I posed this same question to the list several months ago and the best
answer offered up for continuing to use them was that the spacer
bushing, when used, increases the strength of the spindle. It was
suggested by some that the spindle alone may not be up to the task
either because of its size or metalurgical composition. Just yesterday,
I ran across an article in a back issue of Practical Classics that
stressed the importance of using the spacer. Bearing seizure and/or
wheel loss were cited as the possible consequenses.
Eric Zambori
72 MGB
Karl Shultz wrote:
>
> Hello MGers,
>
> Hope all is well with you getting your assorted brit cars ready for the
> warm season. I'm coming along myself - I've replaced the brake lines
> (which looked as old, if not older, than the entire 73 B itself), the
> heater control valve (with a gasket now) some hoses, and made some hacks
> into the electrical system whose effectiveness seems to vary day to day.
>
> Anyhow, I took a trip to Flying Circuis Cars in Durham, NC. They're a
> Brit car specialist where I buy my parts. So I go to buy shims for the
> front hubs (which rattled about horribly) and a guy came in from the
> garage area telling me something interesting. I'd like to bounce this
> off the group, it seems odd.
>
> He said that the big spacer, and the accompanying shims, could be
> installed in the trash can rather than the hub. "Conical bearings can
> accept the load themselves no problem; people used to think you had to
> make perfect contact between the bearing housings with those shims, but
> all the cars we work on, we just pull all that stuff out.
>
> Odd, no? I tried it. The hub can be put together and adjusted up just
> fine without all this stuff. But concerned for the longevity of the
> bearings (they say "made in england," so they must be as old as the car
> too...) I haven't really finalized the work.
>
> Any thoughts on this odd suggestion?
>
> --
> Karl Shultz
> 95 Integra GS-R, black, loud
> 73 MGB, orange, only marginally drivable
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