240 rear wheel bearing
 

Help please. I removed a grumbling rear wheel bearing from my 1989 GLT. PFS Parts sent me a replacement kit and a local garage firmly pressed bearing and locking ring onto the half shaft. So far, so good.

Upon re-fitting the half shaft, I find 2-3mm of in-out movement and some vertical pay also. This is not good, worse than the bearing before.

The bearing is fitted taper towards the diff, exactly as the previous bearing, and as shown in the Haynes manual. I am sure that this is exactly as before as I clearly remember removing the outer race with the half shaft to one side - impossible if the bearing had been taper outwards.

The only thing which appears to be preventing the wheel and half shaft spinning off into the bushes is a very thin ring which fits inside the thin end of the outer race, and is held in place by the outer oil seal and the four-bolt retaining plate. This ring 'traps' the roller cage inside the outer race.

This thin ring closes off the open end of the outer race but, with the half shaft out again, and holding the ring into the open end of the outer race, I can see that all the movement is within the bearing itself. I can see no way at all to put the bearing under pressure to eliminate the play. Has anyone had this problem, or knows how to overcome it?

Thanks in advance, Bill.

Hi Bill,

My shafts do have quite a lot of play, definitely more than a mm.

Regards,
Henrik Morsing

Thanks Morsing, but this bearing is never going to work. I now realise that I have been sent a duff bearing and have ordered an OEM replacement from Brookhouse.

I made a video of me wobbling the bearing out of the car, in-out and side to side. 48mb, so I cannot post it. If I put the old outer race on the new bearing, it is snug with no play, but the old outer race has a slight wear ridge and was noisy, hence my ordering another bearing.

Fingers crossed this bearing will work. Meanwhile my GLT is stuck on the driveway. The local machine shop has a 4-5 week backlog, and I called in a favour with a local garage to press this one on. I'm hoping that the outer race from the next bearing will fit up snug to the existing roller set, avoiding having to cut off and re-pres the bearing again.

Video of the problem
 

https://youtu.be/Nt5OQ0XaK2A

Youtube is playing silly buggers, says the video is draft. I keep setting it to public but it goes back to private. Will see if it works after a while. In the meantime don't waste your time trying to watch it....

Yay, video now public --- Enjoy!

Some years ago with a previous 240 it failed the MOT because of excessive free play in a rear bearing. The play was nothing like a mm. Wobbling the wheel at the tyre the movement very small, but still a fail.

I undid the 4 bolts and inspected. There were no wear marks or ridges apparent. The bearing span freely and silently. Like the OP I was amazed that so little seemed to be all that was holding the shaft in place, but I suppose Volvo must have known what they were doing.
I cut a very thin circular shim out of a tin can and inserted it in the housing in the axle behind the outer race, and it virtually eliminated the play - just like putting a thin washer behind the nut on a front wheel bearing to get the split pin in exactly the right place.

The trick worked perfectly.

Thanks Clifford. The movement in my case is all within the (new) bearing itself. Shimming the outer race can only help if the whole bearing is moving within the axle housing. There being nothing - nothing at all -limiting the bearing clearance but for the narrow ring on the tapered end of the outer race. I'm going to put bearing lock, or JB Weld in the axle socket when I finally get the bearing sorted.

J.B. is a good product but not in this case:~
Bearing lock is the one to go for as you have mentioned-

https://simplybearings.co.uk/shop/

https://www.bearingboys.co.uk/

Two contacts above if you need them.
Bob.

I don't understand that. It's a taper bearing, and the rollers are squeezed between the inner and outer cones?

The rollers are trapped in the outer cone by a thin ring, which fits loosely onto the thin end of the outer cone/race. The whole bearing is then held in the axle socket by the outer oil ring (which appears to have a reinforced outer ring) and by the closure plate.

There is nothing else retaining the rollers, inner race or half shaft, so no way of tensioning the bearing. The thin ring can be seen in the video link I posted above, where I am holding it tight into the outer race when it *should* have only working clearance.

A lot of cheaper brand bearings have the locking ring the wrong size causing fitment problems