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Front O/S is in need of changiong.

Haynes manual looks like war and peace - removing shock absorber is needed!! -

Anyone got any experience/tips on this?

Thanks

Tim

front or back, that is the question.....

front

bump..............HELP/ADVICE STILL NEEDED PLEASE ANYONE!!

I have tried changing the front wheel bearings on a MK1 which has an identical setup to a MK2, stripping the entire strut from the car and delivering it to a garage with a press is the best option, as you probably won't be able to get the old bearing out, or the new one in without smashing it up. I paid £10 per side to have this done at a local garage.
Also, use VAG wheel bearings, as the aftermarket ones don't seem to last long, and you don't really want to be doing it again next year
All in, it's a sh1t job.

ive changed them, what do you need to know??

yes you need to remove the shock

Do I need to buy a puller and a seperator?

WHat did you deliver to the garage - the car or just the assy?

You will need to seperate the track control arm and the steering tie rod, so a balljoint cracker might be useful - i delivered the whole strut, complete with shock/spring. I did remove the brake caliper, disk and the dust sheild.

thanks for info

i never had any need for a seperator or puller ...just noraml hand tools, although you may find the 30mm driveshaft nut a touch tight

i bashed the bearing out with a hammer and punch...although if you can find a garage that will do it for £10 then carry on

all done

30mm driveshaft nut was tifght but not as much of a bugger as the 19mm strut top mount was.

Hard to do but nice and quiet now.

Timmo, did you use seperators and pullers or did you decide to take it to a garrage? just asking because i'm going to have to do mine soon and i'm weighing up if it's worth paying for the specialist tools.

Mk2Adam wrote:Timmo, did you use seperators and pullers or did you decide to take it to a garrage? just asking because i'm going to have to do mine soon and i'm weighing up if it's worth paying for the specialist tools.

Used conventional tools to get the tie rods and all parts of suspension off . I also used conventional tools to seperate bearing from hub, but the bearing split so I ended up going to a local garage and getting it pressed out. cost me a bottle of malibu. For my money, just take it to the garage.

thats what we did! we had a splitter type thing to remove the steering rod from the strut but apart from that, it was conventional tools!

we attempted to remove the bearing but as you say, it split in to two, so took it to the garage and they sorted it! got it back together in about two hours 7 o'clock at night! that was interesting!

bit of advise, you don't want to tighten the anti roll bar completely until its on the floor and the suspension has settled, otherwise it will all stand up in the air and it'll look like a 4X4!

to the garage for me then!