John,
If an auto shop that lacked experience on Spitfires replaced the outer
axle bearing, they probably damaged the assembly trying to remove the
hub with a standard press. This is almost always the case if the right
tool is not used. I'd start looking there.
Joe
John Weale wrote:
>
> After an astonishingly easy time of getting my brakes working well
> (rebuilt slave cylinders on the rear and for the master -- which demanded
> attention by draining brake fluid literally onto my foot one day while I
> was driving), I'm running into a bit more difficult to find and fix
> problems.
>
> My problem is the classic rumbling/grinding sound from the driver's side
> rear drivetrain. It got to the "I can't pretend I don't hear that" stage
> last night after a couple hours of around-town errands. Of course, it was
> gone when I went to investigate it this morning, but started coming back
> after a little bit of driving. I've been through the archives and know
> the stock answers are:
>
> U-joints: check for play, rebuild
> Bearings: replace, have fun getting the @#$! hub off...
> Loose bolts: especially check the spring bolts via the access behind the
> seats (not likely since the noise went away after the car sat
>overnight
> and isn't effected by turning)
>
> But, I have reciepts from the PO indicating the rear U-joints were
> replaced professionally less than 4,000 miles ago, and I also know the
> driver's side rear bearings were replaced by a Grand Auto garage (a parts
> store chain) about 600 miles ago. No, I didn't really want to get some
> mass chain garage to work on my car, but I had no choice. Some of you
> with a very good memory may remember my last post asking about towing a
> Spitfire 700-800 miles from Seattle to San Francisco. Well, I ended up
> driving her down and the rear started grinding coming down the Siskyous
> pass (300 or so miles short of my destination) on a Friday night -- hence
> the rear bearing replacement by Grand Auto.
>
> Anyhow, my questions are: Is there any particularily likely, easy to miss
> (hopefully easy to check :) thing that the folks at Grand Auto may have
> screwed up or overlooked? They replaced the outer bearing, reassembled...
> and the problem (that time the rear brake shoes were dragging every half
> turn or so because the hub/shaft was wobbling so badly) was still there.
> So they discovered an inboard bearing and replaced that too, and that
> solved the problem until yesterday.
>
> In the first incident, I drove for quite a few miles with the brake shoes
> dragging, and really heated up the rear hub (not glowing, but rain was
> sizzling off the brake drum and the wheel was hot to touch)-- could I have
> warped something, creating a bearing-eating monster?
>
> Can I just keep driving, AAA card firmly in hand, until the problem
> progresses beyond the intermittent and I can more easily pin it down? Or
> am I liable to be destroying something expensive if I do that, so I should
> pull the axels from the car now and dive right in?
>
> I'll be attempting about the same repair with about the same level of
> information as they had (they worked from my Haynes repair manual) and
> don't want to make the same mistake. Any extra info you can give me on
> common screw-ups is much appreciated!
>
> On a sidenote, I'm new to the Berkeley/Oakland, CA area -- anyone local
> feel like pointing me to a reasonable garage for repair (my wife will only
> let me strew axels around the living/dining room of our apartment for 7
> days -- then I'd better have a backup get-it fixed plan, or else...)
> and/or smog check, I'd love suggestions.
>
> Thanks!
>
> John Weale
> 1980 "British Racing Orange" Spitfire
>
> PS Special thanks to team.net for providing the list archives and everyone
> who's help provide the info in them. Just from looking through them I
> feel halfway confident attacking the u-joints and the infamous pressed-on
> rear hubs.
>
> ---======================== John Weale(jweale@u.washington.edu) ========---
> The world does revolve around engineers... they pick the coordinate system.
--
"If you can't excel with talent, triumph with effort."
-- Dave Weinbaum in National Enquirer
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