Rear Wheel Bearing replacement write-up

[Mark P]

[Andy_FL]

....to get the job done!?? Damnit! Well, the least you can do is tell us how you get this stuff by your SO..... I gotta have some good reasoning for the wife ;-)

Andy

[OCA::DIY Motorsports]

[FASTAXI]

[NewHolland]

First-off, I must thank Mark P for this insanely detailed write-up. It was of huge assistance as I went through this process.

My '99 A4 Avant has spent all of its life in Minnesota, land of highly-salted winter roads. As a result, many of the suspension components are highly corroded.

I ran into my snag at step 15 of Mark P's writeup, the removal of the camber alignment bolt. Not only had the bolt frozen in the bushings, the bushings themselves had frozen to the bearing upright.

I discovered this by snapping the head off the camber alignment bolt. And of course, the upright was still firmly attached to the car. I ended up having to break off the other end of the bolt and then wrestling the upright out.

Then came the camber alignment bushings through which the camber alignment bolt passes. I ended up pressing out the weaker centers of the bushings and then chiseling out the remaining parts.

At this point, my car sat on three wheels for several days. None of the local suppliers had these bushings on hand. I had to special order them.

Installation of these bushings is very similar to the installation of the wheel bearing itself. Carefully find a press-shape that's similar in diameter to the bushings, and press one in from either side of the opening. DON'T use something "hollow" like a socket. Use a solid circular piece. Otherwise you run the risk of bending the outer flanged edge.

Bottom line: if you live in a salty climate, I strongly recommend that you also purchase a new Camber Alignment Bolt (8A0-501-387-C) and TWO new Camber Alignment Bushings (8D0-505-171) before attempting the bearing replacement job. And when re-inserting the upright into your car, coat the Camber Alignment Bolt with a good quantity of anti-sieze compound.

Hope this helps!!

[My SonsMechanic]

Excellent, I followed these and they were perfect!

The only trouble I had was with the ABS sensor, I broke it off trying to get it out. As mentioned prior, I live in a highly salted area too and thus the sensor was not cooperating. I bought a new one and everything went like clockwork.

The pictures are amazing, I also bought the breaker bar, a must have anyway.

I convinced myself that I should buy at least $200 worth of tools since I saved so much money doing it myself!

[jmajudd]

I've been trying to find this original bearing write-up but for the life of me, cannot.
Can someone help me out with a link to it? I've been all over this site.

Thanks guys.

[jmajudd]

Nevermind me - I found it. Sorry

[bigmac35]

Thanks guys, broke wheel speed sensor also and had to torch the nut off the end of the sway bar link to remove bearing carrier, found a broken coil spring when i lowered it back down... choked a little... i just want to drive this bad mother, but i seem to spend more time fixing it! This is my first German car and I have only owned it for 4 months and it has been in the shop for 2 of those months... starting to feel like its not worth the trouble... someone please reassure me that these cars are worth fixing the small things so a poor person can drive it.

[shawnoc2003]

Nope. Not for the faint of heart. Gotta be willing to turn a few wrenches. Their fun when the run though.