rear wheel bearing on 2.8 v6 B5

[RobMorgan]

yes i have sorted it now, lol
i phoned up an audi specialist near me, and they told me that you have to just "pull" the rear bench out! i dont like to just pull and hope, incase i break something.
the abs light is on my dash now, however a mechanic freind of mine says i might have pulled the sensor out a mm or 2, when i was trying to remove it totally from the hub, before moving to plan B, meaning its not picking up the pulses like it should be
it doesnt seem like i broke it, as its not loose in the hub
so the wheel is coming off tomorrow (if its nice) and i'm hopefully going to push the sensor back in to its "home" position
hope i didnt break it, as audi want £127 which is about $250!!!!!!!! for a new sensor

[larkinB5A4]

that's rough...hope you get it all sorted out. i remember getting a sensor priced up for my car and it was only about $150-$160...you're gettin ripped off man. :P

[RobMorgan]

i have since done some shopping around for prices, and they are coming in around 1/2 that of what audi wanted!
still have not tried to fix it yet. hopefully get it done at the weekend

[flp_szymanski]

So apparently my rear bearing is **** also!! Does anyone know a link that has this process step for step for the 2.8Q. I cannot find any audi a4 manuals at any local stores. And in total, how long do you think this will take for 1 bearing( with the usual misfortunes that occur with DIYs)?

[larkinB5A4]

umm you're pretty much on your own for this. you have to take pretty much everything apart. (take off caliper, rotor, dust shield, unbolt lower control arm, upper control arm, sway bar, take out the hub bolt (which is a weird 14mm size), disconnect the drive shaft, and i would advise disconnecting the ABS sensor from under the rear seat vs. trying to remove the sensor from the hub itself because you may break it.) ummm i think i hit everything...oh yeah if and when you do eventually get it all apart you have to take the whole hub assembly (with the ABS wire hanging from it and all) to a shop to get it pressed.

overall time depending on if you have all the right tools (which you need a lot of), if you have the new bearing, if you can get it apart and can take it to a place to get pressed...you're lookin at anywhere from 1-3days or so.

good luck, hope that helps

[RobMorgan]

i think larkin got everything

a few of tips:
1) ball joint - is a pain! you will need some sort of clam to hold it in place, if the ball joint slips. this usually happens as the nylock (spelling) bit on the nut gets to the end of the bolt. i used a pair of stiltsons (big adjustable wrench type thing) put it on, and push down on it, as you undo the nut

2)like larkin says, deffinately remove the back seat. i spent about an hour trying to pull the sensor out, and i failed. to get the seat out, you have to push it back, and pull up at the same time.

3) the 14mm bolt is an allen key, this is a hard thing to get hold of. could also do with a ball joint puller

[larkinB5A4]

i'm about to start my driver's side front. i've read that they're more difficult, but i see a lot of new metal in the wheel well from the previous owner, hopefully that makes things a bit easier. the hub bolt on the front is 17mm, i wonder why it's bigger than the rear...

[RobMorgan]

so its a 17mm allen key on the front? or is it a std 17mm bolt?

[larkinB5A4]

i suppose you can use a 17mm allen key - i'm pretty sure its just a standard 17mm bolt. i have a 17mm hex socket that i'm going to use

[robj]

I need to replace my rear brake discs which forms the actual hub assembly. Can anyone confirm that Jared is correct that on non- Quattro, the bearing does not have to be pressed out - will the hub simply slide off the bearing once splitpin and nut are removed?