Front wheel bearings

[iain.hamlton]

Recently, I adjusted my front wheel bearings to pass the MOT, but I have a question: Is it Ok to take all the play out, or should I put some back?

According to the manual, you set the endfloat to 4 thou (as I remember), but definitely more than nothing, then tighten the nut slightly to get the split pin (cotter) to line up with the the hole in the stub axle. Now I reckon you might have to turn the nut up to 1/6 turn to do this. And this is about 8 thou. So the actual play you are left with is something between 4 thou loose and 4 thou interference. In my case, the hubs are left with some resistance. Is my maths right? does it matter? Now the MOT is passed should I slacken the hubs off one flat? (= upto 8 thou).

best regards, iain

[Hamish Coutts]

Iain,

I think the clearance is about 4 thou so if you have a dial gauge set it at that.

The other way is to tighten up the adjustment until there is no play (probably what you did for the MOT), then loosen the nut by 1 flat and fit the split pin. I would be very wary of running the front hubs with no play. I've seen a few of these overheat and seize in my time because they were adjusted too tight.

MOT inspectors are a funny breed. The garage I go to for the test restores classic cars and understands the vagaries of tapered wheel bearings and hubs. He says he wants to see a bit of play in a tapered front hub when it is submitted for an MOT. Nowt funnier than folk!

Hamish.[/b]

[Otto]

To be honest, I have never dismantled nor adjusted fronthubs on my Elan +2. But i have changed/adjusted severel frontbearings on other cars. My experience in adjusting is, that i like to adjust the bearings like this:
I tighten up the bearing rather tight, and then turn the hexagon back, until the washer between the hexagon and the bearing can be moved with a slight tuch of a screwdriver. I lerned this trick of a mechanic, and it has always worked for me. Again, i have not seen Elan hubbearings, and if they are different, forget the post...But use it if you have a VW..

Regards
Otto

[bcmc33]

Iain,

Tapered bearings without 'end-float' = problems. The advice you have been given is good. The real problem is "feel" when adjusting to eliminate ?end-float' - this comes with experience. My method is to tighten the nut as tight as you can BY HAND, leave it for 15 minutes, and hand tighten it again, and then back-off by one flat. In theory this should result in an acceptable/practical ?end-float?. If you have the means, measure the ?end-float? as prescribed in the workshop manual, but whatever the measured result, you will not get a better result than I described.

Hamish makes an excellent point ? make sure the MOT mechanic knows that the front hubs must have some play in them before you give him/her the job.

I well remember in my old S2, after fitting new front discs on a Saturday before travelling to a hill climb meeting early on Sunday morning, running out of brakes about 5 miles from my destination. I crawled the rest of the way, and in the paddock before scrutineering, found that both front hub assemblies were covered in oil. The penny quickly dropped ? I had clearly not backed-off the nuts before fitting the split-pin. So this was evidence, if evidence was really necessary, that no ?end-float? = problems.


Brian Clarke
(1972 Sprint)

[reb53]

Iain,

I agree with the above re tight taper bearings.
When I tightened mine to satisfy a MOT check they were blue when they were re-adjusted later.
Fortunately I no longer have to do this as the inspection guys are now a better bunch and seem a bit more clued up.
If you can't quite get the split pin through the hole you want, flipping the washer around will often give you a new range of adjustments as the washer sometimes has a bit of wear on its outer edge.

Ralph.

[iain.hamlton]

Thanks all. That is clear then. I'll be slackening back one flat now i have my MOT!

best regards, iain