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I have sideways play in the rear wheels on my 2002 Hdi Estate,the Haynes manual says you cannot remove the bearings sperately and that you have to replace the hub assembly,is this right? Looks to be an expensive job if it is!! If it can be done does anyone have any tips on doing it and places to get the bearings etc from?

Cheers Paul

I'd have thought that if there was that much movement in the bearings the car would be making a god awful noise as you drove it

The hub & bearing are all one big expensive part (also incorporating the ABS reluctor ring - yours will have 48 teeth). You can get them much cheaper from evilbay but I've no idea about their longevity.

Looky - http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_odkw= ... 8&_sacat=0

You may need to beg/borrow/steal a hub puller if they're tight.

Funnily enough there isn't a lot of noise,but theres definitely sideways movement on both wheels,doesn't appear to be any top and bottom movement though,so could be something else? I've got a hydraulic puller so hopefully getting them off shouldn't be too much of a problem if I need to do it.

paulm wrote:I have sideways play in the rear wheels on my 2002 Hdi Estate,the Haynes manual says you cannot remove the bearings sperately and that you have to replace the hub assembly,is this right? Looks to be an expensive job if it is!! If it can be done does anyone have any tips on doing it and places to get the bearings etc from?

Cheers Paul

Never known sideways only movement to be wheel bearing related.

An easy check for a wheel bearing problem is to get someone to press the brake and hold pressure, if wheel bearing is the problem the movement will stop, movement still there means the problem is suspension related.

Replacing the whole hub is usually very easy....personally, I've never needed a puller.

Thanks for that tip Jasper,i'll check it out,if its not the bearing are there any main culprits on the suspension to look at first? I've already got new droplinks and top links to put on it as I have tyre wear issues,it needs four wheel alignment which won't be done until I've done the links and I noticed the play while I was checking around the rear of the car.

With wheel bearings
I just check for play in the wheel at 6 o'clock and 12 o'clock
And spin the wheel feel for any roughness whilst rotating.

Top links pull on the top of the wheel you normally feel a clunk if theyre failing
Check with the wheel on the ground ..

I've noticed with the weight off the wheel the top links seem OK
One of the reasons mot testers don't pick up on them..

But icouid be totally wrong on that..