Front Wheel Bearing

To loosen the hubnut you need 30 mm socket and a long arm wrench. Take of the little hub cap on the wheel, and fit the spanner to the hub nut, and undo the hub nut. Get a mate to step on the brake when you do this. The first thing to do next, is to loosen the nut on top of the shock. Use a 19 mm spanner. Remove the hub nut. Remove the bolt to the callipers (15 or 17 mm depending on year) remember to secure the calliper so no stress is put on the hose. Remove countersunk screw on brake disc. Remove the steering rod from the strut using a 17 mm spanner. Always put this one back on before you do anything else since this is the only one here with finer treads. It will save you around 15 mins time (at least) to use a special tool to get the steering rod from the strut, I do not remember the English name (balljoint separator or something?). Remove the bolt on the strut for the ball-joint (17 mm I think). Use a long lever between the antiroll bar and track control arm to press the balljoint out from the strut. When it pops out all you have to do is remove the top strut nut. This will take you around 15-20 mins.

It is unlikely that you will have the appropriate press etc to remove and replace the bearing. So you are probably better off taking the removed strut with your new bearing to your local garage and get them to fit it. It'll probably only cost about £10.

The most difficult part is getting the balljoint in again, so be patient. The assembly of the strut/balljoint is idiot proof. You can't get the bolt in unless the balljoint is aligned properly. Use the long lever to do this. In the rest is like the Haynes book always says about assembly.

Good tools are half the work done (at least).

Frode Gulbrandsen