MG MGB and MGB GT Tech Talk
Changing the front wheel bearings and I remember the inboard bearing in the hub was a real bear to get out. I'm to the point where I need to put the new ones in, and I'm concerned I'll damage it. I can't find anything about how to change the bearings inside the hub. The Bentley book hardly mentions it. Even John Twist just kind of skips over that part in his utube video.
Am I worried over nothing, or is there a special technique?
Not sure if You are meaning the cones or the cups.
I remove the outer cone and washer and start the wheel bearing nut back on then use the hub for a slide hammer and forcibly pull the hub towards You and that will remove the inner seal and cone.
I always just use a large mild steel punch{made from a piece of round stock or a soft bolt} and drive on the edges of the cup to remove them.
ok rest at ease you will be fine mine i took a piece of 2x8 and used it for a cushion under the rotor assembly and took a punch looking through the hub to the back of the hub and hammered it out changing my punch location after each hit so that i didn't get the race in there cockeyed and beat on it till it came out now putting it back in is a little more stressfull i used my old bearings as a hammer point and put them in to the new race so not to dammage the new bearinge while i was hammering the new race back in and then using a ball bin hammer i hammered the new race back in again moving the hammer after each blow to keep from getting the race in there cockeyed make sure that you have a good clean surface before putting the race in it will make instalation easier than a dirty surface check to be sure that is seated by feeling through the hub so that there is no gap between the race and the surface of the hub
hope this helped if not one of the wiser ones will chime in soon
stephen
I'm in the the middle of doing this myself for the first time (i.e. finished one wheel yesterday and will do the other tonight).
The difficulty I think you're referring to is removing the oil seal from the back of the hub. I like the idea Marty mentioned above, and will try. But I was able to carefully (so as not to scatch the internal surface) pry out the seal with a large screwdriver. I used a punch to knock out the races, which was relatively easy. I followed a suggestion from this forum to get a couple of large fender washers with an outside diameter matching the OD of the races, and then used a scrap block of wood (~1.5"x1.5") on top of that to knock in the races, being careful to keep it going in evenly.
My only problems were forgetting to put all the pieces in before installing the new oil seal, and driving 6 miles to h/w store to get the fender washer only to realize I forgot my wallet!
Bob
The first time I did it I didn't get the new race in far enough and had to take it all apart again.
Sometimes this whole thing is easy as pie and other times it is a bit frustrating, and I have done several in past lives.
There are two slots machined inside the hub that allow a long punch to get a better purchase on the outter race. They are usually obscured by all of the grease, but they are there. Make sure that your punch has a clean and fully flat face for the best grip.
The "slide it hard up against the reinstalled nut" technique works most of the time, but be sure to run the nut all the way back on to the spindle threads in order to avoid damage to them.
Brass is certainly the material of choice for tooling to install the new stuff. Less likely to chip the steel.
As per several threads in the past, be sure to install the chamfered ring in the correct orientation on the spindle.
Jack
If only I could see someone do this once. The terminology is a bit confusing to me sometimes...
