Thought I would mention it in case anyone else comes across it.

Speedtoys

As you press or hammer them home, you can both hear and feel when they seat.

SRaouf

Thats normally correct however the change in feel and sound is due to the race hitting the lip, which it doesn't do in this case.

Speedtoys

Well...there is a seat that it sits on, whether you want to call it a lip or not.

There are also 4 notches that let you get a drift to the rear of the bearing as well.

But there is most certainly a seat/lip in there it presses to.

When a press gets hard(er) to pump the jack..done, when using the hammer tool, you also certainly hear and feel it.

I just cant guess what you see, that there is no seat for it.

Mrmerlin

Put both bearing races into the freezer for an hour,
heat the hub to 250F, with Mapp gas torch
install the outer race first,
flip the hub over then install the inner race.
NOTE the inner race can fall into its bore if the hub is clean and the bore is undamaged
let it sit an normalize.
NOTE if you turn the hub so the inner race is facing down while the hub is still hot,
the chance is good the inner race can fall out.
the outer race has a tighter tolerance, so it should stay in place

Based on your description you have nicked the inner race bore ,
this will prevent the race from going into its seating area.

Heat the hub and remove the race inspect the bore for wall damage and also the area where the bearing will seat.

These areas can be damaged by the drift slipping off the old race and nicking the wall.

NOTE its a good idea to test fit the new inner bearing onto the cleaned spindle to see how much wear the inner seating area has incurred,
the lower side of the spindle likes to wear down, thus creating play on the inner bearing.

NOTE make sure to surface the outer bearing washer on both sides as well as the nut face,
this will give you an accurate sliding surface to properly set the bearing ,

do not try to make the bearing tighter than the WSM suggests ,
as you will then cause damage to the bearings and cause an overheating condition,
this can lead to the bearings burning up in short order.

The play you will feel is the worn spindle on the inner bore, this play is OK, meaning you cant really do anything about it and it wont hurt anything.
it will be felt when backing up with the wheels turned and pressing the foot brake,
you may notice slightly longer pedal travel as the hub has pressed the pads away from the forward rolling direction.
Otherwise you may feel some play in the 9 to 3 plane with the wheel off the ground

Seems the spindles were made with soft metal and the bearing is a much harder material and it can spin on the inner bore and wear it down.

GregBBRD

Really sure that is not correct.....

Think about it.....if it's not seated against the internal lip in the hub, what would stop it from moving to the lip?

Keep in mind that the lip in the hub has a champher cut on it, so that it isn't sharp. From the angle you are looking at it from, it might just appear not to be hitting the lip in the hub.

If you get a small mirror in there, you should see the race touching the lip.

If there is actually a gap, there is something wrong and you need to start over.

Many times, when people install these races, they don't get them completely straight, from the beginning. This will "cut" a sliver of aluminum that will sit between the race and the lip. Unfortunately, this ruins the hub, since there is no tolerance for aluminum to be "shaved" off.....there's no "extra aluminum" there, to start with.

SRaouf

I used a bearing press to fit the race evenly with the hub heated to around 280 in an oven for 30 minutes. Im only going by what I found when I removed the other side which has been on the car for 15-20 years without incident See photo), and also from the experience of another owner who had the same problem and posted about it on pelican parts here
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsc...nner-race.html
Nevertheless I'll have another go tomorrow
.

SRaouf

Sorry heres the picture

M. Requin

You were right to question this - time to start over, as has been pointed out.

Speedtoys

Ew, thats bad. Looks like a lot of bad hammering in there some point in the past.

SRaouf

OK Mystery solved as Greg says the lip has quite a big chamfer so it is actually seated but it isnt obvious unless you look very closely. Worth "bearing" in mind for the future.....