Hi,

I just bought a grease gun to lube up the old girl

I've got some Moly bendium 3% penrite grease but somebody suggested Lithium based grease for the suspension. Is the moly bendium no blow?

Also I'm doing my wheel bearings next weekend, is the moly alright for that job too or is something else better?

dewey

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dwightgunning.com

The moly grease should be OK for balljoints etc, but don't use it in the wheel bearings. Best for them is Castrol HTB which is designed for it. Hubs get pretty hot...

Having said that, my S front hubs have had Valvoline EP2 (lithium) grease in them for 9 years now.. and are still OK..
Probably about time I repacked them!

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DrMini- 1970 wasaMatic 1360, Mk1S crank, 86.6HP (ATW) =~125 @ crank, 45 Dellorto (38 chokes), RE282 sprint cam, 1.5 rockers, 11.0:1 C/R.

For the wheel bearings i suggest you uses High Temperature Bearing grease (HTB). This will withstand the heat created by the brakes

Sensational.

I forgot to ask in the previous post, if somebody can explain the deal with these greased up points around the car? What I'm wondering is, why do you have to repack the grease? Does it go anywhere, like dissapear or evaporate or is it more to do with the grease getting old and loosing its lubricating properties? Assuming the grease gets old and needs replacing, how do you remove the grease thats already inside? Is this something that you normally have to worry about?

dewey

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dwightgunning.com

When you grease the nipple the old grease gets purged out of the balljoint, along with wear particles and any other crap. Grease each one until you see clean grease start to come out. Then with a rag, wipe all the excess off.
Front top arms I give about 12 shots each with the gun, the rear trailing arms I give 20 each, to be sure, to be sure.

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DrMini- 1970 wasaMatic 1360, Mk1S crank, 86.6HP (ATW) =~125 @ crank, 45 Dellorto (38 chokes), RE282 sprint cam, 1.5 rockers, 11.0:1 C/R.

Not to mention just running the bearing at high speed for a coupl of hours and submitting it to all sorts of cornering loads etc

One of the main reasons for "repacking" wheel bearings is just to check what is going on in there grease wise. If water has got in somehow or other an washed some of the grease away or seal has allowed dirt and contaiminents in then your grease can become a nice grinding paste!

9 years Dr !!!! shame on you!!!....

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"Show me the Mini!"

Hey it ain't broke yet! not even any slack in the Timkens!
I've already got new Timken bearings, seals and grease. Mebbe Xmas....

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DrMini- 1970 wasaMatic 1360, Mk1S crank, 86.6HP (ATW) =~125 @ crank, 45 Dellorto (38 chokes), RE282 sprint cam, 1.5 rockers, 11.0:1 C/R.

I was once slack in the Timkens....a very uncomfortable feeling to have !!

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"Show me the Mini!"

ahoy hoy....

So I picked up the wheel bearings and got to work on saturday. Got the suspension arm and top ball joints broken with a fair amount of effort. Took off the tie rod at the lower suspension arm... am having no such luck getting the lower ball to break. I've jacked up the drum a fraction to take some of the pressure and given it a squirt with WD40. I'm starting to think it might be easier to just remove the whole lower arm from the subframe?

With the wheel bearings... the inner one was competely FARKED. The metal brace thingo that holds the bearings in their place betweeen the outer and inner rings was in about 3 pieces. It was very dry in there.

I'm still not 100% on what I should be seeing if the drive flange is worn out. The bearings haven't worn grooves into the flange at all. Visually it looks like there is a little bit of scratching, because of some discolouration but its pretty smooth to touch. I wish I had a digital camera!!!

