Wheel bearing question

[metropolisman]

Good evening
my bj8 has scuttle shake, the wheels have a few broken spokes and are not true. ( 60 spoke chrome)
and the tires appear to be older than 7 years. The hubs have wear. I have replaced those items and I’m getting ready to install them. I’m thinking it would be prudent at minimum to clean and repack the wheel bearings and inspect the shim packs. The right front hub seems to have some backlash in it and spins very freely. I think these bearings may need to be replaced. I assume I will need to buy new grease cups , inner and outer bearings, a new grease seal and possibly replace the shims. Is moss a good resource for these items? Or perhaps someone can recommend a better avenue, perhaps timkin bearings? Your thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Thanks
Jeff

 

[Bob_Spidell]

re: "I assume I will need to buy new grease cups"

I think you might be referring to the metal caps inside the hubs that protect the bearings? If so, you can fashion a puller with a suitable coupler and some all-thread or long bolts.

"... possibly replace the shims"

Shims can be used indefinitely (unless damaged). With new hubs and bearings, your shim pack will probably change a little; typically 0.030" of shims gets you close; if you have a micrometer, 'overpack' the shims and measure end play, then remove shims to eliminate the end play (with no binding or grinding). Or, if you have a lot of thin shims overpack them, then remove them one at a time until the bearings run free, with minimal to no end play. Determine the shim pack with only light oil on the bearings (not grease). You'll be tempted to fill the cavity with grease, just grease the bearings well and leave it at that.

Healey hubs should have a spacer between the inner and outer bearings; it's where the shims are placed. Some cars may have the spacer missing, and the bearings adjusted like a typical American car. The necessity and purpose of the spaces is subject to some debate, but you should have them.

Places like McMaster Carr might have the correct shims, but you'd need to get the ODs and IDs. Tom's Import Toys in Portlandia gives a 10 or 15 (?) % discount on Moss parts, and probably has shims on the shelf; great people to deal with:

https://tomsimport.com/new/index.asp

 

[steveg]

Strongly agree re Tom per above. 15% discount.

There's info here in the archives about hubs & splines.

 

[metropolisman]

Thanks guys,

 

[Rob Glasgow]

re: "I assume I will need to buy new grease cups"

no you you do not need to buy new grease cups. Just put out the old ones, do the bearing/shim work and reinsert the old cups.
Their only function is to hold in some of the grease and hold out some dust/grit. Much like a standard front axle hub cover on an American car.

 

[pkmh]

I have the real McCoy tool I've used to remove my stubborn dust caps, but here is the actual drawing I readily have and used to make the tool. And as my note indicates, $3.00 was about all that was needed to make this. Hope this helps a bit...

 

[steveg]

I have the real McCoy tool I've used to remove my stubborn dust caps, but here is the actual drawing I readily have and used to make the tool. And as my note indicates, $3.00 was about all that was needed to make this. Hope this helps a bit...
View attachment 58562

The extended nut above is a 5/16-24 fine thread coupling nut if asking for it at a hardware store. Somewhat hard to find - usually they are 5/16-18 coarse thread. Bolt Depot has them:

 

[bob hughes]

I made my cup remover too, and a hub remover, but found that I did not have to use the hub remover - not on the fronts anyway.

Assemble the hubs dry onto the car without shims, check the end float and provide shims to suit, you will have some already but get a few more of each size, I keep a stock of sizes as, in the past, I have removed hubs at least once a year on my 'rolling restoration' ( you always go over the ground several times when carrying out rolling restoes) it sounds a PTA but doing them the other way - by guessing, is a nightmare and very rarely works properly.



Bob

 

[Randy Forbes]

re: "I assume I will need to buy new grease cups"

I think you might be referring to the metal caps inside the hubs that protect the bearings? If so, you can fashion a puller with a suitable coupler and some all-thread or long bolts.

"... possibly replace the shims"

Shims can be used indefinitely (unless damaged). With new hubs and bearings, your shim pack will probably change a little; typically 0.030" of shims gets you close; if you have a micrometer, 'overpack' the shims and measure end play, then remove shims to eliminate the end play (with no binding or grinding). Or, if you have a lot of thin shims overpack them, then remove them one at a time until the bearings run free, with minimal to no end play. Determine the shim pack with only light oil on the bearings (not grease). You'll be tempted to fill the cavity with grease, just grease the bearings well and leave it at that.

Healey hubs should have a spacer between the inner and outer bearings; it's where the shims are placed. Some cars may have the spacer missing, and the bearings adjusted like a typical American car. The necessity and purpose of the spaces is subject to some debate, but you should have them.

Places like McMaster Carr might have the correct shims, but you'd need to get the ODs and IDs. Tom's Import Toys in Portlandia gives a 10 or 15 (?) % discount on Moss parts, and probably has shims on the shelf; great people to deal with:

https://tomsimport.com/new/index.asp

Visual aids to what Bob has described.

 

[BJ8Healeys]

Without the spacer ("distance piece") and shims, there is no way to be sure the load on the bearings from torquing the hub nut is not too light or too heavy. Too light can leave a lot of play in the bearing, too heavy can cause the bearing to bind or lead to early failure.

I have a detailed procedure for installing and adjusting the front wheel bearings, but BCF won't let me attach a Word document (30.0 kb) and if I save it as a .pdf it is 71 kb and exceeds the size limit of 48. Anyone who would like to have it, please contact me directly at sbyers@ec.rr.com.