Front Wheel Bearing Locking Plate Screws

[jeremyisme]

Hi,

I was trying to tighten my wheel bearing nut, but before I could to it, I had to remove a round plate that covers it. Secured with four screws. (I have a 93 Vit). But the screws have been stuffed.

Any ideas on how to get the plate off so I can tighten the bearing??? I need to tighten it for my WOF

[want33s]

Try the usual tricks for removing stubborn bolts/screws.
* Impact driver.
* Hacksaw a slot across head and unscrew with screwdriver.
* Cold chisel.
* Drill and EZY-OUT.
* Vise grips.
* Stud remover socket bit.
* Weld something to it and unscrew.
Not necessarily in this order but you get the idea.
When you get them out replace them so its easy next time.

[jeremyisme]

Yeah, all those things would work, but they are quite small, and in a difficult location beside the end of the drive shaft, the bit that goes into the auto locking hub.

[want33s]

Yeah, all those things would work, but they are quite small, and in a difficult location beside the end of the drive shaft, the bit that goes into the auto locking hub.

Remove the hub from the diff or the axle will make it much easier to work on. Sometimes there is no alternative to hard work.

[lay80n]

Try the inpact driver if the screws are not fully rooted yet. Jackeroo's and Rodeo's use small screws in their bearing tension retainer, and when they got rooted we just used the impact driver. Worked 90% of the time.

Layto....

[PAZZ]

sounds the same as coily zooks, mine wernt much chop, i had to use a normal screw driver and a hammer, its hard but just hit an turn, they come out eventually....

[jeremyisme]

I went to buy an impact driver today, but the bits look too big. I might just bit the bullet and get a mechanic to do it!!!, cos I am running outta time at the moment. I am going to forever hate myself for paying someone to do this!!!

I tried the other side today aswell, and all those screws are jammed in tight aswell, I am not happy.

[MART]

This probably sucks but drill of the heads,remove plate,use vice grips to remove bolts,most bolt manufacturers carry replacment bolts,see how you go,Cheers Paul.

[PAZZ]

they are only small, dont think u would get a good grip on them once you drill the head off... a few hits with a hammer and a good soakin with some wd 40 would help losen things up.. mine where tight as but thats pretty much what a machanic is going to do.

[icekayak]

when it happened to me i drilled the heads out so could get the pieces off the truck, then drilled most of the centre of the actual screw out (with a smaller drill bit) with the aim of then just removing what was left with like a small screwdriver wedged in the drilled hole and turning... (or a screw extractor from like repco ($25)

but i slightly slipped and took some of the treads off too... so ended up getting a tap from the local engineering place the right size (cost about $6 NZ) and also a screw the right tread size (but too long, and just trimmed it with hacksaw) and just retapped the treads and the remains of the old screw popped out the otherside...

once i had the tap and new screw it only took me 5 mins max, but took me all day play with impact drivers and the like...

BUT assuming the heads are not stripped just tight, do as suggested below with the crc/just a small shock tap with the hammer, and make sure you get a decent screwdriver which fits correctly!!!



and i have the worst luck of breaking the heads off screws/bolts, just did it putting a locker in the diff, and i wasn't even doing it up that tight, and it was straight grrrr.... so that is todays mission :(

[jeremyisme]

Thanks for that, its given me hope that it is possible.

I went to the mechanic today to see if he had time, and he said 'umm, maybe end of next week', so that's useless. So I might get an impact driver and see what happens, otherwise, drill it out and hope it works.

I might post a pic tonight, to make sure we are all talking about the same thing.

[icekayak]

From memory:
There is a thin round plate with lots of holes in it, and 4 countersunk cross head screws (mine only had 2 there), and then there is a thicker round plate behind it with lots of holes with big thread going around the main spindle and then 4 of the many little holes are threaded also.... The 4 screws come through from the first thin plate and they screw into the thicker plate.... so once you drill out the heads you will be able to just pull the thin plate straight off and unscrew the thicker plate (and then play with the thick plate off the car to remove the rest of the screws)

the thin plate is the bearing lock plate, and the thicker one behind it is the actual bearing nut that you need to tighten... I just used a punch through one of the holes. as it is round not 6 sided like a normal nut...

But i suspect if you have been doing an water/mud stuff may need to replace the whole bearing. They are worth a fair bit from suzuki (like $350NZ ea or something silly)... i got a kit from Auckland Bearing Distributers (just down road from me) and i think it cost around $75 NZ each side trade which included bearing race, inner & outer bearings, and the seal.

[jeremyisme]

Yeah, the whole time I had been looking for an actual nut. But it was a round 'nut', which you need a special tool for, but a couple of screws drivers in the holes, and wa-la. No more bearing movement!!! Well, hopefully not enough for them to fail me again on the warrant.

So yeah, I ended up getting an impact driver, which just fitted onto the screws, but it worked quite well.

So now, fingers crossed it passes happily.

Thanks everyone.