Finally, the outer wheel bearing and the outside ring of the (competely destroyed) inner bearing are stuffed in the hub as tight as a nun's nasty (am I allowed to say that around here?). Do they require a good beating with a mallot or something to get them out or have they somehow managed to weld themselves to the hub?

fun & games

dewey

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dwightgunning.com

Very common problem. There are a few ways to get the inner ring off the drive flange, I think the easiest for most people is cut it almost thru with an angle grinder, then split with a cold chisel.
The seal spacer in the corner is loose, it will fall off.
Provided the bearings have not grooved the drive flange, it is OK to use.
These things usually only get worn if the hub nut has been run loose....

<edit> have a good look at the bearing seats in the swivel hub too. If the bearing outer rings have spun and worn the centre web, you will have trouble getting the bearings to have no slack after asssembly.

<edit 2> Just reread your post- bearings are removed from swivel hub with a BFH and a blunt chisel, or drift. There are 2 slots in the centre web to allow you to thump the bearing. Watch you don't slip and damage the hub..

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DrMini- 1970 wasaMatic 1360, Mk1S crank, 86.6HP (ATW) =~125 @ crank, 45 Dellorto (38 chokes), RE282 sprint cam, 1.5 rockers, 11.0:1 C/R.

OK sounds good.

I managed to remove the drive shaft after I broke the top ball joint. I hope that was an OK thing to do. I'm hoping to break the bottom ball joint tonight and then I should be able to lie the hub flat next to the car and not have to remove the brake line. Might not be possible though. I'll see what happens.

Thanks for the advice.

dewey

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dwightgunning.com

Go Team.

Well I enlisted the help of the old man to do the belting while I held onto the hub and after about 1/2 an hour of bludgening the sucker I decided to put the breaker fork into my bench vice and close up the gap a little. That seemed to do the trick cause the ball joint broke loose with about 5 minutes of hard belting.

Anywho at least that drama is solved. I think I'm gonna have to take off the brake line after all so I can really get stuck into these outter bearing seats cause they're in there nice and tight. Since I'm doing that I'm considering taking the hub right apart and tidying it up. The paint has peeled off the backing plate (from my 3 month stint at fixing the brakes) and its starting to get a little surface rust. Is it worth cleaning out and replacing the ball joints and giving the hub a bit of an overhaul?

I really wanna go to honda discs soon as well so I'm just wondering whether I should try and get it all organised in one foul swoop. Car's been off the road for 3 weeks already so I'm getting anxous to drive her again real soon.

dewey

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dwightgunning.com

If ball joints are loose, strip, clean `em and adjust shims- but if they are nice and tight I'd just pump fresh grease thru them.

If the ball pin is worn oval from running loose, fit a new ball joint. And TIGHTEN THE BALL SOCKET TO 72 LB/FT, AND STAKE THE LOCKTAB...

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DrMini- 1970 wasaMatic 1360, Mk1S crank, 86.6HP (ATW) =~125 @ crank, 45 Dellorto (38 chokes), RE282 sprint cam, 1.5 rockers, 11.0:1 C/R.

OK So I'm in a bind here...

I've pulled down the hubs and cleaned them up and everything looks alright. Except for the fact that my drive flanges are cactus! Car Kraft can't get any til mid-august and thats also who my local mechanic goes through so he doesn't know who else might have them.

Will reusing these flanges that are worn increase the rate at which the brand new wheel bearings will wear out? Would it be alright to just run the shitty flanges for 6-8 weeks until I can get new ones?

dewey

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dwightgunning.com

Plan A: Hit the wreckers- pull hubs apart until you find 2 good S/H ones.

Plan B: If they really truly are `unobtainium', it is possible to reclaim worn ones. I've done it with 997 Cooper ones (real rare now) but it will work on drums too-

Get somebody to build up the worn area with oxy, using manganese bronze or nickel bronze filler rod, then turn it down on a lathe true to original diameter.
Done properly, it will be perfect.

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DrMini- 1970 wasaMatic 1360, Mk1S crank, 86.6HP (ATW) =~125 @ crank, 45 Dellorto (38 chokes), RE282 sprint cam, 1.5 rockers, 11.0:1 C/R.