January 22, 2016 Lada.Online 220 889 12
The problem with standard Niva wheel bearings (VAZ 2121, 2131) is that they need to be constantly adjusted during vehicle operation. If this is not done in time, they will fail, creating a howl or hum when moving. You can save yourself from such problems by installing non-adjustable hubs or double-row bearings.
Niva wheel bearing problem
I want to illustrate the problem using a specific example. The fact that the situation with spare parts in small towns and villages is very bad is well known to me. But sometimes it’s “fun” even in cities with over a million people. A regular customer from Kazan complains: you say that Russian bearings are of good quality. All our stores sell wheel bearings from the Tolyatti plant, in little blue boxes. They travel very little, from 5 to 10 thousand km. They installed it in different services, with different hands. End of quote. I didn’t want to upset the Tatar breeders, but I had to: the Togliatti bearing plant DOES NOT EXIST in nature)))
Off-road
1. Apply lubricant inside the brake drums.
If the car is used off-road, it is recommended to lubricate the inside of the brake drums. This will prevent souring of bolts and mechanisms in the future.
2. Install the rear limited-slip differential.
A self-locking differential increases the vehicle's handling and maneuverability when driving on roads with different surfaces, and improves the vehicle's acceleration dynamics.
Installation does not require additional modification of the mating parts of the transmission.
3. Install mud tires.
If previously Chevy Niva owners could install 215/75R15 tires instead of standard 215/65R16 tires without modifications, then such a trick will not work on the Niva Travel. To do this, you will need to make a suspension lift (+30mm), as well as trim the front bumper and bend the inner fender liner.
4. Install metal engine protection.
For off-road use, it is recommended to replace the standard crankcase protection with a thicker, metal one.
You can also install a tow bar and a winch. In the latter case, it is worth considering that the winch bracket from the Chevy Niva will not fit on the Niva Travel.
Algorithm of actions
Ever since designs with double-row bearings appeared, everything has gone wild. Let's put everything in a row. I know of about 5 different designs, and perhaps only one does not cause serious complaints about its performance. Now a specific algorithm of actions. If you are lucky and your standard unit has traveled more than 20-30 thousand km, the car has a roll and only needed tension adjustment, then you have coaxially bored knuckles. Install good Russian or German bearings and good hubs as needed and ride on, happily ever after. The most important and important thing is that the Niva wheel bearing must have a steel cage. If you are unlucky and the wheel bearings are “consumables”, or regardless of replacement, the car does not roll forward - you have misaligned knuckles and then it is better to think about other designs, since you have nothing to lose. about the option with a wheel bearing from an IVEKO truck .
Side part
- 21230540109081 Inner right side panel Lada Niva Travel
- 21230540109181 Inner left side panel Lada Niva Travel
- 21230620002081 Rear right door Lada Niva Travel
- 21230620002181 Rear left door Lada Niva Travel
- 21230821211280 Molding outer front fender right
- 21230821211380 Left outer front fender molding
- 21230821214280 Front door outer molding, right
- 21230821214380 Left outer front door molding
- 21230821215080 Rear door outer molding, right
- 21230821215180 Left rear door outer molding
- 21230821230480 Molding outer rear wing right
- 21230821230580 Left outer rear fender molding
- Decorative insert (overlay) for the front fender
Soviet version
wheel bearing, made in USSR
These bearings can be found in several versions. The most important thing is to find series A. What is it? This is a series with increased load capacity. Don't be afraid of these words. It’s just that in ordinary bearings for cars, the rollers in the cage are installed one after another, but in this series (industrial), “roller to roller”. That is, there is virtually no distance between them. You can find several good options. The first option is 15-gauge bearings, and you can still find them in the Soviet version on the market. This will be visible by the markings on the bearings. The second option is EPK (European Bearing Corporation) bearings.
hub assembly repair kit, EPK bearings
main Russian version
hub set, Kursk bearings
I assembled this set when I started making friends with “ Kursk bearings ”. The set includes two UBP bearings, 2 nitrile rubber seals and a wheel nut. At this time, this is a kit that is presented in the price list and is the main one for installation.
German version
Niva wheel bearing - German bearing manufacturer Fag. Produces a repair kit for our wonderful car. Composition: two bearings, two cuffs, a little grease and a central nut. There is no particular point in talking about quality, this is a high-class manufacturer. If high-quality hubs are installed, the unit is filled with good lubrication and normal cuffs are installed, the mileage of this unit starts from 100 thousand.
