Front wheel bearings

[BestyA]

Having rebuilt the front suspension, I thought the easy bit was going to be fitting new wheel bearings. Once the hub is on and the castellated nut is fitted I seem to only be able to fit the split pin if I tighten the nut so tight the hub won't spin. Any idea what I might be doing wrong? Both sides are the same by the way. 

[Pete Lewis]

  GT6  ????           

have you fitted the felt seal cup the wrong way round ???   >-<[    not   >-<]

i take it you make the stub is apparently a bit short ,  so either the seal is wrong or a bearing is not seated ...

are these std  bearings or some kit with solid spacers  between the two races  ???    on rebuild  have you changed the stub axles  ???

pete

 

[Colin Lindsay]

1 hour ago, Pete Lewis said:

  on rebuild  have you changed the stub axles  ???

pete

 

This is something I'm intending to do before the end of the week; I have one that a PO told me is not properly fitted, so will have to remove and replace. Any tips - not so much on removal, but on proper refitting?

[poppyman]

Hi Besty, further to what Pete has said, have you replaced the stubaxles or hubs in the rebuild?  If not you either have wrong parts or something is fitted wrong.

Tony.

[Clive]

I think some of the new felt seals are too thick?? Certainly rings a bell. Compare to the old one, I think I re-used my old seals when I last did wheel bearings.

 

Colin, nothing special about refitting stub axles. Just make sure clean and smooth. Getting the old ones out can be a chore though.

[Pete Lewis]

forgot that yes ive got some very oversized   no idea why i kept them . was there some talk of being TR related .... look the part but hopelessly  too  big thick felt and  a deep cup

Pete 

[Colin Lindsay]

56 minutes ago, clive said:

I think some of the new felt seals are too thick?? Certainly rings a bell. Compare to the old one, I think I re-used my old seals when I last did wheel bearings.

 

Colin, nothing special about refitting stub axles. Just make sure clean and smooth. Getting the old ones out can be a chore though.

Thanks Clive; I have spares that I'll refurbish then do a straight swap on the estate, but the guy I got them from many moons ago says he tried to change the stub axle, wasn't sure if it was fitted correctly, and never risked it on a car. I bought it for the excellent threads so was not too worried about the axles. It may be okay but the nut was never torqued up fully so I'll do it again. Gentle heat should get the old ones out. I hope.

Re felt seals: the last 'new' ones I bought wouldn't even fit the hub as the metal was too large, so I took the felt and glued it into an old cup. Over the years I've amassed a good supply of old stock versions that are always a straight fit.  

[Pete Lewis]

stub acle torque is 55-60 lbft  , removing can be a bounce it all round the garage to break the taper

i can tell you if it comes loose the stub makes some interesting noises .

stubs for  herald/spit  drum , later disc  and vitesse /GT6  are all different ,  all  have  same size fixing nut.

 

Pete

 

[BestyA]

I think my first option is fit the hub with no seal (not permanently of course) at least that will give me an indication the axle is long enough. It is torqued up to 60 lb/ft - removing the old ones was interesting as they both were ruined, hence the reason I fitted new. My concern is it is either the taper on the VL or the taper on the axle that is wrong - but lets measure it first!

[Colin Lindsay]

I'm nearly sure all of mine are Herald bar two NOS stubs which I suspect are late Spitfire, but may be the same - I must check.

The ones I have already fitted are good enough to be reused, just possibly not fitted properly - in fact I think the one I'm talking about was fitted new and never used on the road. 

Must go have my Weetabix and try to remove it.

I'm assuming heat will do no harm? I was replacing ring gears recently and the instruction there is to use no heat, just hot water.

[daverclasper]

18 minutes ago, Colin Lindsay said:

Must go have my Weetabix and try to remove it.

I'm assuming heat will do no harm? I was replacing ring gears recently and the instruction there is to use no heat, just hot water.

I would'v thought heat ok. People use oxy cetalene on steering parts etc, though it must soften/anneal it?.

Let us know how you get on, as it's something I may need to do in the future. 

Edited May 4, 2020 by daverclasper

[Peter Truman]

re felt seals there was a thread some time ago on how to fit them ie soak in oil and compress them for some period (days to week) so you only had to fit and adjust the hubs once if you didn't compress prior to installation then you'd be having to adjust the hubs regularly . I think Pete L provided that info, and I've done it on both the Vitesse and Spit successfully, I compressed the felt seal between two pieces of wood in the vice and left them a week I think they ended up around half as thick.

The last felt seals I got were quite thick, but worked with above compression,

Peter T

[Pete Lewis]

if you have fitted  4 cyl  stub axles and  have  6 cyl hubs  it wont work............... so   whats the part number of the new stubs ???

do you have what you were supposed to be supplied with ?????

Pete

 

[Colin Lindsay]

There is quite a difference between 6 cylinder stubs and 4 cylinder versions; I've just had them side by side in the garage and you'd know the difference.

I've also hit a few snags with my NOS versions; they won't fit either the castellated nut, the axle nut or my thread dies - I suspect late Spitfire versions were metric?

2 hours ago, daverclasper said:

I would'v thought heat ok. People use oxy cetalene on steering parts etc, though it must soften/anneal it?

That's what worries me; if it leaves a starter ringgear unfit for purpose what effect does it have on suspension uprights? I've survived two axles snapping - one of those was due to welding heat - and am allergic to a third, even if that would be a front for a change. I'd rather ask first!

[68vitesse]

Have removed stub axles from vertical link on my Vitesse using my two biggest hammers. Slacken nut placed sledge hammer on ground to use as anvil, hold stub axle, rest vertical link on hammer where stub axle passes through hit vertical link on opposite side with second biggest hammer to shock axle free. The vertical link was scrap as the threaded portion for trunnion had broken off.

Regards

Paul

[daverclasper]

1 hour ago, Colin Lindsay said:

one of those was due to welding heat

Maybe someone who's a metalagist, etc can chime in here?. The old saying "a little heat goes a long way" in these situations, so maybe some blow torch heat, may be ok?.

[Colin Lindsay]

1 hour ago, Colin Lindsay said:

I've also hit a few snags with my NOS versions; they won't fit either the castellated nut, the axle nut or my thread dies - I suspect late Spitfire versions were metric?

I checked a few suppliers for part numbers - I see both Canleys and Rimmers have new websites! - but they listed the same part from Spitfire Mk1 right through Herald to late Spits.

Went back out to the garage and the nuts fitted first time. Sometimes I hate these things!

Now I've found that there are different stub axles for drum brakes and disc brakes. I hope that the early Herald uprights that I've blasted and repainted are disc versions... it would be just my luck to work on the wrong set, or one of each...