To John, Don, Elton, Kevin, and all,
When I first repacked my front bearings I found that I had to replace the
bearings. In 1975 Healey parts were very hard to find in Columbus, OH but
Temkin headquarters was close so I placed a call to Temkin Corp offices and
found that the bearing would have to come from England. Finally got the
bearings but not at a cost you would pay for at a local Industrial Bearing
house. I just replaced the shims that were there not knowing or having a
service manual. Later on after getting a service manual I found out that I
needed to redo the shim package. I used all the shims from both sides and got
the zero preload that the factory specified on each wheel. Then I got shims
from local Industrial Bearing supply house to build the second pack I needed.
If you do this then you will know just how many of what size to buy and not
over spend. The OD of the shims were filed down by packing together on an
electric drill, clamping drill in vise, turning drill on and filing to correct
OD.
The Healey factory service manual describes a "zero or close to it" preload on
the bearings. Most american cars describe a high positive preload and then
backing off to a neutral preload. However more often than not the preload
turns out to be negative. This puts tremendous loads on the bearings during
turns but it seems to work. On four wheel drive vechiles (Chevys) the preload
is positive. So---- what the heck what is best? I think that zero preload or
very slightly positive will give best bearing wear and front end feel.
By the way you won't get exactly zero preload using the Healey service manual
method but it will be close.
Jerry
BN 2
John Loftus <loftusdesign@cox.net> wrote:
Elton,
I bought a package of assorted shims through either a local industial
hardware store or McMaster-Carr. The problem is you can find the right
I.D of .875" (7/8") but the O.D. needs to be 1.25" (1 1/4") for the BJ7
(and I think earlier 6's .. I believe the BJ8 uses different sized
shims). So the shims I ordered have an O.D. of 1.375" (1 3/8") so it was
necessary to make a quick fixture, chuck them up to a lathe and cut the
O.D. down (all at the same time). An easy job if you have a machine
lathe or a machinist friend like I do who likes beer :)
I just checked for you and McMaster-Carr has an assorted shims set. If
you go to
http://www.mcmaster.com/ and put in the following part number into the
search field, 3088A935, you will see that the 19-Piece Plain Steel Shim
Assortment costs $10.33 and contains one each of these thicknesses:
.001", .0015", .002", .003", .004", .005", .006", .007", .008", .010",
.012", .015", .020", .025", .031", .047", .062", .093", and .125".
With the above assortment and the original shims that were on the car,
it was no problem finding the right combinations to get the bearings
adjusted right. I do have a stack of extras that I could send you ...
maybe it would be enough (btw, I like beer too :)
Cheers,
John
Elton Schulz wrote:
>Hi, fellow listers!
>Does anyone know of an inexpensive source of front bearing shims for a BJ7?
>Moss wants over $4 each for the .003" and .005" shims. Based on archive
>recommendations that I should get six of each size plus four of the .010"
>shims, it can get pretty expensive for these flimsy critters.
>Thanks for your help.
>
>Elton Schulz
>63 BJ7
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