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TR2/3/3A TR3 Front Hub Felt Seal questions

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Bruce100

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Hi all,

I have read various posts about the felt seal, some say cut it down, others say mark the castellated nut w/out the seal, at proper adjustment, then put seal on and tighten to same spot. I seem to have a situation that I can't quite wrap my head around even with this advice. When I took the hub apart, the felt seal was just felt, no metal. I have a replacement hub bearing kit from TRF that came with another TR3 parts car I bought, still new in package. I called TRF, and it is the right part number. Albert did say that they had some trouble with that part some years back. I do not know how old this "new" part is though. However, it seems wrong to me, it seems that the metal portion is too tall, and will not allow the hub to pull home when tightened. The metal portion is 3/16" in height, and the overall height with the felt is 7/16" uncompressed, dry. I tried to upload a picture, but I keep getting upload failure errors.

My questions:

1. Did all TR3 hubs have a felt seal that has the metal portion?
2. What are the dimensions supposed to be?
 
I believe they all did have the metal portion originally. However, it is quite common for the felt to come out and leave the metal behind. Did the bearing cone fall out with the felt, or did you have to tap it out? If you tapped it out, you were driving out the metal piece.

I just measured a hub that I happen to have on the bench, the opening where the metal part of the seal fits is about .200" from the edge of the bearing to the edge of the hub. So your metal piece should fit entirely within the hub, with nothing left protruding to rub on the vertical link.

But, 7/16" seems awfully big to me. I threw away the old seal from that hub, but it couldn't have been any more than 5/16". I still think the "mark the nut" method should work, but it wouldn't hurt to combine both methods, ie cut the felt down a little first.

PS, is it possible that your inner race (cup) is not seated fully into the hub? If you don't have the .200" ledge I mentioned above, that may be the problem.

PPS, BCF has a lot of restrictions on posting photos, including a total size limit if you don't pay for the privilege. An alternative is to post the photos on some other site, like PhotoBucket (which is what I use), and then insert a link (URL) in your post on BCF. You can either use the "Insert Image" icon on BCF (select "From URL" in the dialog), or else PhotoBucket gives a link called "IMG" that copies the appropriate link and tags to your clipboard. So you just click on the "IMG" link on PB, then switch to your BCF post and do Ctl-V.

PB%20screen%20shot.jpg~original
 
I am used to websites that auto-resize photos for you. Will shrink it first next time. Thanks!

As for the seal, my inexperience with the TR3 is showing. It turns out the felt had separated from the metal ring. The metal was still in the hub, and the felt was on the axle. It did not occur to me that they were together as a whole once, until I thought about it a bit. I had thought that the metal ring was a retainer apart from the seal. Now I feel silly, as it is blindingly obvious! your reply was just what I needed, thanks!
 
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