This post has been prompted by the lack of good technical information out there on the Vauxhall Vivaro van and in particular the rear hub settings.
A friend recently had a rear hub bearing seize up. He was lucky that the bearing had not welded it’s self to the stub axle. Which is all to common in this type of bearing failure.
I am surprised and concerned to find a lot of mis information on forums and companies like Haynes do not produce a service manual ( but then I believe that Haynes has lost the plot!) The lack of this information is making a statement like: “if you don’t know the torque setting for the hub nut just tighten it up as tight as you can and then put a scaffold pole on the Tee bar and do it up some more!”. This stratagem can be dangerous and will cause the bearing to prematurely fail again. Why? The rear hub bearing is of the taper roller type which means that if you do not set it up correctly it will bind on the runners causing it to over heat and seize. These are not like ball bearings which can be over tightened (which is not recommended) because there is not the same direct affect.
The specialist kit you need to do this job properly: 
- A thirty six multimeter socket for the hub nut. Which is three quarter inch drive that you may step down to half inch.
- A Tee bar.
- An extension bar like a scaffold pole no longer than a meter for loosening only.
- A torque wrench that can go up to three hundred Newton meters. Which are not that expensive. Please note that wrench is Six hundred millimetre long(half a meter) This is the optimum length for this weight of tightness.
- Spanners and or sockets for the the brake calliper mounting bolts of eighteen millimetres.
Be careful not to damage the wheel sensor. The hub nut should be tightened to two hundred and eighty Newton Meters which
is surprisingly not that tight – about a quarter of a turn or so after it has been done up normally with a ratchet. The mounting bolts for the calliper cage- one hundred and eighty Newton meters- you should clean the threads with a tap before adding new thread lock and the wheel nuts are one hundred and forty Newton meters and don’t forget to put a little bit of lube on the threads.
If you would like to ask any questions or add further to this post please do. But remember this is a blog not a forum so it may take some time to get a response.
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