I'm sorry the bearing was wrong Mikey, I'll take the wrong one off your hands if you like as I have one that needs exactly that bearing...

Not the biggest research/development loss i've had with this car

This leaves us with a bit of a question mark as to when the input shaft changed. I'm going for about 1994-1996 as an educated guess.

Its no good to me, I don't like the final drive ratios of shafts this'll fit then, other than G40, so pm your addy and i'll pass it over.

The investigation reveals something, though. Why this happens to me. With Milton Keynes being a grid of quarter mile straights, its hard on a car if you want to get across the town quickly. You can do so, even in rush hour, but its sprint after sprint after sprint. This warms up the output final drive pinion to the diff. The bearing in question is butt-up to it. This bearing can get warm.

This particular one got very warm. The inner race had turned to hard crumbly cheese. The rollers were naturally pitted but not too bad. The outer race still mint. The contrast between inner and outer are the exposing factors.

This does make sense on reflection, and all experience now tells me that whilst I can get away with short periods of open taps, and I can get away with long journeys, it won't do both.

I have a drive to Devon coming up, i shall relax in the knowledge that as long as i give myself plenty of time to get there, I will get there. All being well I shall look into RR and Pod runs - but I think i'll give the Gumball a miss!

Made it to VW today, and their computer rightly specified a 29x50 bearing instead of the 27x50 bearing.

Part number for this 29mm x 50mm bearing is; 311 405 625 N

Its an FAG bearing, made in Korea but looks like jewelry compared to the SKF one - so it should at twenty five quid.

I'm very glad I found this. I was looking online at the dimensions of an SKF l44649/610/q and the inner diameter of 26.99mm just wasn't matching my 29mm shaft. You saved me from ordering a kit and paying for postage to the other side of the globe only to find it's got a bearing that doesn't fit.

I'm gambling that buying a rear wheel kit locally for just $15 is going to have that bearing.

A listing on ebay lists the sizes of the bearings in rear wheel kit and one is the right size.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/171019652147?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

Glad to be of help, and your willingness to do some searching seems to have paid off even further with the bearing in the eBay advert.

The bearing for the gearbox is just under 15mm thick, too. I didn't get an exact figure because of the cage for the rollers, but I had the calipers on them enough to know it was late 14s.

The three measurements seem correct then, and I suspect these are the very same bearings used.

I'll be interested in your results, although I reckon you could get the one bearing alone for less than ten quid direct from a bearing company. I only paid VW prices because I needed their help over the counter. Now we know the size, they should be easy to source.

Well, I've got the wheel bearing on the output shaft. It fits. And the outer race fits tightly into the clutch housing. Now I've got a problem of how to pull the outer race out again to remove some shims behind it.

heat it up. i put my gearbox casings in the oven and after 30 mins at 140 they fell out

I ended up making a puller and using a heat gun

http://www.clubpolo.co.uk/forum/index.php?showtopic=327322