Mike Tobin asks:
>Yesterday my son's Spit 1500 trashed it's right rear wheel bearing.
Bummer.
>The Haynes manual just has a section on removing the hub, and they tell
>you remove essentially the whole supension on the side in question.
Do it the way the Haynes book says. It isn't hard. Remove the four bolts
that hold the u-joint to the diff, the bolt that holds the top of the vertical
link to the spring, and one (usually the rear) of the radius rod mounts.
Also disconnect the brake line and handbrake cable.
>However, it appears from looking at the car that it should be possible
>to simply drive out the pin on the inboard end of the halfshaft and pull
>shaft and bearing out through the trunion (love that word) without
>removing said trunion and all the various attached bits from the car.
>We didn't get tp this until late last night and have only removed the
>brake drum. The kid was last seen trying to drive out the pin, but
>without a proper drift he was unsuccessful.
NOOOOooo!!!! NOOOOooo!!!!! That joint is a press-fit that is supposedly
able to hold 12000 lbs (that's what I remember from a Brooklands reprint),
and you won't be able to get it out anyway. That pin is there as a safety.
Think! That bond between halfshaft and u-joint takes the lateral loads of
cornering, so you don't want a joint that comes apart easily! And anyway,
you can't pull the halfshaft through the trunnion. The bearing is in two
pieces, one of which is press-fit onto the halfshaft with no removeable
bearing surface. It must be pressed off and a new one pressed on, easy with
an appropriate hydraulic press but not with handtools. In other words, you
really should take it to a good shop that has done one before. The labor
charge will not be too great, especially if you just hand them the axle/
hub assembly (and parts) and say "fix it".
The biggest problem is that the pin-bearing section, the part pressed onto
the axle, is likely to have worn grooves into the halfshaft if he drove too
far with it bad. If so, it may require a new halfshaft. It is not uncommon
to have to replace the halfshaft in this case. If so, it will cost you well
over $100, maybe closer to $200. It may be that the old one can be saved.
Last time I had one go out, I drove immediately to a shop (maybe 30 miles)
and they said it was very lightly scored so they would try smoothing it with
emery paper. If it worked, it would save me the cost of a halfshaft, and if
not, I'd need another set of bearings along with the new halfshaft. Since
bearings are cheap, I told them to go ahead and emery it down. They did and
it is still quiet after >5000 miles. Also, they should probably replace the
u-joint while it is out of the car. That will be about another $14 or so.
Wheel bearings usually go bad as a result of heat buildup, itself usually
caused by insufficient lubrication. Thus it is very important to keep those
rear wheel bearings in the Spitfire lubed. They are very easy to do, so now
that you know the dangers, make sure you hit them with a grease gun every few
months. (And hit the front vertical links too, to keep the front trunnions
in good shape.) One good thing about them is that once you have committed
yourself to replacing the halfshafts anyway, you can drive on bad rear wheel
bearing for a long time. They just make a lot noise.
>Any suggestions - or does he just follow the Haynes instructions for the
>rear suspension removal?
Follow the Haynes book. Believe me.
Speaking of Spitfires, someone wrote the other day about the 1500 losing a
bearing and needing an oil cooler. Umm...while I am not a total authority,
I have never heard of such a tendency, and as far as I have ever seen, oil
coolers have never been a common or recommended item for street Spitfires.
Yours for higher revs as long as they don't exceed 6000,
Jim Muller
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