Tim Smith writes:

 > This would be nice in Coyotes FAQ, if you wrote it up...;)  tim
 > 

sure.. (Eric Zeno sent me this tip...)
The removal of the wheel bearings themselves are for the most part
easy -- by the time you realize you need to replace them, your vanagon
is running on ball bearings made of dust and grease stuck between two
sets of races :-)

Between 80-83 inclusive,  there are two bearings per side.  The inner
and the outer bearings. most of the parts come off very easily.  The
trouble is the outer races of the two bearings.  In these models, they
are a tight fit to the inside of the disk brake rotor (the disk brake
rotor and the wheel hub is one single piece of cast steel -- quite
heavy, too...).

At first glance, these races look impossible to get out and make one
wonder if VW had its master plan of making its customers buy at least
one speciallized tool per task in mind when they designed these...
After you clean the inner side of the brake rotor/hub, you see a two
pairs of notches: a pair per bearing race.  They are accessible from
the _opposite_ side of whichever side the bearing race sits at.  I
found a sturdy enough chisel that was not too fat (so it could fit
through the hub opening from the _opposite_ side and still seat firmly
against the top of the bearing race).  The notches on the inner wall
of the hub/rotor allow one to seat the chisel firmly against the top
of the bearing race.  _Very_ patiently, I tapped out the two bearing
races with a 1-pound hammer.  The whole thing took me about 2 hours,
mainly because I was afraid to damage the rotor, and both races came
out eventually.  My wife was surprised that I emerged from the garage
with no bruised, black & blue digits -- it's not typical...

Hope this helps someone....
Cetin

Cetin Seren
Outbound Technology Group		phone:  412-635-3479
FORE Systems, Inc.			web:	www.fore.com
5800 Corporate Drive			fax:    412-635-3350
Pittsburgh, PA  15237                   e-mail: cseren@fore.com