Design Features
The product is a complex-shaped part that rotates on a pair of tapered roller bearings. Their outer diameter is pressed into the steering knuckle. The standard equipment of the Chevrolet Niva includes adjustable hubs. In it, the bearing clearance depends on the position of the adjusting nut.
The latter is equipped with a fixation belt that prevents spontaneous loosening or tightening of the threaded connection. This mechanism requires adjustment during maintenance. An incorrectly adjusted unit wears out quickly:
- Excessive tightening torque makes it difficult for the wheel to rotate, leading to overheating and destruction of the bearings.
- A loose nut causes play and knocking noise in the bearings. Impact loads accelerate wear of the roller metal.
The drive axle shaft transmits torque to the hub due to the presence of splines on the inside of the central hole.
There are 22 of them in the standard design, and 24 in the reinforced design. The second, more durable type of design is equipped with double-row bearings from IVECO trucks. Reinforced hubs are used on VAZ 2121, 2123, 2131, 21213 and 21214.
Some owners re-equip their cars by equipping them with hub units themselves. This avoids damage in the form of broken splines. However, this modification is fraught with drawbacks. The strength of the standard hub is lower than that of the transfer mechanism parts. Therefore, it serves as a kind of “fuse” against overload.
The mounting design for the rear wheels of the Chevrolet Niva is radically different from the front. No hubs are used here. The wheel is attached to the flange of the axle shaft, which rotates in a special bearing.
Torque is transmitted from the rear axle gearbox to the wheels through a spline connection. However, in this case, the splines are cut not in the hub, but in the gears of the gearbox.
Other options
Of course, besides these manufacturers, there are a lot of others, but I don’t experiment with clients. For a long time we worked with LHA bearings (Slovakia). The quality was a solid four. The bearings were in “blackened housings”. I won’t say what kind of coating it is, but the mileage was very good. As happens quite often in this life, the price of “Slovaks” began to slowly rise. I won’t say who is to blame, but as soon as they became comparable to EPK bearings, there was absolutely no point in working with them.
A very large number of wheel bearings with a plastic cage have appeared on sale. Manufacturers and sellers talk about reduced noise of the unit. But they are silent about the humiliatingly small service life of these bearings. Many times they disassembled the fist, the plastic separator was not even found, sometimes it grinds into dust. Be careful.
Summary. Installation of bearings only with a steel cage. It is highly desirable that the bearings have increased load capacity, series A. Proper installation and use of good lubrication. Periodic adjustment of the unit. It is enough to do this during an oil change. That is, once every 7 thousand km.
Rear end
- 21230280401580 Rear bumper
- 21230280404580 Rear bumper mounting bracket, left Lada Niva Travel
- 21230280404480 Rear bumper mounting bracket, right Lada Niva Travel
- 21230280420280 Lower right rear bumper mounting bracket Lada Niva Travel
- 21230280420380 Lower left rear bumper mounting bracket Lada Niva Travel
- 21230371613900 Rear left reflector Lada Niva Travel
- 21230371613800 Rear right reflector Lada Niva Travel
- 21230630001881 Tailgate Lada Niva Travel with hinges assembly
- 21230371601020 Rear right lamp
- 21230371601120 Rear left lamp
- 21230371601480 Decorative trim for rear right lamp
- 21230371601580 Decorative trim for rear left lamp
Installation and Lubrication
Probably one of the most important points in this knot. A lot of Nivovodsk people complain that Papuan services do not know anything other than lithol and grease. There are currently a lot of bearing lubricants in the world, compared to which the old generation lubricants are as old as mammoth poop. In lubricants, as in motor oils, there is the concept of a base oil, or sometimes the formulation is found, an oil carrier. For a popular science story, we can talk about mineral and semi-synthetic lubricants. A number of mineral lubricants, when the temperature reaches 40-50 degrees, simply flow, almost like water. And at a temperature of -20 degrees they rise almost like a stake. If this lubricant is included in the hub assembly and axle shaft bearings, there is no need to talk about the car rolling over. To lubricate the bearings of axle shafts and hubs, I recommend Total Ceran XM 220 lubricant. The characteristics even exceed the requirements for our hub unit. I sent it to services that work with motorcycles and quads, as well as trucks. This lubricant has only one drawback: its availability. All so-called “dealers and distributors” import and certify only consumer goods in Russia. That is, a product that sells well. And special products are not profitable. My colleagues and I have to do this ourselves, through Finka. If everything is really bad with the lubricant, you can use S2A.
