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Spitfire Spitfire wheel bearings

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eejay56

eejay56

Jedi Warrior
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Is there a trick or special tool that eases removing the little cap over the front wheel bearings? Also I've always adjusted bearings by feel, but the Bentley manual says to use a dial indicator. How do you do that?
 
Usually you just screw a 1" coarse threaded screw (#8 or #10 Robertson) into the hole in the centre of the bearing cap. You can sometimes just screw it in far enough that the pressure from the screw tip against the end of the axle will pop the cap off, or you can pull on the screww with some vice grips to pull the cap off.

If you don't have a hole in the centre of the bearing cap you may want to consider drilling one.

For the dial guage you need a magnetic base to hold the guage against a reference point that will not move. I have not done it, but I would assume you could use the rotor. I don't think it moves in tandem with the hub.
 
eejay56, I go for the feel myself, tougue to 35 lbs, back off 2 flats and you will be close to the .003 play. Rather a little loose than too tight. Wayne
 
eejay56 said:
Is there a trick or special tool that eases removing the little cap over the front wheel bearings?
Click to expand...



Razor sharp chisel and mallet. Tap from inward, out. From 4 different points.
 
eejay56 said:
Is there a trick or special tool that eases removing the little cap over the front wheel bearings? Also I've always adjusted bearings by feel, but the Bentley manual says to use a dial indicator. How do you do that?
Click to expand...

If you don't have a hole, just drill one. force a screw in and then pull off the cap. The new caps I put on came pre-threaded.
I attached a picture to show how to check with a dial indicator. The Disk moves with the hub. mount the indicator on the suspension (the a-arm are fine) and measure off of the disk. The advantage of using the indicator is that it is easy to be fooled by the felt crush seal when checking by hand since it the wheel will start resisting turning. However the bearings are still way to loose.

Note that you do NOT want free play! the bearings should be preloaded. Otherwise you will ruin them.
Yisrael
 
The screw solution sounds good I'll try it this weekend. There are holes in the caps. Yisrael, I don't see the attachment.
 
Opps I found the picture, and thought I attached it.
try 2

and try #3!
 

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To get the cap off you run a coarse threaded screw through the hole and up against the stub axle end. This then strips out the hole in the cap, enlarging it.

You then get a chisel and tap at the lip of the cap where it meets the hub, seperating it with a little damage, and walk around the cap, removing it, in the conventional manner.

If you find yourself loving the idea of the screw removal method and wishing it actually worked, take a cap and braze/solder in a small nut inside that a machine screw would go through. This nut will not strip and will actually walk the cap off.

As for wheel bearing play, the oem spec is absurdly loose according to any bearing manufacturer I know of. A loose bearing beats itself silly, and it makes the vehicle unstable to drive because the wheels are flapping around. Personally, I tend to follow the recommendations of the bearing manufacturers that generically call for zero play at the loosest, to some pretty significant drag. With a Spitfire, I go for zero play. It makes an appreciable difference in the handling and ride of the vehicle.
 
foxtrapper said:
To get the cap off you run a coarse threaded screw through the hole and up against the stub axle end. This then strips out the hole in the cap, enlarging it.
Click to expand...
HAHA! This is what I experienced with the new caps from VB. So, I went with the way I was taught by Dad...channel lock pliers and wiggling.

After reading the thoughts here on bearing play, I think I need to check/adjust mine. I have a dial indicator...is that the way to go? I have always adjusted by feel.

Len
 
Don't know if this would work on the spit, but just yesterday I was repacking the bearing on my 30 yr old lawn tractor. I had purchased a seal puller at Sears when I did my diff on the TR. The puller is a T shaped tool with two diff size hooks on the end. I just put the hooked side under the lip on the cup & it pulled right off. No fuss, no muss.

Here's a link. I think this will come in handy for a lot other LBC stuff. Maybe for pulling off those diff hub caps too?

https://www.sears.com/sr/javasr/product.d...UseBVCookie=Yes
 
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