Front Hubs

[ACJC]

Well, started this evening by pulling the tires off to balance them tomorrow AM. Curiosity got the better of me so I thought I see how the dust caps on the Wildwood hubs came off. They unscrewed, how cool.

Right hub, all is well. Left hub. I says to myself; "What the:crap:! It looked like a glitter factory, nothing but aluminum shavings.

I can't wait to call Total and see what the tab will be on a new hub. The price you pay for buying someone elese stuff. I haven't safety wired since I was at MCAS Iwakuni, Jap. in late 1976.

I wonder if it a defective bearing, hub, are the previous guy got in a hurry to finish things for sale?

At least I caught it before a mishap ocurred on the highway. Oh well, at least it will refresh my automechanic skills!

Any one out there in T-bucket land esperienced this problem? The car has less than 70 miles on it.

Jim

Happy Memorial Day

 

[donsrods]

Hmmm, either a too tight bearing or improper lubrication would be my guess. What I can't understand is the aluminum part........there should be steel races in there pressed into the aluminum, so how you got aluminum shavings is a mystery. See if maybe a race spun in the aluminum hub, possibly from freezing to the bearing and spinning.

Before you go to lots of expense, I would pull it all apart, degrease it all, and see what is what. You might just have something like the grease cap rubbing or something simple.

Worst comes to worst, post some good pictures of where the damage was.

Don

 

[Rick]

Bummer a three legged t-bucket is NOT a good thing.As Don said check it out then send some pics of the problem maybe it will help other people to NOT do the same thing the previous owner did.

 

[ACJC]

Not a problem, on pictures, they be up soon. I will clean everything before purchasing repalcement parts. I have to also wonder about cheap bearings, to much preload on the bearings, not enough grease, the whole gambit.

I do think it boils down to the prvious owner rushing the finish to sell the car. I 've found hsort cuts in other systems as well.

The tire balancing this AM revealed a bent rear rim (dynamic balancing called for 6.5 oz on the inside and 2.5 oz on the outside one 15X7). One of the front 15X4.5 rims called for 2.0 oz total on the inside and 1.75 oz on the out side). We ended up static balancing it with 4.5 oz of weight inside. The other fornt and rear rims were exceptable.

At minumum, one of the rear rims will have to be replaced. Problem is every thing is 4 yrs old w/ no miles on it. I can't expect a vendor to exchange the stuff.

I will ask if the vendor has spin balancer and insist on true rims when I do buy. I hate to go to modern aluminum evry day stuff.

Looks like a winter tear down and build it "my way." :wall: But hey, t's alll part of the fun, right!

Oh well, time for a int:

Thanx to all!

 

[ACJC]

Well, inspection and cleaning revealed that the end cotter pin was milling the inside of the dust cap.

No contamination got past the thrust washer.

I cleaned repacked the outer bearing as a precaution and reassembled everything and made the cotters on both sides were tapped down flat. End of problem. problem.

Took the rod this afternoon with the newly re-balanced tires and adjusted air pressure (way up) and my God what a difference.

60 mph and smooth as silk. Even the friction shocks did what they were supposed to do! :surprised:

Still have to tweak on the caster and toe in.

Feels great to ride the speed limit. Sorry, I couldn't get my pics to transfer.

Thanks to Don for reminding me to look before you empty the back pocket.


Jim

 

[donsrods]

Man, I really happy for you. That was a simple fix.

My Son had a bent rim on the rear of his T also. Brand new out of the box from Coker. They sent us a brand new one, but we had to paint it, no big deal. I followed him one day and his bed was jumping up and down so we knew something was wrong. New rim fixed it right up.

Don

 

[Rick]

Man it's wierd how the little things throw our cars WAY out of wack.Glad you two got them fixed.