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Persistant wheel bearing problem

I've replaced the offside front wheel bearing twice so far in the past 1

1/2 years in my 1987 mini. Firstly when I first got the car as it had some noticable play in there. Then MOT time had come and the bearing had gone again ! Yesterday I jacked the front end up and noticed yet again it's got plently of play in there. I'm thinking swivel hub here or an outside chance of a driveshaft.

The car as I said is 1987 998cc, original disk brakes, drive shaft has 2 sets of holes for the split pin and thus is torqued up to 207nm (153 lbf/ft) and no I don't have Carlos Fandango Superwide wheels they're originals too ! Everything is straight under there, wheel alignment is fine etc etc

So before I get a new swivel hub anyone else have any ideas ?? TIA as ever Jim

Reply to
Jim
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Check for wear on the bearing side of the drive flange. I've seen a couple of cases of these wearing. It causes the bearing preload to go slack. Usually there will be a small ridge on the face of the drive flange that contacts the inner bearing race since the drive flange face is slightly larger in diameter than the inner bearing race. It only takes a few thousanths of an inch wear to leave the bearings rattling.

Drive flanges are cheaper than swivel hubs as well.

Cheers,

Kelley

Reply to
Kelley Mascher

At £23 a go they're a lot cheaper ! I'll go and order a new flange now. I checked the hub when I had the thing apart last time and all seemed pretty well with it and the outer races took some whacking to get them out and just as much to get them in (YES ! I did hammer them in squarely) so that only leaves the flange really ! Thanks for that Kelley I'll let you know the results Cheers again Jim

Reply to
Jim

OK I've had that lot apart and even swapped the flange over from the other side. Still loads of play in there so unfortunately a new hub it is ! Thanks anyhoo Jim

Reply to
Jim

Have you compared the bearing spacers between the two sides? It's difficult without removing the bearings but a missing of collapsed bearing spacer will cause similar problems.

Cheers,

Kelley

Reply to
Kelley Mascher

Renewed all of that, the spacer came with the bearing kit. Anyhoo I've just replaced the hub and it's like a new car. You never really know how bad something is until you've fixed it ! Thanks for all the help and suggestions Kelley. For anyone that's interested Mini Spares in Potters Bar do the hubs for just a nats under £59 Thanks again Kelley

Jim

Reply to
Jim

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