Morris Minor Owners Club

Hi all,



Went to remove front hubs to change brakes today, and was pleasantly surprised to find a small nut that undid easily with 15/16 (I think) rather than the beast nut that lives on the back.

My joy was short-lived when I lost the inner wheel-bearing on one side. This made me realise that these hubs were identical to the Riley hubs I had in the garage, where I also lost inner bearings.

I need to replace this bearing, so do I just order the morris minor bearings, are the hubs the same?

Thanks in advance,

Edward[frame][/frame]

Yes - same - but how can you have 'lost' the bearings?????

Why would you pull the hubs just to re-do the brakes?

Used my triple-arm hub puller (thanks grandad) which grips onto the outer flange. Pulled away easily but left the inner race of the inside wheel bearing where it was and destroyed that bearing. Happened only on one side luckily, but also happened when removing the hubs off the Riley set-up I had.

New bearing set ordered so back on track.

Thank you Sir,

Typically when the bearing is pulled apart, it's not destroyed, just disassembled. You only have to remove the races, retrieve the balls (or rollers. as the case may be), retrieve the cage, clean all, re-assemble, regrease and you're good to go. You might need a little pressure to "pop" the bearing back together. Actually you don't have to remove the outer race from the hub, you can leave it in and reassemble the bearing in place.

The inner bearing is not destroyed - it is an angular contact bearing that if the inner race is tight on the stub axle will 'pop' when the hub needs any real force to remove it.

It would be worth getting the inner race off (undamaged!) and lightly run some wet 'n' dry round the stub axle so that the inner race will slide on and off quite easily (needs a bit of oil to make sure).

If there was no play in the bearings, they could be re-used. Once you have removed the inner and outer races of the bearing, assuming there is no damage to the races or ball cage, clean everything thoroughly and lubricate with some grease.

Place the outer race on a stout piece of wood, with the 'open' end facing upwards, thoroughly grease the cage and refit the balls, slide the inner race through the balls and make sure that the balls are pushed into the cage, place it on top of the outer race and strike the inner race smartly with a hammer. If everything is assembled correctly the inner race will 'pop' back in place! Check that it rotates easily and refit into the hub.

As a final note the bearings must be fitted the correct way round in the hub - i.e. with the makers name and bearing reference on each bearing facing the spacer.

P.S. Just noted Katy's reply - I must have taken a while to do it as the reply was not there when I started! At least we're saying the same thing.