Bad front wheel bearing.

[Brosky]

TRF supplied Timkens with my uprated stub shafts and they are expensive, but worth it in my opinion.

 

[DrEntropy]

John Timken has all the same spec bearings any other supplier has.... but he and his adhere to SAE/STMP/ASE tolerances even today.

...if it comes in a box with "TIMKEN" on it, FIT th' things.



..sorry.... I get a bit het up. The "substitute" catalogues cross-ref some "almost good enough" cups and races. They ALWAYS ~almost~ fit and last, too.

GET the right ones the first time. TRF, ummm and some other suppliers know which ones fit properly.

 

[PeterK]

All of my TRs came with Timkens, but I didn't buy any of them new. So I guess I was lucky that the POs bought quality replacements. I don't have a TR6 but if I did, I'd be using Timkens in it. Not $20 Asian/Indian import bearings though; more like $80 for the quality set from TRF.

I stand behind my statement that repeated panic stops from highway speed isn't good for (Dale's) car. :wink: not to mention his tires.

 

[Tinster]

Dale - yesterday you started a thread on your high RPM idle speed. This morning, Paul asked how the situation is going. At 10:46am today you replied:

end of this thread-

dale

At 10:40 this morning you started another thread on your cable linkage.
At 10:44 this morning you started *another* on manifold vacuum.
At 1:07 this afternoon you started *another* on your front wheel bearings.
At 2:32 you started another, on New Year's cooking.

Help! We can't all keep up with ya!

Dale - we might feel more like helping if you'd let folks help on one problem before just dropping it and veering off onto another problem. If guys are trying to help you, leaving them in a cloud of dust with "End of this thread" doesn't exactly encourage involvement.

T.

<span style="color: #CC0000">1. Tom, if an issue is corrected- I end the thread- why prolong it?
2. Simple curiousity as to what vaccuum means.
3. Front wheel bearings a legit question since I repacked them 2000 miles ago.
4. New Years Cooking? Please! how petty?? How many years have I been been posting
"what's cookin"?? as an item of interest in the PUB?

My car is a bucket of bolts with always at least one or two problems. I have
no LBC shop to take it to for answers. I post my ??? on the Triumph forum.
If this offends you, use the forum tools and put me on ignore and be done with it.
I will now put you on ignore and never the twain shall meet again!!

ergo:

I once had a university professor take me to task for asking "too many" questions
in class. I replied, in class, that I was paying for my own education and I'd ask
all the questioned needed until I understood the solution. The same applies here.
I pay the freight and I'll ask all questions until my car is fixed. If you wish to
not respond with technical help or just ignore the questions; that's in YOUR ballpark.

I'm sorry for you if us rookie LCB owners get on your nerves. It's how we learn.

tinster

.</span>

 

[Andrew Mace]

TR2-6 all use the same wheel bearings in front...as do Mayflower, Herald and Spitfire (GT6 and Vitesse are different size), and possibly other Triumphs as well. I don't know if Timken was an OE supplier at the time of the TR6, but I'm pretty sure that's what originally came in some of my Heralds and such. And I did once happen across an old replacement wheel bearing "kit" (possibly Unipart, but I don't remember now) that, to my surprise, had Timken bearings in it, along with a packet of Castrol wheel bearing grease! SKF and Fag are other good brands that I recall being used either as "OE" or replacement.

As for Timken numbers, I found an online reference stating:

07210X | Wheel Race / Front Wheel Brng; Front Inner
07100S | Wheel Bearing / Front Wheel Brng; Front Inner

03162 | Wheel Race / Front Wheel Brng; Front Outer
03062 | Wheel Bearing / Front Wheel Brng; Front Outer

Oh, and Timken has a web site where you can download various application and interchange / part number crossreference catalogues.

UPDATE: I just looked at NAPA online, and they seem to use the same part numbers as above, so it's just possible that a NAPA store could supply Timken wheel bearings?

 

[Tinster]

Paul- I took the front wheel breaings down to bare metal.
No wobble, no discoloration, no obvious wear.

Here's what I did with photos - 2000 miles ago.

thanks,

d

https://www.scribd.com/doc/260591/Wheel-Bearings-Final

 

[TR3driver]

Ok, I'm convinced you should change them. The discolored area in your photo is proof enough of that. Roller bearings have extremely high pressures at the point where the rollers contact the races, so even a matte appearance (which indicates microscopic pitting) is grounds for replacement.

 

[Number_6]

Basically, Dale, once the front is up on stands:

1. remove wheel
2. unbolt caliper and hang somewhere so as not to stress the hose
3. prise off grease cap
4. remove cotter pin and castellated nut
5. remove hub/rotor assembly, trying your best NOT to drop the washers, bearings and other stuff

If either bearing looks bad, falls apart, has bluish spots anywhere from overheating or is otherwise damaged, then time for a new one.

But before you do ANY of the above, as Don implies, how do you know a bearing is bad? Could it just need (re)adjusting, which only involves #1, #3 and half of #4 above?

Replacing the bearings is a pretty straight forward job just as Andrew describes. With all the other work you've done on the car I would think it's well within your capabilities. While your at it though, you should replace the bearing races also. Those can be pounded out, you don't need to be to carefull about that, your tossing them in the bin anyway. But drifting in the new races is where you'll need to be careful. You can take the hubs and races down to a shop and have them press the new races in on a bearing press or you can do it yourself easily enough with a brearing press set like this one from Eastwood:

Bearing Race and Seal Driver

Just take your time and make sure that the new races are properly seated all the way into the hub. You'll know that they are in when the sound while your pounding them in changes from a kind of hollow sound to a more solid thump. After you do the first one you'll know just what I mean.

