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Spitfire A couple of quick Spit questions

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IanF

IanF

Jedi Trainee
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Howdy. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/savewave.gif

Before we take Baldrick out for another drive, there are a couple of things we need to look at. Unfortunately, we may want to drive the car again before getting a shop manual or even the owner's manual, so please bare with me on a couple of questions:

1. How is the best way to jack up the car? I need to get the rear of the car on jack stand to inspect the u-joints and wheel bearings as well as check the diff-oil.

1a. As I think about it, I'm startng to think the rear-end noise is bearing related. The noise is the same regardless of engine power and from what I remember, the noises u-joints make tends to change depending on whether power is being applied or not. How difficult is replacing the rear wheel bearings?

2. While the engine starts quickly and runs great, it does idle a bit high. Aroung 2000 RPM. Might be a vacuum leak... or timing... or idle adjustment. What are the timing settings? How to adjust the idle speed? Any other tips?

That is all...

...for now... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smirk.gif
 
[ QUOTE ]
1. How is the best way to jack up the car?[\quote]I've long since given up on anything other than a good "trolley" jack on the rear crossmember under the differential (or the crossmember at the front of the engine for front-end lifting).
[ QUOTE ]
1a....How difficult is replacing the rear wheel bearings?

[/ QUOTE ]Not bad, but be sure to use a proper hub puller that bears on the entire hub flange. Anything else WILL bend that flange and render it "paperweight" status! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif
 
Thanks for the tips.

So... a standard hub puller won't work? I did find a puller that can pull on all four studs. It's not cheap, but tool prices have never scared me. I have more than few $$ invested in tools. I'll pony up the cash for the proper tool if it'll do the job faster/better.

Anyway, I was able to get the rear of the car up on stands last night for some exploratory surgery.

Well... We now know why the brakes don't work very well. The RR wheel cylinder failed and covered the shoes and drum in brake fluid. Not good. New parts will be ordered.

I'm not so sure about the rear wheel bearing now. I was unable to detect any play in the bearing that would indicate it's gone south. However, I did find play in both axleshaft u-joints. More in the right one, but some in both. The driveshaft u-joints feel tight. We'll order new u-joints and see how that goes.

Great.. now we have TWO cars torn apart in the garage... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/nonod.gif
 
A standard puller might work if you are lucky. When I had a Spit I needed to change out the bearings. On the first flange I put a simple hub puller on, tightened down firmly then gave the flange a tap with a hammer and it popped off. Then I tried to repeat the exercise, wound up tightening too much and bent the flange. That was bad enough, but when I picked up a used spare I took it to a garage to have the flange pressed off with better equipment and that resulted in a better bent flange! Basically if it is stuck on there make sure you have patience and good equipment to keep repeating my mistakes!
 
Thanks, I'll keep that in mind. The puller I'm looking at is more or less the "proper" version of the home-made puller described on triumphspitfire.com. It would see mto me that if equal force is applied to all four studs, then it should work. If not, then a press may be required, which is how I've done this sort of work in the past (I worked at a parts house that had a light machine shop in a past life).
 
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