> I repacked the wheel bearings on my 74 Spitfire the other day, a seemingly
> routine job, one which I've done many times on other vehicles. The races
> and bearings were in excellent shape, so the only thing I replaced were the
> inner grease seals which I purchased from Victoria British.
>
> When I reinstalled the hubs I could not get either of them on far enough to
> insert the cotter pins through the castigated nuts. So I then really
> cranked down the nuts to compress the felt on the seals. Of course, when I
> did this I had no end play at all and the hubs could only be rotated by
> using extreme force.
>
> Next, I backed off the nuts until I could get a reasonable amount of end
> play, but then I had to use a smaller cotter pins. I thought that perhaps
> the felt were "wear in" after a few miles and I would then be able to get
> the right cotter pins inserted. However, the hubs were still too far
> outboard to allow me to reinstall the brake calipers.
>
> Next, I pulled both hubs again to check every thing. The found the races
> and seals were set at the proper depths. However, when I compared the
> thickness of the felt on the new seals to that of the old (worn) seals I
> found that the felt on the new seal was more than twice as thick as that of
> the old ones. I then used an exacto knife and reduced the thickness of the
> new seals by a considerable amount and every thing then mounted up as it
> should.
>
> My concern is that as the new seals wear in and the end play is readjusted
> that metal to metal contact may develop between the hubs and the little
> cups they insert into on the inboard side of the spindles.
>
> Has anyone else encountered this problem with new inner seals?
>
> I've driven the car about 50 miles since doing this and plan on pulling the
> hubs again this weekend to recheck every thing. I'm thinking about making
> up some seals to the proper thickness, if I can find a similar material.
> Any suggestions on what to use would be appreciated.
>
> Barry H. Adams
> 74 Spitfire
Yes, I've encountered this problem before and it has been mentioned
on this list in the past.
I've found that the only way to get the right amount of play is to
tighten things up then drive around for a bit, then (because there is
now too much clearance) tighten the nut up further. They then need
checking after a few thousand miles. Another way to do it (which I
havn't tried) is to get the right clearance without the seal
installed, mark the position of the nut, remove, reinstall the seal
and tighten to the mark.
Good luck,
Jonathan
'77 spitfire 1500
*************************************
Dr J.E.Miles
School of Biological Sciences
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham B15 2TT
Great Britain
Tel. 0121-414-5884
Fax. 0121-414-5925
j.e.miles@bham.ac.uk
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