Rear Wheel Bearings

I recently bought my 75 partially restored. I am just going over things to be sure what has been done is right. I noticed, while the car was on jack stands, that the rear wheels had a good bit of play if you shook them top to bootom. How much is normal? I saw in my manual that the rear can be shimmed? Is that a difficult or expensive job?

Thanks for the help

|UPDATED|5/28/2002 11:14:04 PM|/UPDATED|

Thats normal to have movement from the 12 and 6 oclock and the 3 and 9 oclock positions. That is not an indiction of bad bearing. To check the play in the bearing you have to pull the wheel an set a dial indicator on the spindle flange. The accepted tolerance is .001 to .008 linear movement. You could be with in this tolerance and have a bearing go bad if it is need of grease. The only way to safe is to pull the spindles grease the bearings and reshim to the .001 to .008 tolerance. If reshiming keep the play in the .001 to .002 range. Chuck

Rear bearing replacement isn't an overly difficult job, but it requires a marginal amount of time(labour). Before you start make sure you have a rear spindle (axle) puller in your possession incase your rear spindles have never been removed. If your intention is to replace bearings yourself be certain the new bearings are "slip fitted" on the axle shaft before reassembly.. defn-Slip fitted: file down the shaft 1000th so the bearing needs not be pressed on. Also,by turning the rotors and new brake pads complete the ensemble. I just did all this 2 weeks ago...