Total Ceran XM 220 grease
Other spare parts for Chevrolet Niva
Having found out which wheel bearings Chevrolet Niva owners prefer to install, you can look at other popular spare parts for this car. In July 2022, the leaders on PartReview were:
- #1 BRISK spark plugs - 14% of votes.
- #1 KYB shock absorbers - 12% of votes.
- #1 PILENGA brake pads - 16% of votes.
- #1 Lukoil motor oil - 8% of votes.
- #1 Cordiant tires - 25% of votes.
You can also find out what Chevrolet Niva owners chose among manufacturers of such spare parts as: Pump, Thermostat, Idle Air Control, Springs, Suspension Springs, and others.
Unregulated
As a rule, the Niva has a standard adjustable hub, which requires periodic adjustment. But in order to get rid of this inconvenience, non-adjustable hubs for the Chevrolet Niva were developed, which have such positive qualities as:
- No maintenance required. They don't need to be adjusted
- The bearing in the device does not rotate
- It is filled with special lubricant from the factory, so there is no need to lubricate it.
- Due to the fact that the work occurs thanks to the ball bearing in the unit, friction is reduced
- There is no wear on the seat in the rotary cam
- Not adjustable as it is tightened from the factory
- No need to change the bearing
- Long service life which is equal to 100-120 thousand kilometers
Therefore, thanks to all the positive characteristics listed above, many car owners change the standard part to a non-adjustable one.
It is also worth noting that the non-adjustable part can be produced as a reinforced Niva Chevrolet hub, which solves the problem of wear of the oil seals on the steering knuckle. It is best to choose companies such as VolgaAvtoprom, IVECO, OmegaInterAuto.
The main disadvantage of this unit is its high price, but by installing this part you can forget about the problems that appear in the standard element. By installing a reinforced version of your SUV, the cross-country ability will increase and reliability will increase, and having a standard set of tools, you can make an independent replacement without any problems.
Who buys it
Niva buyers are mostly men, serious and taciturn. Those of them who have already purchased a new product are well aware that, in essence, the car remains the same: they bought it because they know perfectly well what they want from the car.
“I exchanged my swallow (Chevrolet Niva. - Ed.) with a good surcharge for a new Niva Travel. I'm terribly pleased - I really like the update. I took it on credit, it turned out to be 860,000 rubles,” writes the happy owner of the new SUV, Dmitry Zabachev, on the social network.
There is another interesting review posted on the Carsfan resource: a motorist came to the purchase of a Niva Travel SUV by selling a Renault Duster. He ordered a new car on February 12, just three days after the official start of sales.
“I ordered the machine in the “Lux” configuration. It came out to 890,000 rubles, plus 9,000 rubles for the color; the prepayment when ordering was 5,000 rubles. I gave my Renault Duster as a trade-in. I didn’t consider the new Duster, because the 4x4 versions have an outrageous price tag,” reports vazil1963.
Girls are also looking at buying Niva Travel. The Carsfan forum gives this opinion from the first test drive:
“I’ll give Niva Travel 3 points. On the plus side, the face is not as scary as in the photo. And a very high seating position. Cons: I didn’t get into second gear several times, I have to get used to it. The stove is very noisy. And on one of the turns the car actually skidded. And she doesn’t drive, doesn’t accelerate, from the word “at all.”
Signs that replacement is needed
There are two main signs that indicate replacement is necessary:
- There was a knock and play in the hub area
- There was a strong hum and grinding noise in the hub area
But in order to accurately understand the reason for the appearance of extraneous noise, you need to disassemble this mechanism and inspect it.
Replacement
To make a replacement, carefully do the following:
- If this is the front wheel, then the Niva Chevrolet front hub is removed. To do this, the car must be placed on a level surface and jacked up on the replacement side. Then disconnect the pads from the caliper. Unscrew the nut on the axle. We remove all spare parts from the wheel. Take a skein and disconnect the hub from the brake disc.
- We remove the bearing. To do this, remove the plate and oil seal from the inside. Take a cleat and a hammer and remove the inner bearing
- We install a new one. Replacing bearings must be changed on both sides at once, and it does not matter whether it is the rear or front wheels. In order not to damage the body, pressing must be carried out using a wooden plate and a pipe.
- Putting the unit back together. Reassembly must be done in reverse order.
