E36 rear bearing install

When I did subframe re-enforcement and bushings on my E36 coupe. While re-installing noticed that the rear brake shields where so rusty that handbrake shoes didn´t stay on anymore, also rear bearings made not so healthy noise. Conclusion to change fresh bearings and brake shields.

Firstly when got the new brake shields, I scuffed them up with scotchsbrite and removed all stickers to give them some paint to protect against rusting out again.

Then got the jack ready and lifted the car from the rear subframe. Installation started with dismanteling obviously to get to the bearings you need to first remove the wheels, then brake caliper with two 7mm allen key bolts. At this point when you have your brake caliper of it´s good time to hang it somewhere so it´s out of your way and won´t be streching on the brake line. I used stiff copper wire to tie it to rear coil spring, you could also use zip ties for this.

Now you have your caliper off. Next I grabbed a 30mm 12-point socket and removed the driveshaft nut on the wheel flange, this can be quite thight as it was in my case. Needed 1/2" breaker bar to get enough torque to get it off. Next go under the car or if you have access to air tools grab 12mm torx and few long 1/2" extensions so you can remove the six torx bolts holding drive shaft to diffenrential flange. When these have been removed you notice that you need to also drop rear swaybar to get the driveshafts out. So grab your 13mm socket and corresponding spanner and remove swaybar to subframe mounting bolts. After this you can drop your axles out from differential side first then slide them off from the hubs.

For the next step, you need to remove your brake discs retaining screw. Then just remove brake caliper carrier bolts two 15mm. Grab a hammer and sligthly tap on the center of your brake disc to get it unstuck. Now you have all the brake components off and can see your drive flange which is in most cases quite firmly attached to the bearing inner race, unless it´s really shot up and the flange just falls out. For the bearing install I bought a generic manual bearing press tool kit from Biltema. In this kit there where three long bolts for pressing out this drive flange. If you are missing these bolts, there are M12x1,25 thread. It´s good practice to but some sort of metal or wooden piece to the points where you are trying to press to protect anything that might be on the other side for example piece of 2mm iron sheet can do this or a washer.

When the drive flange has been removed from the car you need to either cut or pull the old bearing inner race out from the shaft. I usually cut it with angle grinder with quite small radius cutting disc and with a long cutting radius. You don´t really want to cut through the race, but it pretty much always happens small cut on the surface doesn´t hurt just make sure that after you get the race off you check that there isn´t any burs cathing.

Now if you are like me and are doing both bearings and brake shields, it´s two 10mm bolts and two 14mm bolts. Then you can use some brute force to get the old brake shield off from the car, and do a comparison to make sure you have the correct part. (if you are unsure of your part being the same, don´t paint it before you are sure!)

Now to remove the old bearing, grab a hammer and flat headed screwdriver. Lightly tap around the locking ring that located outside of the bearing. This can help to free it up from corrosion, also some WD-40 can help. Then it´s just locking ring pliers and small flat head to get it off. Compress the locking ring as much as you can and try to wedge flat head between the ring and the outer wall so you can pry the ring outwards.

Now you need to get your pressing tool kit. You need to have a collet that is larger than your bearing but can sit on the control arms outer race. This will be the space where the bearing will be drawn to. On the backside use small enough disc so it will go through the hole and press on the inner race of the bearing. Then just get correct size socket and spanner, in my case these were 32mm, and start pressing the bearing out.

When the bearing is successfully out, clean the surface with for example scotchsbrite and get ready to re-install new bearing. I also blasted my drive flanges at this point with soda to remove some corrosion, but this is optional. When pressing bearing back to it´s place. make sure you have the cup on the other side, and that it clears the abs-sensor, so it wont break while pressing the bearing back. On the bearing side make sure you have large enough disc to properly press the bearings outer race, pressing against the inner race at this point may damage your new bearing! Make sure you seat the bearing fully to make installing the locking ring a lot easier. it should almost fall in place after being compressed into it´s hole. No hammer needed at this point.

Now before you go and install your drive flange back, Remember to re-install that brake shield if not done already! Also it´s a lot easier to re assemble your handbrake at this point since the drive flange isn´t in the way of things.

All ready to put your drive flange on? So you will need to support the inner bearing race from the back side while pressing so it won´t fall out, get a properly sized disc for example the same one you pressed the bearing out with, and use the cup you pressed the bearing in to as the pressing tool for the drive flange. Now just tighten fully and drive it fully to the end. After this you can re-install everything in reverse order.

Front bearings are coming soon!