Last week’s article was about the broken wheelbearing. After a short wait the new part has arrived and it was an old stock article from my local bearing supplier. If anyone can date this Timken box, I would be curious to know how old it is! The mounting of the bearing is a simple procedure that requires some attention in keeping everything clean and lubricating the bearings well. The first thing to do is to clean all the surfaces in the hub. Clean out the old grease and degrease all the surfaces. Then apply grease INTO the new bearing. It’s very important to get the grease inside instead of on the surface. A handy way to do this is to use a grease gun with a long pointed tip (I’ve attached a picture in the album). Another way is to “massage” the grease into the bearing from the underside, until it starts coming out from the top of the rollers. I’ve also attached a picture of a properly lubricated bearing into the album. After the outer bearing has been properly greased, you can mount it. Then in this case, as in most cases, there is a tapered spacer that touches both bearings on the larger diameter ring, so that if you mount it you can’t crush the cages of the bearing by too much force. Make sure this spacer is also greased as it gives an extra supply of grease in the bearing assembly. Mount the inner bearing and in this case there is a large threaded lock ring that can be tightened fully, as the spacer holds the correct bearing distance between the inner and outer bearing. When all is properly greased, mount the hub back on the axle stub and use the lock nut to tighten. This is a critical step, do not overtighten this nut because this will crush the bearing cage. Do not keep it too loose because the bearings will get play and will fail prematurely. It’s a feeling that’s easily felt, when you tighten it with a normal wrench, constantly turn the brake drum until it stops feeling wobbly, continue to tighten it until it starts feeling tight (carefully) and then a little bit looser until the drum no longer turns tight but there is still no play or wobble in the bearings. You get the feeling for this quite easily, just make sure it’s never loose but just not too tight on the bearings that they feel like they are being crushed. Then safely secure it with a splitpin and it is all done! Please visit the photo album for visual reference and some comments per picture here: https://goo.gl/photos/viNg2zsbr3pTxAL26 If anyone has any questions about the process, feel free to ask me via workshop@prewarcar.com
Words by Jos van Genugten
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Prewar Workshop: Wheel bearings Part 2
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