At 09:21 PM 8/4/98 EDT, Wildbil923@aol.com wrote:
>In removing the rear hubs on my MGA, I found that the left rear hub was
very loose on the machined surface of the axle tube housing. ....
>
>.... The bearing slips on and off by hand, but there does not appear to be
so much slop that it rocks back and forth.
>
>.... has anyone found solutions other than the weld-up-machine-down route?
Well, now that you mention it, yes. It sounds like your housing is not too
badly worn, so that when you tighten up the bearing retaining nut it will
hold the bearing square with the axel and with not much radial float. This
is fixable under a shade tree. Check with your local bearing supply house
and ask for bearing set adhesive.
For very small clearances there is a anerobic type adhesive that works like
thread lock adhesive, it fills a small gap and sets up solid in the absence
of air. For larger clearances they will have an epoxy type adhesive that
works a lot like JB Weld, mix a paste to fill the space and mount the
bearing before it sets up. In either case you will definitely need a good
puller to get the bearing off later.
OTOH, my rear hub bearing also comes off the housing with finger tip force
only, but has no discernable play. I just tightened the retaining nut up
to 140 lb-ft like the spec says and bent up the locktab. I suspect it will
last forever.
Barney Gaylord
1958 MGA with an attitude
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