Front wheel bearing

[Neil Wilson]

Took my 2.8 for mot, passed without advisories but tester pointed out my offside front wheel bearing was a bit noisy but hadn’t got any play. I note the bearing is available as a hub “kit”. Is it a simple diy job to change or are specialist pullers and press needed to refit? Also drivetec are reasonably priced at GSF but am I better going for FEB?

 

[t-tony]

Usually easy to remove the hub from the stub axle. I just remove the caliper carrier, the hub grease cap and the hub nut itself.
Then grip the hub and put both your thumbs on the end of the stub axle and squeeze. The hub will slide off.
Before fitting the new unit make sure the stub axle has no burrs or deep scratches and lightly lubricate.

Tony.

 

[DomiMik]

Took my 2.8 for mot, passed without advisories but tester pointed out my offside front wheel bearing was a bit noisy but hadn’t got any play. I note the bearing is available as a hub “kit”. Is it a simple diy job to change or are specialist pullers and press needed to refit? Also drivetec are reasonably priced at GSF but am I better going for FEB?

That's a straightforward DIY job, but if you want to do it all according to BMW specs you will need a large torque wrench. The torque for the nut is 290 NM / 214 ft-lbs.

For wheel bearings I would recommend FAG, a bit more expensive but OEM quality.

 

[Randy Forbes]

Here's a link to when I changed the front hubs on my '99 M Rdstr (also shows me doing the rear wheel brngs).

Perhaps others have done it without using the pullers, but I found that the front hubs needed them for BOTH extraction & installing (take note of how the new front hubs were drawn into position, and not beaten on with a BFH...).

Pictures here:

https://spcarsplus.com/piwigo/index.php?/category/165

Edit: peculiar how I can put a picture in the text, visible during the preview & when editing, but appears as a red X when posted. So how DO you put a picture in the post (I tried using the insert image button in the header to hot-link a picture from the album linked above)?