Bill, I've never heard it done this way but you seemed to have done it! If
you figure a way to get the bearings back on let us know, it will save
some machine shop money. The only way I can suggest is to have a machine
shop press it on.
...Art
On Thu, 5 Mar 1998, Bill Eastman wrote:
> Before I launch into the blow by blow, I have a question for the list. Has
> anyone ever had an MGA lose a rear wheel bearing? These things look mighty
> meaty for their intended purpose.
>
> After pulling the axles and cleaning the bearings with brake cleaner, I
> found that the surface of the inner race on the right side looked a little
> frosted. This bearing was also noisier than the left bearing when spun.
> Remember that this is after most of the lubricant was cleaned off. They
> were both quiet as a church mouse with gear lube all over them.
>
> I had borrowed some 3-jaw pullers from a friend to pull the hub. After
> removing the axle nut (with a chisel- sorry) I tried to use one of these to
> pull the bearing/hub assembly from the axle housing. Well, the bearing
> housing is square and, as such, a 3-jaw puller would not fit well enough to
> get any real tension. There was also a 1.5 inch wide by 5/16 thick steel
> strap with some holes in it in the puller box. With some judicious filing
> I was able to attach this to the 1/4-28 holes in the hub with the strap of
> steel across the housing end. I ended up bending the steel strap before I
> moved the bearing. I then tried putting the steel strap behind the road
> wheel and using the lug nuts to pull the hub outward. This was successful
> in moving the bearing on the housing (shorter lever arms meant less bending
> of the steel strap) but I could not pull it far enough to remove the
> bearing. Next stop- the tool rental store.
>
> Armed with a goodly sized 2 jaw puller, I was able to dislodge the bearings
> from their perch on the axle housing. I then used the same puller from the
> other side to push the bearing out of the hub. Luckily, I had some really
> big sockets to put over the center puller screw to span the axle housing (1
> 1/8 inch) and the bearing inner race (36 mm).
>
> Next I soaked the bearings in solvent to get them good and clean so that I
> could better assess condition. I had originally thought that the left
> bearing was suspect so I was surprised when the right bearing made the most
> noise. After thorough degreasing I found that the left bearing was indeed
> in worse shape. Spinning it produced the classic "shimmy and slow down" of
> a loose bearing whereas the right bearing was still pretty smooth but
> noisy. I must not have gotten the left bearing as clean the first time.
>
> This morning I called Gopher Bearing. They have the bearing listed at
> 36.00 which is about the same price as buying from a Moss distributor after
> discount. They only had one in stock and it will take a week to get the
> second one. Berry Bearing has a pair of self aligning SKF bearings but
> they are 56.00 each and I am pretty sure that the bearing I took out are
> not self aligning so I think I will pass on these.
>
> For those interested, the bearings are double row (like 2 bearings side by
> side) open (non-sealed) ball bearings. The balls are caged (there is a
> retainer to keep the balls from rubbing against each other) but I think all
> large bearings are caged so you probably wouldn't have to mention that.
> Dimensions are 80 mm OD by 40 mm ID by 23 mm wide which is a European width
> bearing. I don't know Why MG uses metric bearings but they seem to be
> pretty consistent. Henry Ford used to use metric on his cars occasionally
> because this would guarantee that the user would have to come back to Ford
> for the replacement since metric was tough to find in pre WWII US.
>
> One last question if anyone has read this far. How do I put these things
> back on? the threaded axle housing end does not protrude sufficiently to
> allow use of the axle nut to pull the bearing into place. I am thinking
> that I will have to carefully "upset" them into place with the subtle
> caress of my 2 lb hammer. As always, any suggestions would be appreciated.
>
> One last thing- I bough a 4 wheel drive hub socket for a Dana 44 that
> looked like it might work on those 8-sided axle nuts. No such luck. It
> looks like Moss is going to have another customer for their axle nut socket
> since I don't want to chisel them back on.
>
> Regards,
> Bill Eastman
> 61 MGA with fewer parts attached today than yesterday :-(
>
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