Worldly Scions,
Well it appears that the list concensus is the felt oil seal
should be installed facing the vertical link, not the wheel bearing / hub.
I especially enjoyed mjb's answer & explanation.
I'm not trying to be contentious or flog a dead horse here, just
want to bring some additional, conflicting "authoritative" information
to light. Permit me an additional .02P
I looked in the compilation 'Practical Classics & Car Restorer on
Spitfire Restoration'. (published by Brooklands Books ~1987)
They have an interesting installation technique similar to that
described by Ross Vincenti;
install the bearings and hub to the stub axle _without_ the felt
oil seal initially. Tighten it until it begins to bite, then mark the
castellated nut and axle. Remove the assembly, lubricate, and
re-assemble with the oil seal (felt facing into hub). Tighten to the
alignment marks (which will feel too tight). They go on to say that
even though the wheel(s) was initially too stiff, after a 500 yard run
it was quite loose and they were able to get an additional full turn
on the nut. They also suggest leaving the hub grease caps off
for a couple of days so the endfloat can be checked/adjusted
periodically without having to remove the wheel.
I understand Practical Classics have "reversed" their position on
the felt in a later edition.
The old (grey) Haynes manual says to assemble everything dry,
finger-tighten, make alignment marks, disassemble, lubricate,
including soaking the felt oil seal in......guess what? OIL
(first time that word has been used wrt these things) Then,
reassemble with the felt facing the bearings.
The new (blue) Haynes manual leaves out a lot of these details,
but cautions to carefully reinstall the hub assembly to the stub
axle so as not to damage the felt oil seal. This indicates that the
felt would facing the _vertical_link_!
I took a couple of spares apart and found both orientations.
My Bentley manual is not very specific at all. So there you have
it. Clear as pea soup. Perhaps, Doug, you should install one
facing each way ;-) Again, I do not wish to waste BW and
perpetuate this thread ad nauseum. Feel free to respond to
me privately if you wish.
Bob Sykes (s1500@aol.com) - - - __,@_\____
'78 Spitfires - -- }-0-----0->
feeling felt facing every-which-way
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