MG MGB and MGB GT Tech Talk
well, i've never noticed this before but as you can see from the picture..... is this hole suppose to be there?? please tell me it is and i don't need to replace. i found this on the driver side and when i pulled the passenger side i found the same thing.. not sure i how issed it before when rotating the tires.. :( i haven't pulled the back as i'm awaiting everyone response....(and checking the bankbook in case of the damages they may occur)
Yeah, that's how you get the cotter pin out for the castle nut.
John, my savior......LOL.... and here i was ruining my Sunday thinking I've broken the bank. oh well.. I guess I'll save that money for a front end rebuild.
Sam,
John is right but in my experience the hole has been used to INSTALL the cotter pin. Obviously you rotate the hub so that the hole lines up with the opening in the castellated nut as it is aligned with the appropriate hole in the spindle/shaft. I have never been fortunate enough though to be able to lift the eye end of the pin up and through the hole in order to remove it smoothly. It might help to be able to do that if you spread the cotter just a little so that it doesn't require excessive force to pull it out, but I always end up bending the heck out of the legs.
I have tried several ways to remove the pin, the SECOND most effective way being the use of a corkscrew sort of tool that Snap-On makes. It looks for all the world like an awl that has been twisted around a thin shaft leaving the point at right angles to the handle. I think that they refer to it as a seal puller. The way I have used it is to stick the tool up into the hub cavity, hook the point through the cotter eye and then apply a lifting/pulling force as you work with a screw driver to straighten the cotter legs on the other side of the shaft. Eventually I can work the pin out but it is always a mangled mess.
Having said that, the FIRST most effective way is to slip the appropriate socket over the nut, working through the end of the hub cavity, giving it a moderate swat with a hammer and then unscrewing it, either with a pull bar or an impact wrench. Either way the cotter is sheered off and after the nut and hub are pulled away you can drive what is left of the cotter pin from its hole in the shaft. I have never experienced or seen damage to the shaft doing it this way. The pin is just mild steel and the shaft/spindle is really high grade stuff so the threads aren't ever damaged.
Jack
thanks.. i'm not planning on doing anything soon. i had just pulled my wheels off for a checkup.. i don't need any wheels getting stuck on...