TR2/3/3A Brake disc?

Is it possible to use a 10&3/4 " brake disc in place of an 11" disc on a temporary basis? Would it work?

Yup, should work. Part of the pad won't touch the disc, though; so long term you might have trouble with the pads touching in the middle.

TR3driver said:

Yup, should work. Part of the pad won't touch the disc, though; so long term you might have trouble with the pads touching in the middle.

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That's good to know. I had a front outer wheel bearing seize up and the ensuing damage ruined the hub and disc. I had a spare 10&1/2" hub disc I was going to use. I'm going to post a story on the forum about the perils of not getting the right end float set properly on the front wheel. Do you know how I could find that link where someone was talking about shaving the felt washer down?

Question:

Rotors are separate from hubs...are 10-3/4" hubs enough different than 11" hubs to prevent swapping the 11" rotor to the 10-3/4" hubs?

Nope, hubs are the same.

So....if he fratzed the hub and bearings, but the rotor works....swap the 11" onto the 10-3/4" hub, and no worries?

karls59tr said:

Do you know how I could find that link where someone was talking about shaving the felt washer down?

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Do you mean this one?
https://www.britishcarforum.com/bcf...t-wheel-bearing-grease-seal-with-felt-packing

There have been many, that felt is a problem for the entire TR 2-6 line.
Which is why I always recommend setting the bearing clearance without the felt.

The other important point is that the original components were sized to give proper clearance when you snug the nut down and back off. But quality control is a lot poorer today, and replacement components (not just bearings but the but and D washer as well) may not be exactly the right thickness. So if you've replaced things (especially with those no-name bearings), its best to pay attention to how much clearance you wind up with.

One flat on the nut is about .008" while IIRC the correct clearance is only .004". If it doesn't line up there, you may need to sand the nut a bit.

Yes, except he said the 11" rotor was damaged too.

Probably from rubbing against the caliper after the bearing went away.

TOC said:

So....if he fratzed the hub and bearings, but the rotor works....swap the 11" onto the 10-3/4" hub, and no worries?

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Randall When you leave out the felt on the initial assembly do you mean you leave out the felt and its metal backing?

Here's what happened to me because I did not follow the proper assembly procedure. I was on my way to a British car meet last Sunday. Going down the highway at 70mph when the drivers side wheel locked up and steering became difficult. Strong smell of burning? Was able to steer the car over to the gravel on the side of the highway. Got a pretty good adrenaline rush! I got out and saw that the front drivers side wheel was canted over about 30 degrees. I looked underneath and there were flames starting at both inner front wheels. The grease there must have caught fire from the heat generated. I threw handfuls of road gravel dirt on to the flames to put the fire out. I called a tow truck. I was surprised at the number of people who stopped to see if everything was OK. When I got the car home I was able to take a better look at the damage. Surprisingly enough the spindle nut and cotter pin were still in place but most of the outer bearing had disintegrated I had to Dremel off the remains of the bearing that was on the spindle. The inner hub was ruined and the disc blue rainbow colored heat damaged. The force of the wheel locking against the brake caliper snapped off one of the caliper mounting bracket eyes. The brake pads on the damaged caliper appear none the worst for wear....not worn or fire damaged. I'll have to have a look at the drivers side pads as well.
I have a spare 10&3/4 disc and hub that I can use. Bought a replacement bearing. Waiting to see if a local club member has a used "B"caliper. If I can get the pistons out of it I'll see if I can swap out the ones in the broken caliper.
I believe that not only did I not follow the correct procedure for end float but it is possible that I got side tracked with another project and forgot to torque the nut properly??? At any rate the wobble must have generated enough heat to seize the bearing. Could have been worse as there was another Brit car event I had been thinking of going to that day where you could do practice laps around the track.

karls59tr said:

Randall When you leave out the felt on the initial assembly do you mean you leave out the felt and its metal backing?

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Yes. Here is hopefully a link to that section from the TR4 manual

So....if the bearing and hub go, how much noise did this make to rub the rotor off on the caliper or mounting bracket?
I mean, a little scraping is fine, but did it disintegrate?

And usually when you do that to the bearings and hub, the spindle is toast.

Torch to get the inner race off the spindle, file it so a bearing fits to get you home, but no way will you be driving it any more than dead slow, home.

I think we're missing part of the story, Paul Harvey.

+1 on replacing spindle even if it looks fine.

There was a bang when the wheel turned inward and locked up. The spindle survived without damage save for a small nick. No torch or replacement bearing to do that sort of roadside repair.

TR3driver said:

+1 on replacing spindle even if it looks fine.

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I do have a replacement spindle I could use. Is it your belief that the metal in the spindle has been stressed to the point that it too fatigued to be safely used?

Is it blue in the bearing areas?

TOC said:

Is it blue in the bearing areas?

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Not blue in the bearing areas but it may be a good idea to replace the spindle to be on the safe side.

Its really easy for a failing bearing to get hot enough to affect the spindle, even without turning it blue, and those TR spindles aren't any too strong to begin with. It might be fine, probably is fine. But having one snap can ruin your whole day, so it seems like cheap insurance to me.

I have found the seal retainer is usually too big to fit the bore of the hub so I have carefully dressed the outer face down till I got a good press fit not a force fit like it was when I got it from the supplier. I damaged one seal retainer attempting to seat it before I made them a better fit.

David

It was an old hub with new seals.

I think I got one seal that fit good but when I came to fit the wheel I could not find it and I had only ordered 1 instead of 2. So I ordered 2 more thinking I was using the same source but these did not fit so I carefully sanded down the outer diameter, As I recall the felt was not glued in well so I removed the felt then did my sanding. Got them so I could push them in easily half way and light tapping pressure the remainder of the way.

David