Rear wheel bearing losing grease

[cazna52]

One of my rear wheel bearings is losing quite a large amount of grease. I am also getting a bit of noise from that area. To start with it was just a bit of a ticking noise, I thought I had a stone in my tyre, but now it is a more constant noise although not too loud.

What is the cause of this? Is it just that the rubber boot needs to be replaced? Should I replace the bearing also? There is no movement in that wheel yet.

[lotus4s]

I do believe you are losing the grease from the cv joint. Inspect the rubber boot for for a split or tear. Probably should get it fixed asap before you ruin the cv joint.

[rogerch]

I would agree, it's an urgent issue right now it may just be the rubber boot split, leave it and you loose the shaft, personally I'd get both ends of both shafts done, checked re-greased and re-booted.

Oh, and your bushes look nasty, time for a replacement, I'd go with poly ones.

[cazna52]

Thanks for the replies guys, looks like I need to get onto fixing this quickly.

Has anyone done this job before? Is it difficult? Should I try doing this myself?

[rogerch]

I've never done it (on the Esprit) but I would tackle removing the shafts, but I would have a specialist, maybe a gearbox specialist do the shafts.

I used Graydon Gears in Silverwater a number of times, and were good, I don't know if they do drive shafts, but if not I'm sure they could recommend someone.

Good luck.

And just as an after thought, having mentioned bushes, if you're going to do them at the same time, do the gearbox mounts they're cheap, and you have to remove the bottom link to change them, so whilst doing the bushes is a good time.

Edited February 2, 2011 by Roger the Dodger

[jonwat]

I would suggest that what in the photos looks like the bushes breaking up is a dollop of grease from the aforementioned CV joint so I wouldn't necessarily be looking to replace them & as all cars these days have CV joints then any half competent garage can get them off & refill with grease & replace the boot .

Make sure to tell them to torque the hub nut to fffully tight & seal the driveshaft roll pins with RTV.

[rogerch]

I concur about the dollop of grease, but the bushes are still stuffed, buggered, busted, perished, and past their use by date.

If Justin takes the shafts out himself it him who has to take note of replacing the roll pins, but something I forgot to mention, crack the hub nuts with the car on the ground, even if you have to take the wheel centres out and put the wheels back on, I was swinging on, feet off the ground, a 4ft length of pipe, handbrake on in gear and the car still walking up the slope of the driveway !

(I do only weigh 68 kilos)

[Mike6]

You can pull the yolk out from the gearbox side by undoing the top bush (you may also need to undo another one) and then pull from the top of the wheel. That way the whole shaft comes out and you can replace both boots. I believe there is a write up somewhere - a labour saving move from Sparky. Useful when pulling the gearbox

[stevem]

Hi Justin

The Esprit Service manual section FE.11 shows how to check and replace the drive shaft gaiter. If you can't find it in yours let me know and i'll email you the relavent pages, best to put some new grease and gaiter on it before the joint seizes up or gets worn. Feel free to come up and use the ramps when youi are ready to do it, i'm happy to help you if we get a cool day.