Well, I've done it, changed the front wheel bearings on the 6. Thanks to all
for the tips. Jan, I had no problems; thanks for asking. Joe Curry, of
course I had good wheel bearings! :)
I won't relate every detail of the work, because it is covered well in the
Bentley and especially the Haynes manual. But I'll relate some good tips I
got, and discovered.
Use vinyl gloves. I was never a real fan of them, but this is a greasy job
and wearing the gloves makes it much easier and cleaner. A box of 100 is
cheap.
Getting the bearing races or cones out was not as bad as I was afraid it
would be. Two notches on the inside behind each race makes it a straight
forward operation to get them out.
Great tip from a lister: Put new bearing into a zip lock bag with the
grease. You can really force grease into the bearing by putting the bag down
on the bench and pushing the grease into the bearing like toothpaste in an
old tube. Plus, if you drop the stuff, the bearing is still clean, and when
you're finished you still have a bag of clean grease for filling the little
end caps.
Beg, borrow, or rent a set of mandrels. These are tools that fit the into
bearing races so that when you drive them in they go in easy and straight. A
friend loaned me his (I'm not going to say whom, so don't ask me) and they
worked great.
Oil seals. I soaked them in motor oil for a couple of hours before I
installed them. Then I squeezed the felt faces together to get out as much
excess as possible. When I tightened up the stub axle nut more oil squeezed
out so be ready for a drip or two and to wipe off the caliper. The manuals
say to put the seals onto the stub axle first. I didn't. There is a recess
on the inside of the hub into which the metal back of the seal fits, so I
tapped the seal into there first. Figured that would be easier than trying
to line it up on the stub axle especially with such a tight fit.
End float. This made me the most nervous. I combined several tips and did
it like this: I tightened the nut until the wheel would not turn; then I
loosened and retightened the nut several times to compress the seal;
tightened to 10 ft/lbs torque, backed off one flat, then cotter pin into the
next hole. There are two holes in the stub axle for the cotter pin at a less
than 90 degree relative angle so you don't have to turn the nut very far.
After I finished, and drove the car around the block there was just the
slightest bit of movement top to bottom. Think I will wait a couple of weeks
(I drive the car every day) and check float again.
Any more thoughts about end float? Do you think I am on the right track?
Again thanks to all. I know this has been long, but I figured others out
there who are a little afraid would like to know that this is doable. Oh,
yeah, took me 6 hours from when I stepped into the garage 'till I stepped out
of the shower with a couple of short breaks. I know it can be done much
faster, but for a first time go slow and careful, not bad.
Peter Arakelian
''71 TR6 - Daily Driver
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