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Sat Sep 27, 2003 10:31 am

I just bought a 76 Bus and their is a grinding noise coming from the front end, Its been sitting for a while. I think its the wheel bearings. The book I have is confusing me saying that I need to replace the bearing races May be I'm in the wrong section. When I replace the bearings, and if the nosie is still there Could someone Help me out a give me some ideas where to look next ?

I'm New I'm New I don't know what to do[/quote]

Sat Sep 27, 2003 2:23 pm

Jack up the front, remove the wheel and grab the hub with both hands. Try to move it and look for play. You've probably got a lot and it means the bearings went dry, etc. If you are lucky they'll only need repacking but by the sounds if it they either scored or blued or both.

A wheel bearing kit comes with two bearings and a grease seal. The hub comes off after removing two 8mm bolts that hold the rotor on with an allen key. The hub is held on the spindle with a thrust washer. Don't lose the c-clip for the speedometer.

With the hub off you need to drive the races out with a drift being careful no to score the hub's inner surfaces. The bearings will be hard to remove and harder to install. If there fit isn't tight you need to source a new hub.

Clean out the hub and use a race driver (fast) or a brass drift (slow) to carefully put the races in. When done, you can pack the bearings with a bearing packer or by hand. After installing the bearings, grease the spindle and add 12" of grease on top of each bearing before putting the hub back on the spindle.

At the end you'll need a dab of silicone to cover up the c-clip that holds the speedo cable on the driver's side. When you are done there should be no travel and the wheel should spin smoothly with quietly.

Some illustrated steps:

- nasty old hub
- remove all this grease
- drive in new races
- use dragging technique to pack bearings
- clean off spindle
- grease spindle
-apply 1/2" grease to each bearing before installing on spindle