Front wheel bearings and spindles
Posted: Sat Jun 06, 2015 5:27 pm
I have started rebuilding the front axle parts, bought new bearings. A problem arose when fitting the thrust bearing at the bottom of the 'king pin'. Firstly the bearing didn't go down all the way to its seat because the radius between the seat and the shaft is bigger than the chamfer in the bearing. I tried the bearing both ways up but thought the way shown in pic 1 looked best, am I right?
2nd thing, there was a circular ridge on on the seat, I don't know if it is meant to be there or if wear has made it, it looks quite neatly made.
The upshot is the gap as seen on the next pic, you can see the bearing sitting high, a space and then the ridge. I made a thin washer on the lathe to so the bearing is supported, not shown here. Thinking about it I remember the steering was very heavy before taking it all to pieces, may be the bearing had collapsed and was grinding metal away, the trouble it was months ago and I remember. what it was like when I took it to pieces.
The next step is the wheel bearings, I know there has been some talk on here of problems with some new bearings only suiting new hubs, I measured the hubs as best I could thought the new one should fit, my tractor is a 63 and therefore fairly late.
I removed the old bearing outers using a big screwdriver (as a chisel) and small hammer to tap them out, one or two taps each side. The small one has just enough back face showing to accept the screwdriver. Thoughtfully Ford made two cutouts inside the hub to give access to the back face of the big bearing, so it came out with little trouble by the same method. Cutouts shown below, amongst the grease.
I am lucky enough to have a press to press the bearings in, I think they would be tricky tap in with a hammer since they were fairly tight. Then fitted the hub, it turns nicely but it also seems to have a gap.
It looks wrong to me, shouldn't the hub cover the spigot of the axle further? has anyone got a close up picture of theirs?
Any views on these two issues much appreciated.
Regards
Ian
2nd thing, there was a circular ridge on on the seat, I don't know if it is meant to be there or if wear has made it, it looks quite neatly made.
The upshot is the gap as seen on the next pic, you can see the bearing sitting high, a space and then the ridge. I made a thin washer on the lathe to so the bearing is supported, not shown here. Thinking about it I remember the steering was very heavy before taking it all to pieces, may be the bearing had collapsed and was grinding metal away, the trouble it was months ago and I remember. what it was like when I took it to pieces.
The next step is the wheel bearings, I know there has been some talk on here of problems with some new bearings only suiting new hubs, I measured the hubs as best I could thought the new one should fit, my tractor is a 63 and therefore fairly late.
I removed the old bearing outers using a big screwdriver (as a chisel) and small hammer to tap them out, one or two taps each side. The small one has just enough back face showing to accept the screwdriver. Thoughtfully Ford made two cutouts inside the hub to give access to the back face of the big bearing, so it came out with little trouble by the same method. Cutouts shown below, amongst the grease.
I am lucky enough to have a press to press the bearings in, I think they would be tricky tap in with a hammer since they were fairly tight. Then fitted the hub, it turns nicely but it also seems to have a gap.
It looks wrong to me, shouldn't the hub cover the spigot of the axle further? has anyone got a close up picture of theirs?Any views on these two issues much appreciated.
Regards
Ian
