Rear Hub Reassembly

[waveandwen]

Anyone have a trick for holding the rear hub axle flange O-ring in place in its groove while mating up the axle flange?

It needs to be stretched slightly to fit in the groove and therefore will not cooperate and stay in place. Trying to not use adhesives if possible.

TIA,
Dave
'57 BN4

 

[red57]

We all feel your pain it's a miserable design. I've found a way that works for me, not sure if I can explain it very well or not, but I'll try.

So, if you take the Oring and lay it flat on a surface then try rolling the sides of it (round cross section of the ring) across the table/bench you are on, you will see that it wants to naturally return to the position it came in - ie, the inside wants to return to the inside and the outside wants to return to the outside. Another way to say it is, try to rotate the sides of the Oring so the inside is running on the outside and the outside is running on the inside - when you let go, it will spring back to the way you received it. This is because the inner edge is shorter than the outer edge and, being rubbery, it tries to return to its most relaxed state.

This tendency can work against you, or you can use it in your favor. If you roll the ring into the groove you naturally end up with the inner edge on the outer side and when you let go, it wants to roll itself out of the groove and back to it's relaxed state. OR, you can put a first section of the Oring into the groove with the natural inner edge on the inside and then work your way around it with one hand holding the first part in the groove and the other hand pulling the Oring out and rolling it in your fingers before you put it in the groove so it is sitting in the groove in a relaxed state - if you get all the way around doing this it will stay in place on it's own because it is not trying to roll anywhere. If you have it twisted slightly so it wants to roll towards the hub/bearing casing it will tend to stay as opposed to trying to roll out of the groove. Whew, that's the best I can think of to explaine what I mean, sorry if it just confused you.

Having tried that, I also would like to point out that there has been some debate about the importance of the oring. Some, like myself, doubt it's necessary - I think the gasket is what seals things (but I still use the Oring 'cause I'm intimidated by the karma gods ). I personally like Permatex Aviation form a gasket, a light coat on both sides of the gasket and good to go.

BTW, I hope you first confirmed the bearing spacer sits .001-.004" proud of the gasket so the bearing outer race is held tight (See section J.4 in Bentley book). It's not uncommon to need to make a gasket of a thickness different from the one the parts supplier may send.

Dave

 

[Bob_Spidell]

Haven't done this in a while but, IIRC I used a little bit of wheel bearing grease to hold it in place. I use Redline diff oil, and their synthetic wheel bearing grease on my 'good' cars; I figure they might just be compatible.

Ditto on the Form-A-Gasket; it'll set up to a sorta soft glaze and sometimes you can peel the gasket off and reuse it.

 

[Healey Nut]

Stretch the O ring “gently“ to make it slightly larger temporarily and stick it in place with vacuum grease .
Vacuum grease is very sticky and will hold it while you assemble the rest .

 

[steveg]

Permatex makes a Green RTV that's specifically to resist to gear oil. I like a combination of the o-ring and that. I made gaskets of the proper thickness out of copier paper, but they disintegrated. Gave up on making my own gaskets and did permatex/o-ring only.

The pre-BN4 hypoid cars used only the gasket, so the factory must have felt it necessary to add the o-ring after the BN2s.

 

[waveandwen]

Thanks to all for the quick replies.

I get the ring wanting to "roll out", but I think is just to tight and not enough of a shoulder to hold against the contraction force.

After another 50 minutes of struggles and a fair amount of swearing, Healey Nut gets the win! Stretching the ring and sticking in place with a fair amount of grease got it sit there long enough to mate the flange. Now on to the other side.

Thanks again. Love this resource and with the beast getting back on the road, I hope to be around more.

Dave.

 

[waveandwen]

Honestly don't see the need for the gasket or sealant. Shouldn't the o-ring alone be enough?
Dave

 

[DarvinR]

Haven't done this in a while but, IIRC I used a little bit of wheel bearing grease to hold it in place. I use Redline diff oil, and their synthetic wheel bearing grease on my 'good' cars; I figure they might just be compatible.

Ditto on the Form-A-Gasket; it'll set up to a sorta soft glaze and sometimes you can peel the gasket off and reuse it.

We will try that when needed. My friend got this BN4 project and we'll see if the rear hub needs attention. Got to finish installing the suspension from 4Wheelonline onto the truck before we can clear the garage and take a closer look.