front end bearings

[micbrody]

I am about to start on changing control arm bushings and shocks on front end. All the videos and websites describe unpacking the bearings; and then repacking them when reassembling. Based on my inspection when jacked up, the bearings seem to be "tight"; no significant movement of hub when trying to rock the wheels up and down ; left and right. Question: Does changing control arm bushings require me to unpack the bearings? If not, should I still repack them?

[AriK]

When i got my control arms refurbished i also thought that the rotors had to be separated from the spindle. In fact the rotor & spindle were pulled as a unit. Yes it's a good opportunity to replace/repack the bearings at the same time but i had done that a couple of years before. Thankfully so because on my car just the control arm project is a filthy enough a job in itself it's equivalent to shoving one's entire arms in a cows a@@.

[DieselSpider]

I am about to start on changing control arm bushings and shocks on front end. All the videos and websites describe unpacking the bearings; and then repacking them when reassembling. Based on my inspection when jacked up, the bearings seem to be "tight"; no significant movement of hub when trying to rock the wheels up and down ; left and right. Question: Does changing control arm bushings require me to unpack the bearings? If not, should I still repack them?

Mileage dictates when to pack them and hopefully if you keep them properly greased and packed they don't wear enough to require replacing very often. By the book the front wheel bearings get cleaned and repacked with fresh grease every 12,500 miles. Note that this requires the seal to be replaced after greasing/packing the inner bearing.

The Farm Journal's Dan Anderson demonstrates quite well how to correctly hand pack a wheel bearing if you do not have a set of bearing packing cones for your grease gun. Beware there are a lot of bad videos on YouTube claiming to show how to pack wheel bearings and then they show someone just smearing grease around the outside without really packing it in-between the rollers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhL1uAp_WCw

If you do not know when they were last packed with fresh grease then its time to clean and pack them with fresh grease.

[vandor]

> Does changing control arm bushings require me to unpack the bearings?

No.

> If not, should I still repack them?

Yes, but not necessarily at this time. Changing the bushings is a big enough project in itself. Once the control arms are back on the car with the new bushings you can decide if you want to tackle repacking the bearing this time or next time.
BTW, you will have to remove the wheel seals to get the inner bearing out, and removing them pretty much always destroys them, so get a new pair before starting that job.

[micbrody]

Thanks for responses. Probably just tackle a- arms.... IF it goes smoothly (time left before spring) , then I will tackle bearings

[JohnMc]

I just did the job on a '70. I used channel locks to remove the inner grease seal - of course absolutely mangled it up. But new ones were recommended anyway. also will need new spindle nuts for right and left side as you will stake them to hold them.
Also will need a small torque wrench that goes down to 5 pounds.
I replaced the bearings, of course after pounding out the races. (Got full kit from AR). Used a 2 pound hammer with drift to drive out races. Then used the 2 pound hammer with 4x4 on one and the old bearing on the other (cannot remember which, but obvious) to get the races starting to go in and finished with the 2 pound and drift. You have to hit good and hard but keep it going in even - about killed my arm hitting the hammer but actually kind of a fun messy job that can be done if you follow all of the steps in the Fiat shop manual. I think it took 3 hours to do all of the job - but my first time.

[vandor]

> Also will need a small torque wrench that goes down to 5 pounds.

When I adjust the bearing per the factory procedure there is always some play in the bearings. Now I put the wheel on and little by little tighten the nut until there is now play.