Greetings Fellow Jaguar Tamers,

I’m getting ready to replace the rear wheel bearings on my 2005 XKR with 41K miles. I’ve reviewed the Jaguar Workshop Manual and moderator Don B’s documentation of doing it to his mid 90’s saloon. Hoping to get a few things clarified…



1) The hub assembly looks essentially the same as the factory parts diagram for the XK. Is Don’s XJ write up pretty much applicable to an XK?


2) While the parking brake cable equalizer ***’y is a little different, I’d still like to eliminate the fiddly step of detaching the cable at the hub. The JWM implies otherwise but the slip union in the cable between the L & R sides looks like it might be crimped onto the cable ends on the XK – is that the case? If possible I’d like to use Don’s idea of detaching the cable there.


3) Don pulled the hub and carrier ***’y from the car with the axle still attached. The JWM shows the axle being pressed out with the hub ***’y (including the pivot pin) still on the car. I assume that means the axle has enough axial play or plunge travel to be pushed inward from the inside of the hub tube with a 3 jaw puller while everything is still on the car (?). Wouldn’t that be simpler than undoing the axle at the diff flange and separating later?


4) The Timken replacement I have for the outer bearing came separately packaged in two boxes as race and cone with their own part numbers. The race and bearing cone fit together nicely. The inner came as one piece. Don said the two pieces are factory matched which would seem unlikely if purchased as separate parts. Sound like a problem or just let ‘er rip?



Thanks for helping a forum noob!

 

What’s better than learning-by-doing? Here’s what I figured out about my questions above by taking things apart.



1) Don B’s write-up over on Jag lovers works for XKs. The XK brake equalizer is a little different but you can still do as he suggests. The XK doesn’t have an ABS reluctance ring so you can disregard that step. The procedure is in Don’s albums 86 thru 89 @ Welcome to Jag-lovers - The Members' Photo Album


2) The brake cable slip union he refers to is somewhat crimped meaning it’s a tight fit on the cable end. Shoot a dab of your favorite penetrant in, put a pair of vise grips on one end of the union and another on the cable you want to remove, about a half inch from the union. Twist the cable end around back & forth in the union while pushing it towards the release point at the center of the union.


3) The hub carrier assembly can be pulled off without detaching the axle from the car if you wish. The u-joints have plenty of articulation to allow the carrier to pivot off the end of the axle. I was lucky in that while I was thinking about my next move after undoing the 27mm axle nut, the carrier just flopped down free of the axle by itself, pivoting on, well, the pivot pin. No Loctite on those splines apparently.



4) The replacement bearings appear to match the ones that came out so I’m not going to over think why they’re sold both as a unit and as separate race and cage.


Best Regards

 

oops, one more thing...

The Jag lover post didn't mention scribing a mark on the hub carrier to register the position of the hash mark on the head of the pivot bolt.

The eccentric bolt flange needs to be clocked in the same position upon reinstallation to keep the alignment unchanged (or close).

 

I think the earlier XKs didn't have the eccentric bolt which may be why it wasn't mentioned.

 

Got to ask the question "wheel bearing replacement at 41K ?" My 2005 has 56K why am I not seeing / having to do this ?

 

All cast lower control arms (1994 onward) had the eccentrics for the rear. The sedans (Later XJ40) actually had stamped/welded lower arms with eccentrics but were discontinued and replaced with cast lowers.

The XK fronts did not have the eccentrics like the sedans.

Maybe that is where the confusion is??

bob

 

They don't usually fail that early. Many of the cars with over 100K are still good.

 

Since the article was based on the author’s early or mid 90s XJ saloon, I mentioned the eccentric because it is one of a few differences of my late XK related to this repair. The procedure is otherwise applicable and I found it to be well written and very helpful.


One of the grease seals was a bit chewed up; don’t know if this was cause or effect. I hadn’t noticed a grease leak so maybe the wobble chewed up the seal. And yeah, it seemed a bit early mileage- & age-wise for this issue.

 

Thanks for posting this, I’ll be pulling my driver’s side hub off this week and replacing the bearings.
The current bearings are very loose, so much so that when I would come out of a tight turn the clicking noises were apparent and also accompanied with an almost instant ‘no abs’, ‘no cruise’ and maybe a gearbox fault message.
I’m hoping that replacing the bearing will also ‘fix’ the error messages.
wj

 

wj,

The ABS & cruise faults are an interesting wrinkle. Wonder if the cause is bearings loose enough to disturb the ABS sensor-to-tone wheel relationship in a way that messes up the speed monitoring. No doubt you’ve read here that wiping off those sensors periodically is a good idea in any case. Hope your other parts nearby are still good. My hub was past it and one face of the tone wheel (sensor rotor) was scored up enough that I decided to replace it. Rock Auto had the best deal on the bearings.

