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MG Midget and Sprite Technical - fitting rear hub bearing...

Ive tapped in a new hub bearing and loaded it with grease. From the back of the nub there looks to be a gap between the bearing and the oil seal...is this correct or does the bearing need to be pressed in further?

How much grease should be on/in the bearing? ive used about 30g of a 40g sachet.


Rob McGeown

Rob, that all looks OK to me, the half shaft will push the bearing home to it's seat if you haven't managed too. make sure you clean and seal the hub to shaft mating face as this is often an area where oil leaks can occur. Finally the half shaft NEEDS to be tightened firmly against the hub, the two 1/4" unf countersunk screws will not tighten enough without the assistance of the wheel nuts too. I put a couple of larger nuts on two of the studs followed by two wheel nuts and tighten the whole lot up tight, then nip the countersunks up and that should be OK....

Hope all this makes sense....

Mark.

MGCC midget Register Tech Rep.
MASC Tech Rep.

M T Boldry

IIRC there's only one screw holding the halfshaft in, and two screws retaining the brake drum. There isn't a fourth hole.
David Smith

Two screws holding the brake drum but there is a hole that sits over the half shaft screw so that when employing Marks method with drum in place you can nip the crosshead screw through that hole.
Alan Anstead

Ive had no problem fitting the bearings, they tap in quite nicely. In uncertain what role the rubber ring behind the bearing is? It has some sort of spring around the inner lip...what does this do?

Its a bit of a pain removing the old rubber ring too! I resorted to malet and screwdriver to get underneath it and leaver it out!
Rob McGeown

Rob,

IIRC the bearing outer race doesn't sit flush or below the hub face but stands proud by a very small amount and so is clamped by the hub and halfshaft and the gasket compresses to compensate by a small amount.

In arrangements such as this the outer bearing housing is often a small clearance fit on the bearing outer race as the external drag of the bearing is greater than that of the running bearing so the outer race doesn't move an appreciable amount. This explains the ease of fitting the bearing.

Not sure what you mean by the rubber ring, sounds like the lip seal fitted to keep the oil in the axle casing. Normally easy to remove with a bit of leverage.
David Billington

I've never 'greased' the rear bearings since they are lubricated by the diff oil. SOP on this design. The grease would eventually work its way into the gear oil thus contaminating it, wouldn't it?

The bearing is held in place by the retaining nut and when the hub and half shaft are assembled as mentioned by Mark, the bearing is sandwiched between the two.
Martin Washington

well its mostly finished now...new bearings in both sides. Housing and drums cleaned and painted. Diff thrust washers replaced.

Hub nuts need fully tightening when i get the right socket.

looks nice.


Rob McGeown

This thread was discussed between 21/04/2009 and 25/04/2009

MG Midget and Sprite Technical index

This thread is from the archive. The Live MG Midget and Sprite Technical BBS is active now.