Thanks to all of you who told me to check my wheel bearings when I asked
the group about a rumbling noise a while back.
I took the hubs apart yesterday to examine and repack the bearings and
found a broken bearing spacer on the right wheel inner bearing. The race
metal was discolored, and the bearing was "rotationally challenged". The
seal had been rubbing on the spindle backing and was rubbed quite flat and
smooth, possibly pushed out as the broken bearing worked around. I ordered
a new wheel bearing set yesterday.
With any luck, I'll have the Sprite up to "daily driver" status before the
first snow . . . <g>
I discovered something in the tear-down that I had never noticed before--
the disk rotors have spacer rings on them. These are about 1/4-inch thick
steel rings on the wheel bolt circle, and the wheel lugs themselves are
longer to extend properly above the spacers. Would these spacers be to
provide caliper clearance with the original Bugeye vented wheels?
Tom Zuchowski
'61 Bugeye
Clemmons, NC
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