A couple tool notes for when you dive into it next weekend… the bearing shells get knocked out of the carrier bore using a pin punch. A longer punch, say 8” or so, simplifies things for one of the shells. This hub lock tool came in handy http://www.tooltopia.com/lang-tools-847.aspx BTW, I’ve found good prices at Tooltopia over the years for the occasional fill-in tool.

Good luck with your project.

 

flat6,
thanks for the 8" info, am I going to need to 'press' the reluctor ring off?
I wanted to handle everything with one go, at home...don't want to drive to a shop...don't really want to buy a press but probably would.if need be.
LMK
thanks again

wj

 

I was able to get things apart without a press. Instead I used a hammer and a bearing/seal remover set available for about $25 to 30. My late XK doesn't have a reluctor ring as the jag lover write up refers to. It looks like he might have been talking about what Jaguar calls the sensor rotor (the toothed wheel for the ABS). I used a 27mm impact socket and short extension to tap the hub out of the ID of the sensor rotor as he shows set up in his press in photo 9. The rotor was then loose and lifted right out as shown in photo 12.

I placed the hub carrier on various wood blocks on the bench for tear down and used a scrap piece of flat steel and a length of angle to position it for removal of the races. Don said "3 or 4" sharp blows knocked the races out. Using a 32 oz ball pein, I needed ten times that since I was trying to avoid an errant blow dinging up the bore. After managing to bend up a smaller brass punch I elected to switch to a stouter and longer steel punch.

Also I chose to not pull out the pivot pin bearing. When I pulled the carrier free of the wishbone I put the pivot bolt and nut back in the carrier to avoid losing the spacers at either end of the bolt. Of course if you have any doubt about the pivot bearing this is the time to attend to it.

This diagram originally from the factory parts book was helpful to understand the relation of the different parts before I started yanking on wrenches:
https://www.terrysjag.com/category/X...rier-Rear.html

 

wow, based on that info I'm good to go!
Hope not to find anything other than the need for a bearing replacement.
I'm awaiting delivery of a bearing driver set. We'll see if the reluctor ring is damaged or not (hoping not)
muchas gracias

wj

 

I admit I didn't pay enough attention during disassembly so here I am.
I just greased the outer bearing, fitted it into the race and then pressed in the oil seal. The oil seal bottoms into a step of the hub carrier but that leaves around 5/16" gap



between the bearing cage and the oil seal if I fit the hub + spacer I'm assuming that bearing can float outwards.
I haven't installed the hub and before I do something wrong I am hoping someone (flat6?) might give me guidance.
thanks
wj

 

The short answer: not sure.

My reassembly hasn't started just yet. The sensor rotor arrived today but still waiting on the replacement hub.

I looked in my empty carrier and can see where the seal would bottom out. On the outer bearing side of the bore it looks like there is an band about 5/16" wide just below where the seal seats. The band is just the slightest discoloration from the rest of the bore farther in, like you maybe might expect if the bearing seats that much deeper. Just speculating here. I'm pretty sure the races weren't just inside of the seals as much banging as I had to do to get the races out.

Sorry I couldn't be much help with this. Hopefully one of the many knowledgeable guys here will chime in and clarify it for the both of us.

 

sometimes you just need to trust yourself...so...I reread, measured, checked numbers and went for it.
I sure did make it hard on myself by not paying more attention during disassembly!
At any rate, I put the hub in the freezer last evening and this morning it didn't take too much pounding to get the bearings to seat.
The reluctor was wobbling on the shaft during disassembly...I concluded that the bearing being so (really, really, really) loose allowed the hub to move in and out plus up and down enough to literally work it to the very end of the shaft.
It is now secure and if things aren't too tight (I don't know if it is possible to press everything too far together) I'll be going for a nice drive this spring weekend.
thanks for your help
wj

 

You’re very welcome. Glad to have helped even if just a little on this forum that provides a wealth of info on the care and feeding of these finicky cats.

Reading the procedure in the factory manual posted in the stickies, I don’t get the sense you can press things back together too far. The stop ring and seats are there to help idiot proof things. Though over the years I’ve found I’m quite adept at probing the limitations of idiot proofing efforts.

Loose/failing bearings can wreak havoc. In my case that includes an ABS rotor, hub, brake rotors & pads. Good fun but not cheap fun.

Have a great weekend drive.

 

You are correct. That was my confusion. Thanks.

 

flat6, You are a brave man! When my bearings started going out at about 75,000, I took the Jag to this "Little old Guy" that knows all about those Jag double bearings and had him do the job! He was quite successful doing his 2 or 3 hundredth Jag bearing replacement, Thank You! I drove off about 3 hours later, a Happy Guy! I had a donut and a couple cups of coffee and read a "Road & Track" Magazine while I waited...

Sorry but I'm not about to get into that job! The parts themselves are just to expensive to mess around with....As I said, You are a brave Man!

Billy Clyde in Houston