Hopefully a quick question here.

I've just put new wheel bearings in in my front wheel hubs (with disk brakes). They are the tapered roller sort. Should the oil seals be tapped up hard against the inner race of the bearings? I have a bad feeling they shouldn't be.

I've already done one wheel and I tapped the front oil seal against the bearing, so the top of the seal was not flush with the end of the hub (as it probably should be)

Anyone know the answer here?

Cheers,
Tom

The seal should sit level with the outer edge of the hub on the outside one, and should have a spacer behind the seal on the inner one.
Cheers Pete

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A recent study found the average Aussie walks about 900 miles a year
Another study found Aussies drink, on average, 22 gallons of alcohol a year
That means, on average, Australians get about 41 miles per gallon

Kind of makes you proud to be an AUSSIE

There was no spacer between the inner oil seal and bearing when I took it off, and I don't see why one would be needed. I can't see any spacers listed on the minisport site, which is where I bought the bearings.

I'm only aware of a spacer between the two bearings.

The Mini King cattledog on p.176 shows "21A1307 - Wheel Bearing seal spacer, front, Cooper S" between the inner bearing and oil seal.. although having said that my car doesn't have this spacer either.

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Simon

The adventures of an owner builder in the Tallarook Ranges

Interesting.

I've looked at the Haynes manual now. It seems there is supposed to be a space there. Damn.

From memory some of the bearings have a spacer incorporated in them (??? Someone else can confirm , it's a while since I've done any) .

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The tapered rollers have a spacer built into the ring of the inner race which keeps the inner and outer bearings separated, and ensures the correct preload on the bearings when torqued up. Ball bearings require a separate spacer ring to do the same job, but that's not what we're talking about here.

FWIW, I don't have this oil seal spacer on my car and it doesn't seem to have hurt any in the 18 months I've been running the discs..

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Simon

The adventures of an owner builder in the Tallarook Ranges

No worries , was thinking about the previous bearings thread still and getting confused on which spacer .

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Thanks sgc, that eases my mind a bit.

Timkin branded tapered roller bearings have the built in spacer as said above. Rear ones too

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Lillee - 1969 Morris Mini K

The spacer he speaks of is not the one that is fitted between the bearings, it is a steel ring fitted between the inner bearing and the oil seal. It is supposed to be there, but if missing it won't cause any problems to leave it out.

Make sure the seal is parallel to the bearing face, and that the seal is spaced far enough out from the bearing that it runs on the cv's oil seal journal.

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SooperDooperMiniCooperExpertEngineering

All garage work involves equal measures of enthusiasm, ingenuity and a fair degree of irresponsibility.

Do you mean they have a spacer (in place of 21A1307) to fix the position of the inner oil seal, or are you referring to the spacer built in to the inner race which fixes the two bearings' relative positions and sets preload when torqued up?

[edit] Never mind, Thanks Mick

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Simon

The adventures of an owner builder in the Tallarook Ranges

Try the pictures on the following link.
They show the spacer I was talking about, items 61 and 73.
However as stated buy others they are not really needed.
Cheers Pete
CLICKY HERE

_________________
A recent study found the average Aussie walks about 900 miles a year
Another study found Aussies drink, on average, 22 gallons of alcohol a year
That means, on average, Australians get about 41 miles per gallon

Kind of makes you proud to be an AUSSIE

There is a thin metal spacer ring fitted between the inner wheel bearing and the inner seal on tapered roller bearing cars.

This spaces the oil seal out from the bearing so it runs in the middle of the machined surface on the cv joint.

These spacers have been unavailable for years. Fit the seal so it is about 1/4" away from the inner bearing.

Explains why I don't have one then! Thanks Karcraft

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Simon

The adventures of an owner builder in the Tallarook Ranges