Rear wheel bearing and cylinder failed on mini!

[TurboOmni08]

All (ok...Simon and whoever else )

My mini's left rear wheel bearing (inner) crapped out and came apart...this caused the wheel to wobble around so much it messed up the rear wheel cylinder (brake shoes flopping around during braking). How hard is it to replace this wheel bearing? I can't find it in my FSM anywhere! Also, I need to drive this thing up onto a trailer to haul it over to the shop...will the brakes work well enough to get me stopped? I read that the left front and right rear should be working 100%....is this true? Will the fluid loss from the left rear cause the other side to fail as well?

Thanks guys, I need to know all this stuff before 10AM tomorrow!

[22mopar]

since you already drove it enough to do all that damage, you ain't going to hurt it much more putting on a trailer. bearings are EZ to replace. the information on servicing (adjustments) is clearly stated in all FSM's usually in the brake section.

I have a concern about your situation that there may be additional damage to the spindle and hub. you will need to drive the races. might be something you'll need to have a pro do.

[TurboOmni08]

I'm not worried about hurting the bearing pulling it on the trailer...I'm worried about not being able to stop on the trailer. The spindle is fine, I have already had it all apart. I have a press and all that good stuff. I have the 90 Minivan manual from Chrysler and I can't find it under brakes or suspension.

I agree that their may be damage to the hub. There is something flopping around in there, I assume it is one of the bearing races. I didn't even notice anything was wrong until it started clunking as I was coming to a stop. I had a friend push in the brake petal why I watched to see if anything was up and on applying the brakes the whole drum moved around. This all comes from the fact that I have a set of PT wheels on the van and they do not fit right. This caused the wheel to not be centered on the hub, that is what broke the bearing. All the side to side stress of the non centered wheel flopping around. I didn't realize any of this because you could not feel it in the car.

So anyway, can anyone give me any further advice? I'm 99% two of my 4 brakes are on a different hydraulic circuit and will be fine, but do they share a common fluid supply in the master cylinder? I guess the question is, if I fill it up with fluid and drive it up on the trailer will I be able to stop before all the fluid is pumped out of the wheel cylinder?

[turbovanman²]

DO NOT DRIVE IT.

Remove the drum, replace the brakes and wheel cylinder, remove the bearings and then wipe out all the grease. You will see on the back side of the bearing races notches, use a punch and drive them out. Install the new ones with installers or the old race, using a hammer of course. Make sure there seated. Machine the drum for the new shoes. Grease the new wheel bearings and races, install grease seal, install and I like to spin the drum and tighten the nut with some pliers, just snug. Install cotter pin and dust cap. Now bleed brakes and adjust the shoes thru the hole in the backing plate-you want a light dragging sound. Thats it, your done.

[TurboOmni08]

I cannot work on it where it is. I MUST put it on the trailer. Do I need to put some vise-grips on the brake hose to keep the pressure up? The most I am going to move it is about 300 ft from where it is down to the flat area outside the apartment complex where I can load it.

PS- I know if I put vg's on the hoze I will screw it up, thats fine, they need to be replaced anyway.

[22mopar]

I just had a brilliant idea, get some drunken buddies to push the van but first put a floor jack under the rear axle on the side that is bad, roll it to the open flat spot, back the trailer right up to the front of the van and then load it up.

this worry you have about the brakes is soooo trivial. heck I lost all my brakes on a 1973 dodge power wagon pulling #5000 of race car/trailer. at 70mph comming off the freeway, I managaged to not cause any damage or accidents. moving your van at an idle surely would be a lot easier to control and avoid a catastrophy.

also if you are being so parinoid, why not just bit the bullet and have a roll-back tow truck come and transport the vehicle, they will winch it onto the truck, bring it to your desonation then carfully unload it. no worries, nothing to panic about all said and done with zero effort on your behalf.

[TurboOmni08]

Simon, thanks for giving me the run down on how to do it. I already got the inner bearing and the wheel cylinders (I'm gonna do both sides). It already has new brakes on it so I am just going to inspect them for any crazy wear and clean them off with some brake clean and let her roll. As far as seals or anything what else do I need to replace in there? Without the info from the FSM I don't know what all the parts are, I have never had one apart.

22,
I'm not paying anyone to haul the POS 50 miles back home when I have a friend with a truck who does not value his time. Brakes are one thing I don't play around with. I mean, if a car does not move I can deal with that. If it does not stop that is a whole other thing for me. I'm not worried about the freakin old van....I'm worried about his 05' F250, and his brand new featherlite aluminum car hauler.

I guess I am worryin about it to much. He doesn't have much time to help me tomorrow so I have a very limited amount of time to get it loaded up and gone. I just figured i would ask these questions so I would know what I am up against before I even turn the key. I think it will stop, I'll find out the hard way I guess. I had to use a jack to push my Daytona inside one time when both the front wheel bearings came apart....the washers I had on the bolts though them were not large enough(axles were out obviously).

[turbovanman²]

I meant don't drive it to your destination. Driving it to and up a trailer is fine.

If you have issues, just take the drum to a shop, they'll probably charge you $20-$30 to replace them and repack the bearings. Then all you need to do is replace the wheel cylinder and slap her back together,

[Anonymous_User]

Might have taken out the spindle also. My van did this. Spindle was so-so and I tried replacing the bearings and races. Didn't last. Ended up getting a junkyard spindle and doing it over again with new bearings.

[TurboOmni08]

I just drove it right on the back of the trailer! 22 was right...I was being a wussy. I didn't have to do wheel bearings. I just took the old Timkin bearings back out cleaned all the ---- out of them and re-packed them. Replaced both wheel cylinders and the rear brake lines. Took for ever to bleed but it wasn't too bad. Put it all back together (with the new wheels) and even swapped the drums just to check. The left rear what STILL flopping up and down. Turns out, the top two bolts on the spindle had come out about a 1/2 turn. Got out a long ratchet and tightened them down and all is well.

[22mopar]

Uh, did you actually tighten them correctly? torque to 25 ft'lbs while turning hub, back off ¼ turn then hand snug. that is the PROPER proceedure. failure to do this WILL cause serious bearing failure!!!!!!!

and people wonder why I get a little grumpy when internet playa's get all worked up and ask goofy questions.

[TurboOmni08]

are you talking about the spindle nut? Yeah. I got that tightened right. What was loose were the bolts that hold the spindle to the axel. When I had someone pull the wheel up and down you could feel the backing plate moving in and out. So when I tightened the spindle bolts it stopped.

As far as goofy questions. I didn't think it was a bad question to ask. I didn't know so I asked, I would rather do that then have ended up taking 3 hours to figure how to load the thing if the brakes would not have worked. I said you were right, why do you feel you need to rub it in that I didn't know the answer to a "simple" question? I was telling a friend last night that TD forums don't have the Haters his BMW forums do. Lets keep it that way.

[turbovanman²]

Uh, did you actually tighten them correctly? torque to 25 ft'lbs while turning hub, back off ¼ turn then hand snug. that is the PROPER proceedure. failure to do this WILL cause serious bearing failure!!!!!!!

and people wonder why I get a little grumpy when internet playa's get all worked up and ask goofy questions.

Dude, just chill a bit. If you don't like it, you know you don't have to answer,