Hi all,
I fitted taped wheel bearings to the rear of my mini last night, basically did up nut till hub was becoming hard to move and backed off a little and put through split pin. Qu is. do I do the same with the front or tighter ( I have a torque wrench if needed)? This is my first experience using tapered roller bearings.
Cheers,
Steve

You Certainly do not do the same with the front, in fact what you have done on the rear is not correct .
Wheel bearing preload on a mini is determined by the spacer on the shaft between the inner and outer bearings.
When adjustment of the bearing preload is required it is achieved by adjusting the thickness of the spacer.
This applies to the front and rear hubs.
The Hub nuts should always be done up tight, the front being significantly tighter than the rears.
Have a read of this thread, it will help you a lot.
viewtopic.php?f=25&t=40640

Dave

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That makes sense for the front and will follow that procedure. Im not sure what I could have done different with the rear ones? There is no play in them, I read on another post that is how they do the tapered ones on rear as there is no engine load going through them? They are adjusted so that the wheel spins (tiny bit of drag), no play, no jerkyness, but if I try to do up tighter they will bind.
Im glad I read the 60ft pound about the front in that article and to assemble outside first, big help. Thanks

Rears do not need to be torqued up hard, if doing so makes them bind. They are really no different to Timken front wheel bearings on a rwd car, or those on a trailer, in this respect.
Some of the Timkens now come with 1/2 a spacer as part of each bearing. You cannot change the spacer or machine them, they are HARD.

Fronts are different, see my thread in the how-to forum. MUST be torqued to 60ft/lb (drum brake +997/8 Cooper CVs ) or 150+ ft/lb (disc brake CVs).

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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.

thanks for that, my rears had the spaces built into the bearing. Will definately follow your front procedure and go to 60ft pound . If I manage to get my other rear and one front done tonight ill be happy! Have to change all the cv boots, and steering rack boots, new wheel cyclinders, hoses while im at it. Is fun when it all goes to plan, lol
Am I right that the plastic washer type thing (came of hub), goes back in just before the rubber seal?
Cheers,
Steve

The two examples stated here are different in the fact that they both use a keyed washer and a slot in the shaft to prevent the nut from turning.
A mini does not use a keyed washer to prevent the nut from turning so is Designed to be tightened onto the spacer.
Anyway have it your way............................

Dave

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My boat trailer had castellated nuts & a split pin, just like a Mini rear hub has.
On RWD car front hubs, more tapered rollers are destroyed by too much preload, than not enough.

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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.

Will take your advice Doc

Engineering 101, A split pin is not in place to take a load or to retain a nut in position.
It is a safety device as a last resort should it come loose.
How people, china, design boat trailer axels and hubs is no recommendation, perhaps they didn't read the engineers hand book either!!!

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Followed Docs procedure, worked a treat , no play, good movement at correct torque, will install to the car tomorrow night

The easy was is not always the correct way. Set your pre-load properly. If the correct way was to tighten till binding then back off a bit why is there a spacer (or in some case 2 half spacers) at all. If it is binding, the bearings are not contacting the spacer sufficiently, so it may as well not even be there. Back it off a little and you make the situation worse. Come on guys. Think a little about the mechanics that are going on here instead of just banging this crap together.

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1970 Cooper S ex-Bathurst & ATCC
1964 Austin Cooper S ex-Group C race car
1967 Morris Cooper S ex-Group B
1962 Mini Speed sports sedan
1968-71 ex-Peter Manton Shell car

Can someone tell me where the spacer goes? None came with kit, no space to pu a spacer between bearings with these roller ones, am I missing something? Totally confused on rear ones now, at the moment they turn free and I can't feel any play if I try to move in and out. Do I do up tighter and have them bind a bit. If I attempt to go to much it won't move at all. I'm a bit lost with this one. Fronts are fine and to correct torque

Seems to be a lot of differing opinions, finding alot of UK forums saying with the brand I have you will get to about 20 ft pound max, and to back it off to about 18ft pound for this brand from UK. Mine are sitting around 20 ft pound. Some have tried shims between, but still tighten around the same with no reported issues

PM sent

Had a mate lock a front wheel on a Ford fiesta just after he replaced the bearings. Didn't follow Ford procedure, seems he didn't consider the efforts of the Ford and component suppliers efforts in making sure it works properly. The spacer washer is precision made for good rreason.