Morris Minor Owners Club

I'm having the usual trouble with removing an old and decomposing lip seal and wondering about a small modification to the hub, to make future removals easier.
I seem to remember on the front(Marina disc converted) hubs that there is a small angled groove in the hub, to enable removal of the bearing seat?

Link is to the Marina hubs on the ESM page and you can just make out the groove under the bearing seat in the third picture.
https://www.morrisminorspares.com/brake ... al-p829471

Is this a similar mod that could be safely applied to a rear hub as it would give better access to the seat of the seal for removal?
Picture shows the point where I plan to file the groove to give better access to the metal portion of the seal.

I can't see that this would effect the integrity of the seal seat.

There is not enough metal in the area that is proposed to be filed/ground.
The area proposed to be filed/ground is the oil thrower flange which throws any oil that gets past the seal into the catcher ring (which is attached to the brake backplate) which then exits out of the brake backplate under the axle tube.

Yes, I didn't realise how thin that waisted section at the rear of the hub was. However....I tried on a spare hub that probably won't get re-used anyway.
The small groove or nick is in the thicker part of the hub and should be clear of the thinner section.


I put an old seal back in to show that it is now possible to get straight on to it's metal casing with a punch.


For a much easier removal.