really bad day. bloooody wheel bearing

[stainesy]

duno mate. the grinding sound was pretty bad.

[tweed]

I've seen someone ruin a bearing trying to fit it.

I would be surprised if you didn't ruin it having so loose for 1/2 mile

[Bandit127]

It is very unlikely that you have done a taper bearing in by running it loose for 1/2 a mile. And for it to go wrong badly enough to damage the stub axle you wouldn't just have had a lot of play when you checked it after - you probably wouldn't have been able to turn the wheel by hand.

The worst case is you have a bit of pride, a £12 bill and a 4 mile walk to swallow tomorrow morning. That ain't that bad mate - I did it a few weeks ago for a starter motor.

Much more likely is that you have got away with it and we will see a post tomorrow afternoon saying you got it sorted.

And yes - thanks for the learn too - mine need doing at some point and I will def remember this...

[VW BUSH]

When you have the right bearing......

Spin the wheel while doing up the centre nut until it starts to slow the wheel down, then back off a 1/4 turn.
wheel should move less than 1mm when you wiggle it and spin freely

[stainesy]

you mean spin the disc mate? yeah i will do all this tomorrow wile i try to fix it. should be easy enough no i no these little bits of advise. i totaly forgot my haynes manual and left it at home. had a read and done it all as i should have apart from one thing. i forgot to spin it as i did it up aswell. so that could be a reason why it came loose.
oh well we lean by our mistakes dont we 
will have another go tomorrow.

[tweed]

No put the wheel on with two bolts. Leave the bearing cap of and removing the wheel centre cap, then spin.

[VW BUSH]

No put the wheel on with two bolts. Leave the bearing cap of and removing the wheel centre cap, then spin.

This

[Wayne]

I'd be suprised if the bearing is chewed after half a mile.

Agreed, it should be ok

[stainesy]

Ok nice one. Cheers for the help and advice guys. I shall put it into practice after I walk the kids to school.

[stainesy]

Ok I took everybody's advice and I have just finished. Put the wheel on and spun it loads wile doing the nut up till the wheel had resistance then backed off a tiny bit till it span free. Wheel is solid now and I used the old seal wich fitted perfectly. Sweet. Cheers everybody.