Mark, I just changed the rear wheel bearing on my Mk III as the seals were
leaking. I went to a bearing shop and they were impressed weith the bearing
that was originally in the car. It is a double row, max capacity bearing in
their terms. I would go with the closest bearing that I could find. This
local shop could get it from one of their warehouses in Dallas, I think, but
I ended up getting it from Healey Surgeons for about the same price.
Replacing the bearings is a bit of a job. One nut is RH thread, the other
is LH thread. The nuts are an 8 sided octagonal nut which no tool that I
could find would fit, except if you happen to have the factory Churchill
tool. I almost resorted to having a tool made by a machinist. I did find
an octagonal socket of the correct size at a heavy industrial tool company
(for railroad equiupment as I recall), but the cost was $300-400 or more.
So I resorted to a chisel and hammer and they came right off once I chiseled
them the correct direction.
Healey Surgeons also has the correct nuts and seals. But, I could not get
as much torque on them as I would have liked putting the new nuts on and I
don't think I ever found a torque spec. I borrowed a large crowsfoots
wrench from a friend, anealed it, put it on a milling machine and opened it
up to the correct dimensions, then heat treated it, and torqued it to as
high of a torque as I could before it kept slipping off.
Incidently, one of the bearings was in beautiful shape and I did not replace
it. The other bearing I had to replace as I destroyed it getting those darn
nuts off.
If somebody on this list has the factory tool that you can borrow, it is
almost essential for changing the bearings.
Hope this helps,
Frank
'65 BJ8
<Date: Mon, 12 Sep 2005 23:07:43 -0500
From: "Mark and Kathy" <mgtrcars@galaxyinternet.net>
Subject: Rear Wheel Bearings
I picked up a set of rear wheel bearings locally that have 10 ball bearings
in a single row. This was crossed over from my original R M bearing that
has , 2 rows of about 13 ball bearings.(almost twice as many balls) Has
technology come that far where this is a correct substitution or should I
not
use a single row bearing unit for my rear axle. The bearing came up as a
transmission bearing in their computer and actually has a retaining ring
similar to an input shaft bearing. But I can remove that certainly.
All dimensions are the same, however it is about 1/8 of an inch thinner in
depth than the original.
I found Steve Byers article from 2002 in the archives but he returned these
bearings and went with Moss.
Has anyone tried these bearings recently , especially with all the new
rear-end gears that have been purchased?
Thanks,,, Mark>
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