On Mon. Peter Mchugh wrote
I noticed more wheel play on the front TR-6 axle than acceptable and removed
the wheel...found inner bearing outer race had turned and groved the hub
sufficiently to allow the race to wobble...noted, on removing the bearings
that the DPO (PDO?) had installed two felt seals, one mounted with the felt
facing the bearing and the other felt
facing the upright...this is interesting since I've owned the car since 1980
and never removed the hub (at least I don't remember doing so) I had
tightened the axle nut several times and greased the bearings from the
outside regularly, ...so, I went to local LBC store and purchased wheel
bearing kit...which came with ...four (two for each side) felt seals. Now
none of the books (and I have 'em all) show two seals per side, so the
question became (the one you've asked) which way do the felt seals
face...in or out.
The answer lay in disassembly of my GT-6 fron wheel...logic says it should
be same as TR-6, al be it with a smaller bearing...and presto...the felt on
both right and left wheels faced the up right...I confirmed this with the
afore mentioned LBC shop, and reinstalled all 4 hubs, bearings, races and
corrected felts
The question unanswered is...why are there two seals per side in the
wheel bearing kit????
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Peter - one reason you might have spun the bearing on the TR-6 has to do
with how the front hub was reassembled by the DPO. The Bentley manual is
very specific and clear that the proper way to reassemble is to put it all
together DRY, tighten down the axle nut until you get resistance on the
spinning hub, then back it off until the first opportunity to shove a cotter
pin through the hole in the stub axle. You then mark the stub axle and nut
with some type of felt marker, etc. to mark the location of the nut, THEN,
pack the bearings and hub with grease, reassemble, and tighten back down to
the mark. The end result is that it feels too tight, frankly, but I have
been assured by several mechanics that this is the proper way to ensure the
correct pressure on the hub bearings and to prevent bearing failure in the
future. Otherwise, you really don't get the hub tight on the axle and over
time enough free play develops to cause failure. Time will either prove me
right (yippee) or terribly wrong (damn!). I'll e-mail the list again in 10
years and let you know the results. Cheers.
Ross D. Vincenti
64 Spitfire 4 (undergoing surgery)
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