MTFCA Forum

I've finally gotten the old races or cups out of the right front hub. I got the new ones in. I put the Inner Bearing in and the Felt Seal (National 5727). It's flush with the hub. I put the hub on and it had to be hammered (lightly) onto the axle and then the hub wouldn't turn by hand without being forced. The bearing was being held into place by the seal, apparently. I had to hammer the hub back off and it left the seal and bearing on the axle. Is this normal? A break-in Period? What on earth could I have done wrong? I thought it should spin......fairly freely.....

Scott, the inner bearing is a slide-on fit like many modern wheel bearings. Check the spindle for any damage to the bearing land. This will cause interference. With no damage evident, the bearing and spindle need careful measurement. There should be no correction to be made to achieve a fit. I would be looking to try another bearing before going further.

Hope this helps.
Allan from down under.

A friend has commented that I need to get some emery cloth and polish the spindle. It is rather rusty. I’ll give that try today.

Do yourself a huge favor and do NOT use emory cloth to clean things up. The abrasive is far too hard and will remove metal as well as rust. These things generally get worn anyway and you don't want to be in a hurry to speed that process up. You want to remove the RUST only. Some Ospho and a maroon scotchbrite pad will remove the rust and leave a clean surface upon which your bearing will snuggly slide onto (if you're lucky), or will easily slide onto if you're like the rest of us mere mortals. That is or was a precision surface and emory doesn't belong anywhere near it.

Scott,
Your statement about not using emery cloth on precision surfaces is excellent advice. I don't remember this subject being brought up in the past.
Absolutely never use emery or aluminum oxide to clean a commutater.

Art Mirtes

Well, I’ll have to suffer the consequences of that. I didn’t see your responses till now, hours after I put it back together. I didn’t spend too much time polishing it, just a couple passes. I was able to get the hub on. Still a snug fit, though. Now to figure out the heavy all over vibration while in high gear….