 

[Brosky]

Rich,

Dale is an expert on how to install those bearings and races. He took his bearings and races out last year to clean and repack. Did a nice job and wrote a great tutorial on it too!

 

[Number_6]

Rich,

Dale is an expert on how to install those bearings and races. He took his bearings and races out last year to clean and repack. Did a nice job and wrote a great tutorial on it too!

Oh, in that case, this should be an easy afternoons job for him. I thought he had only replced the bearings but not the races.

 

[hondo402000]

dale
I put new wheel bearings in My TR6 3 years ago, have not greased them since, they were not timken either, tried to purchase timkin from TRf but they didnt have them in stock so bought the other brand, I have had no problems as of yet. I did have to replace a wheel bearing on my 4runner, I noticed a slight vibration in the steering wheel and when I pulled the front left tire off and rotated the hub something didnt feel quite right, now a days the front bearing are sealed and you cannot grease them and they come as an assembly, after replacing it I took the old one apart and it had a pit about 1/8 x 1/8 on the race, but it did have 200K miles on it, is yours making a noise, or grinding sound?

 

[Tinster]

Hondo- Mine is making no noise that I can hear while
driving. BOTH gentlemen told me they heard a slight
bearing noise while riding in the passenger seat. There
is no wobble to the wheel.

I am wondering if I forgot to install one of the hubcap
springs and the hubcap is making small noises now and then.

 

[Tinster]

...and p'raps how to do it properly.
Always good to learn "how to fish".

<span style="color: #660000">Hey Doc!! I'd love to learn how to properly change out
front wheel bearings. I made my amateur attempt and took a
bunch of photos.

Before I rip out my front wheel again, could you kindly
review my procedure and point to me my amateur errors and
the "proper" professional method? It would be a big help
to me for when I replace them .</span>

https://www.scribd.com/doc/260591/Wheel-Bearings-Final


thanks,

dale

 

[DrEntropy]

Cups and races replaced 2K miles ago... should last YEARS under the use those see. Could the offending side just need to be repacked/readjusted? What gives the indication they're shot? Without teardown and a good visual inspect there's no way to say they're trash. I'd be for just popping the outer bearing out and cleaning/checking it. Repack and readjust if no signs of abuse (pitting/blueing, etc.).

Two "flats" is arbitrary. Tightening it while rotating the disk, it should spin with little effort yet have no "wobble" when the disk is pulled top-to-bottom (up and down)... NO MORE than 5 ft/lbs on the nut (while rotating the hub), then back it off one flat. Check it with another "wobble" test, if there IS slop then go thru the process again.

 

[71MKIV]

Hey Dale,

I'll come to PR and teach you how to work on your 6 if you teach me how to fish.

Fair trade?

I've never drowned a worm in my life.

In the airplane biz, if you can catch your finger nail on it, it goes in the can.

If you are aware of the above, ie the discoloration, and can live with it, it will be ok for awhile yet. Just be cognizant of any wobble or noise. I put 5000 miles on a wheel bearing that made a b flat hum at 60 mph. You didn't need to look at the speedometer if you had any tone sense. I finally changed it when I had to shout at my wife over the racket.

I'll assume that you know how to squish the grease between the rollers.

 

[TR3driver]

I've repeated this ad-nauseum, but perhaps one more time ... new felt seals are frequently too thick and can cause a false bearing clearance reading. The factory solution to this problem was to set the bearing clearance _before_ installing the seal. Tighten the nut to 10ftlb, then back off 1/2 to 1-1/2 flats (so the cotter pin hole lines up). Mark that location, remove the hub, install the seal (felt goes towards the vertical link) and reassemble, turning the nut to the mark. The compressed felt may make the bearing feel a bit stiff, but it will quickly "bed in" (aka wear to fit).

 

[Tinster]

Randall- the existing felt was in great shape
so I reused it.

I test stuff with infrared equipment. Like predicting
when bearings in electric motors need to be changed out.

If my front wheel bearings are getting shot, would not
some excess heat show up on the stub axle, if I shot it
in IR?

d.

 

[71MKIV]

Hey Dale,

I had a thought,

If you were to take your longest screwdriver, doesn't matter if it's phillips or straight, and with the front wheel off the ground put the tip on the inside of the spindle, and the handle in your ear, have an accomplice spin the wheel.

If it's sounds like your belly when you are late for supper, change it. If it sounds like a fan on a wood table, watch it, if there is no sound either the wheel already fell off, or the bearings are ok.

Make sense?

Hey Doc, can I use your "bacteria" quote, I know some people it would apply to.

 

[Brosky]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:]If my front wheel bearings are getting shot, would not
some excess heat show up on the stub axle, if I shot it
in IR?[/QUOTE]

Dale, you may have a problem with that plan. What standard will you use for a comparative basis? I don't know anywhere that you will get a published heat range for a "good bearing" versus a bad.

This is another mole hill growing into a mountain. I thought that you and the guys down there had determined that this bearing was shot. So replace it and move on. It's not like you have to tear the entire car apart to do it and you've done a good job with them before, so it should be a snap to do.

 

[TR4nut]

Dale-

I've tried and failed now to keep my mouth shut on this topic - but specific to your documentation, here is some feedback: If I understand your earlier work, you removed the old bearings, repacked them with grease, and then reinstalled. If that is right, I would not recommend pulling the races as you have done. I think a better way is to inspect/clean them in situ, and repack the bearing as you have done. If you go to the trouble of driving them out of the hub, then I think you should take the next step and replace the components with new.

Randy