Rear Axle.

[Highlander]

Why do we bother?! As I drove into my drive yesterday after a good brisk run I thought I could feel another punture. It was too cold to check, my tryes are Dunlop motor cycle sidecar tryes which are very hard and never look flat with 0 pressure. I checked this morning and could have died. Tyre OK but one wheel stud broken and in the wheel dish, one nut loose and the other not very tight.. Everything on the bench again and I am awaiting myh T model Ford man to have a look. The broken stud is half way down the thread. Why should this happen? The nuts were tightened very tight and remember I had taken the non threaded taper off and turned a new taper on the nut itself. I therefore got a full nut of threads onto the stud. Could it be the spacer/washers I have between the brake drum and the hub? Could it be that these washers are not the same thickness and therefore the wheel is not on square? Any help please. Highlander.

[Highlander]

I am sorry about this but this is what the forum is about. Paul, the T man, took a look and called me a few names. It would appear that my spacers between the brake drum and the hub were NOT the same thickness and this caused stress on the wheel nuts which fretted loose and one broke. I could get Sutton Rebore to replace all studs on both re hubs but he suggests looking for two rear hubs. Please, does anyone have two spare rear wheel hubs part number 82680A. I will not be at Brooklands on Sunday. I might have a double tonight!! Highlander.

[prharris25]

Having just received a very expensive SU fuel pump direct from the manufacturers that does not want to work without me taking it apart, I think I'll join you !!
One thought re the Minor, it might be wise to closely examine the insides of the wheel hubs (where the nuts rest) just to make sure no cracks have started to form as a result of this trauma. Probably fine, but worth a look for safetys sake.

Paul.

[Highlander]

Have just received two hubs from up north so I am hoping to get my Minor back on the road soon. However - and here I would ask you all to look back to blogg dated 24th Dec from Jeremy where he posted a photograph of a rear hub which is the same as mine. The new hubs have a minor difference. There is no room for a felt seal and the end of the bearing housing has been machined off so instread of a 1/4inch housing for a felt there is a 1/16th recess. The distance from the face of the hub (where studs screw in) to the back is 1/16th shorter than mine. My question is - both are three studders. The casting is the same save what I mentioned, my part number is 82680A and the new one 1866873D. I cannot do anything until this week end so can one of you tell me what the new hubs are off? Will I be able to use them? There is this recess behind the bearing housing which would take a felt seal but what good would that do? This felt would back up against the back plate. The bearings are the same on both. Are ther detailed spare part manuals for all Minors? Help Please, Highlander.

[DF9053]

It sounds like these are earlier hubs. I think the felt seal goes between the hub and the backplate rather than in the hub. The bearing nips up agains the collar on the axle and the felt held by the recess in the hub goes in the resulting gap.

The back plates will still catch the drums (I would have thought), have you found others of these to go on as well?

I have some cable braked backplates that fit the larger drums from a Minor, presumably these are not any use to you.

cheers
Jeremy

[Highlander]

I thought (don't know why) the new hubs were later. If earlier then most of you minor boys must have these hubs? Do the earlier minor wheels fit three stud hubs? I have a mate coming round tomorrow after gold and we will have a good looka and try one on just to see where we are. Can anyone trace the part numbers? Highlander.

[Ian Grace]

Exactly Jeremy. I didn't push this too hard earlier in this thread, because I don't have a hub/car here to check, but my experience on working on many (mostly early) Minors is that the felt seal sits in a thin steel cup BEHIND the bearing carrier. The cup has a flat tab which prevents rotation (against one of the backplate bolts?). The bearing carrier has a slight recess on the inside (i.e. towards the diff.) face to accommodate the seal. The bearing fits fully home in the carrier.

The trick I mentioned earlier is to wind the hub ring nut on just so far as to make sure that the brake drum fits snugly in the backplate when fully assembled, but not too far as to squash the seal and make turning the hub difficult.

It might be that some later cars had the seal inside the bearing carrier, but this might just be incorrect assembly? Who can say more?

Alister, all Minors had 3-stud hubs except the later vans, which had 6. Later hubs have clearly stepped studs, which is how I have always identified them.

[Simon]

I think that most of you have missed the main point that Alister has Hydraulic brakes and will need to have the correct back plates from a 1934 Minor (or possibly the ones off you Jensen - Ian if you are going to go back to cable brakes). It may be possible to use the back plates from the very early Morris 8's provided that they had only the single row hub ball bearing. I believe that the Series II and III had the double row hub bearing which was wider and therefore moved the brake drum outwards to give the correct clearance from the back plate. It therefore seems that Alister is trying to do the impossible by using Minor hub with an 8 series II or III back plate. The series E 8's went back to a single row hub bearing so it might be possible to use their back plates.

I have mentioned before that the nut holding the hub bearing in place should be DEAD tight or you might loose a wheel & halfshaft

[ian judd]

Simon,
If Alister uses Eight backplates they have to be front ones. They are turned upside down to fit on the back just like all Minor backplates including cable ones, and a slot made for the handbrake cable. Apart from that slot they are identical to Minor ones. I would think there are more Eight backplates around than Minor since the hydraulic Minor was only made for about a year. I think series E are larger aren't they?

Ian

[Highlander]

I have now owned my 1933 minor for over 5 years and have driven it every day It had been converted to hydraulic brake (I was told)and went well till my diff problem. On re-assembling the hubs I discovered this fat washer and the felt seals in the wrong place. I was told not to replace the fat washers and put the felt seal in the bearing housing. This I did and the brake drums bottomed on th e back plate. I now have new hubs with only the bearing in the housing, I have put the fat washer back, and placed the felt seal behing the hub bearing housing (not in it) and all is well. I did this this morning and will test drive tomorrow. T%hisw has taken 2 months but I have learned a lot. What I think happened in the first place was the fat washers, which are a very tight fit on the axle shoulder were squint and the bearing did not push home. I have eased these washers and put them on firsta and then offer up the hub. Thank you all for your help. I will write this all up for the Newsletter. (Dont all resign!!!) Highlander.

[Toby]

Jon, this may help