worn bearing visible from near side wheel

[Kevm59]

Hi people   just joined the forum and already have a query.  some knowledgable person may be able to help with this. i have been running the car over the weekend and noticed a slight grumbling noise and rattle when accelerating ,but take the power off and smooth as anything.   thought possibly cv shaft as quite common on these { not a major problem  to fix} but having taken the near side wheel off i could see an exposed bearing towards the front  of the engine. turned engine on and yes it goes around. i know enough about engines to know this should not be like this { cover missing?} the bearing has only 60% of the balls in. i can poke my finger through the centre. possible it could be a shaft support for the auxiliary drive that runs along the engine front.   getting too late to start investigating more   any help would be appreciated as to what is missing?  what the bearing  does and if its a pull out in situ job or gearbox out job.   thanks

[Chrispb]

Hello and 
If you can take a picture and attach it to your post of what your seeing will help.

[insanitybeard]

Howdy!

Was the bearing like this?

[Kevm59]

Hi thanks for the reply   yes thats the little blighter but not quite as bad as the condition that one is in.   the end cap is completely missing unless its lying in the plastic undershield. and after reading through the thread it looks like another weekend of work.   it does look look it could be extracted and replaced but i doubt it.   may have to look for a 6 speed gearbox or ring round the breakers.   thanks again

[insanitybeard]

I think if you had the right kind of internal puller you could possibly get the bearing out, and if the bearing hasn't completely collapsed and spewed debris into the transmission then it might be worth a go before condemning and dropping the box. It is a gamble though.

[Kevm59]

I think you could be right there.  have had a look on google and there are pullers which hook into the inner race and pull it off the shaft and from its housing. i think i need to have a look round for a quality item.  Saw an interseting video of a guy who replaced a wheel  bearing by freezing it and cooking the hub and the bearing just popped straight in.   let you know what i come up with. 

[Kevm59]

Update to the gearbox fault is that i now have a replacement gearbox in and all looks good.   took a sample of oil out the original box and looked like pearlescent paint with all the sparkly metal filings in. luck was in and a 6 speed was had  for just over a ton, so saturday was spent jacked up high and box was out in 2 hours.
new clutch kit and flywheel obtained and all assembled by five. managed to split the vacuum hose to the brake booster so another unexpected repair. A piece of advice for any diyers get a brake /clutch bleeding kit that attaches to an air line, sucked that fluid out of there and new fresh put in {it was black as coal} good bit of kit. clutch is now smoother and new oil in the box as well { thats expensive stuff}.  so anyone else has a grumbling gearbox sorry but there is no easy solution its rebuild or swap. thanks for everyones input this is a good forum and hopefully i may be able to help someone else out one day.

[insanitybeard]

Thanks for the update! I've read a few similar tales to yours so it sounds like failure of that particular bearing (and any pre-existing condition which led to the bearing failure) is unfortunately a weakness of the 6 speed manual box.