Early (Drum Brake) cars up to about SN4203, have ball bearing front hubs with a distance piece between the two races. The outer race of the inside bearing is held in place by a screwed ring. This should be drilled and cotter pinned in place. Failure to do so may cause loss of the wheel (ask Ted Robinson). Later Disk Brake cars have roller bearings.

Hub (stub axle) Removal

On disk brake cars, the caliper will have to be removed. The caliper is attached with two bolts (18mm), usually safety wired together. Do not remove the brake hose from the caliper. Hang the works on a coat hanger in some out of the way place.

1.  Remove the cotter key on the castle nut. On wire wheel hubs, rotate the hub until the two holes are aligned such that the pin can be worked out.

2.   On Drum brakes, back off the adjustment cams.

3.   A 1" socket is required to loosen the castle nut.

4.   Slip the hub off. Ball bearing hubs will require a puller. Screw the castle nut part way back on when breaking loose with the puller. This will prevent the spreading of the spindle end from puller pressure.

5.Clean the wheel bearings thoroughly and inspect them for any signs of pitting on either balls/rollers or races. Ball bearings can be spun (dry) while holding by the inner race at about 45 degrees from the horizontal. You can usually feel wear (pitting) as a "grabbing" feeling.

6.   Pack the bearings with clean grease and install in the inverse of disassembly.

N.B. Be sure to use a new cotter pin on the castle nut. Tighten the nut only until you feel it make contact and then back off enough to insert the cotter pin through the castle nut.

Disassembly of Front Suspension

First: Degrease the front suspension. Use a high pressure hose. The front end becomes unbelievably greasy due to oil from the one-shot lube, grease and road dirt. Spray brake cleaner will also do a good job.

1. Remove Shock Absorber. (See above)
Note: Steps 2 through 4 may be disregarded if the front suspension is to be disassembled to replace the brass damper plate only

2.  Separate the stub axle (hub) from its track rod. Remove the cotter key and castle nut (5/8" open end).    Use a Snap-On puller (P/N CJ89A or CJ89-3) or a Napa Puller # SER3918 to separate. Clever people can get them off with a hammer, but I'm not one of them.

With the Snap-on, slip the puller "C" disk between the rubber seal and spindle arm and install the puller. Screw bolt end of puller onto the rod end bolt. Things will separate with a loud snap.

3.  Remove disk brake calipers. Hang the caliper on a wire as in hub removal. On drum brake cars the fluid line must be broken.

4.  Remove the hub (see hub removal).

5.  Remove bolts (2) at the bottom of the suspension, one also holds a stay that attaches to the chassis (1/4"-W).

6.  Place a jack which is about 8" extended, under the lower center pin retaining nut (between the bolts just removed). The car must be at least 12" off the floor to remove the center pin.

7.  Remove the one-shot lube fitting connection to the center pin (1/4"-W).

8.  Remove the center pin bolt (7/16"-W). As the bolt is removed, the center pin will move down due to the spring force. However, the jack will permit control of this force. After the bolt is removed, let the jack down SLOWLY. Next, carefully jerk the upper rebound spring out at the top. Use caution, as this spring will still be slightly compressed. (Ed. I usually put an old pillow under the fender well to protect it just in case.)

9.  The upper rebound spring and the cover tube can be removed along with the damper blade at this point.
When you have all the parts disassembled you will find major wear to the lower bush, primarily on the inboard side (away from the hub). In extreme cases the spindle holder may also be worn.

ALTERNATE METHOD (much better for first timers!) by Cuthbert Twillie

After removing the brake caliper (you can leave it supported on a box underneath) and the shock, detach the trackrod, the one-shot oiler line (if you still have one) and damper plate bolts.

Now remove one of the bolts from the triangular support plate and replace with a threaded rods about 9-12 inches long. The diameter of the bolt hole is 5/16" and a 5/16 rod will work, but I use 1/4" rod as it is easier. Place a nut on the top section of your rod and double nut it (Use a second nut above it to lock the two nuts in place). Take a third nut and thread up the bottom part of the rod until snug against the triangular plate. Hold the top nuts with a small vice grip.

Then do the other bolt, double nutted, held with a vice grip, with another nut walked up to the bottom of plate. Now remove the large bolt the oiler tube goes into atop the king-pin. Now stick a thinnish screwdriver into the top hole the kingpin oiler bolt came out of. This keeps the pin and spring from popping out which is a real pucker-maker. Now slowly loosen the bolts on both the threaded rods below, keeping them even . Use one of the new ratcheted spanners as it faster and easier.

Assembly is the reverse of disasembly. Take care that;

1. Make sure you assembly ALL components in their proper sequence.

2. The dust cover is perfectly alligned so that it is nut crushed in assembly.

3. Before the kingpin is fully in place and there is still some leeway for the upper bolt,  thread it in the top.
 
 

PROTECTING THE LOWER REBOUND SPRINGS
by Stoatgobbler

Another trick is to use vacuum cleaner hose, the type that is corrigated and compressible, this can be split and wrapped over the lower and upper rebound springs thereby keeping some of the muck off the "moving parts"  and therefore (hopefully) reducing the production of "grinding paste".
 

THE PHAETON KIT (Not recommended see Remote Greasing [the argument against])
by Quentin English

Made by Phaeton Engineering, Hampshire (UK)  PO10 7DL .  It is only for Morgans.
Tel/fax +44 1243 372040

I agree with suggestions from other DG members that Factory one shot oiler system is a 'least worse' system to cope with drivers who can't be bothered to grease the kinpins at all. .I stopped using my one shot oiler within a thousand miles of driving my Morgan and I went over to greasing at least every 1000 miles (preferably 500).  At first I had nipples (zerks) added to the top of the pins, but as these were difficult to reach (particularly with my 'telescopic' grease gun taken on touring holidays).

I have just fitted the Phaeton kit. This made by a small outfit based in Emsworth, Hampshire,

Basically each side has a 'brake pipe' type tube. Fitting in place of the oiler, through the inner wing valence to give an easy to reach grease nipple/zerk.  Just open the bonnet, a few strokes of the grease gun every few hundred miles, and it should give better life than the standard system. It is a good idea to jack the car for greasing bottom points, and lever bottom bushes up to ensure grease gets below them.

The kit comes with a couple of ball bearings with which to blank off the other end of the oiler pipes, but I had already sorted these by removing one, taking the other (cut short) in a loop to the other side.  If I press the button the oil ain't going nowhere! As I said, until recently I used a cranked nipple/zerk on the top of each king pin - but it was a real ******* to reach (and not possible with the 'telescopic' grease gun I use when on holiday.

It consists of 2 lengths of copper pipe, and on the end of each pipe a grease nipple (what our 'merikan friends call a 'Zerk'. Goodness only knows why!).

To install, jack up the front, remove the front wheels. Drill a hole in the inner wing somewhere handy, the instructions say a 3/8th drill. The grease nipple bolts here, and the copper pipe leads to the top of the Kingpin. Undo the existing oil-shot oiler pipe to the kingpin, replace with the copper pipe to the
grease nipple. Inside the engine bay, undo the other end of the oil pipes where they come from the one-shot pump. do the fittings back up without the oil pipe, with a ball bearing in their place (supplied in the kit), fill the new fittings with a (surprisingly large) amount of grease. You can use chain saw oil for greasing via the Phaeton kit, it gets in easier.

Cost (inc post) about £18 the pair.