Time for some list wisdom.
Last year the A developed the classic "tick, tick, tick" at wheel speed of
a failing wheel bearing. I quit autocrossing the car until such time as I
could replace the offending unit.
Well, I pulled the axles this week and took a good look at my bearings.
The first thing I noticed is that these things are huge for the size of the
car. Most modern cars use tapered roller bearings where side loads are
expected but the A's use straight ball bearings of heroic proportions front
and rear. They seem to work.
After cleaning the bearings, They seemed to be in pretty good shape. There
was no discoloration of the balls or races. The right on one side has a
slightly frosted surface where the balls roll and it makes a little more
noise than preferred when rolling. Both are nice and tight.
What does everyone think? On one side, I am already halfway to replacement
so why not just throw them in but on the other side, I would not be the
first person to screw something up worse in the attempt to make it better
and besides, why fix it if it ain't broke. These bearings are not real
cheap, after all.
On another note, the right side end of the axle housing and octagon nut
were all galled up. It looked like they had survived rotating metal to
metal contact at one time. There is no corresponding damage inside the
axle hub however so I don't think the axle that is in it was made the
marks. Any thoughts on this?
MGA weather is gone again for a while. With all of the chemicals on the
road right now you can almost hear the cars rusting when you walk through a
parking lot.
TIA
Bill Eastman
61 MGA without axles.
I love the smell of axle grease in the morning- it reminds me of- an LBC
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