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.
Part numbers for ball bearing cars
Inboard: Federal LS11
Outboard: Federal MS7
Seal: Aeroquip 962482A
Part numbers for roller bearing cars
+4 and 4/4 (5/8" Taper)
Inboard:
Inner Race (rollers/cage) Timken 1988
Outter Race Timken 1922
Outboard:
Inner Race (rollers/cage) Timken 03062
Outter Race Timken 03162
Seal
Aeroquip 962487A
Part numbers for +8 and Racing Suspension +4 (3/4" Taper)
Inboard
Inner Race (rollers/cage) Timken 14125A
Outter Timken 14274
Outboard
Inner Race (rollers/cage) Timken 09067
Outter Timken 09195
Seal Aeroquip 900295A
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 axle 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 spindle nut. Use 26mm if the nut has been buggered up a bit.
4. Slip the hub off. Ball bearing hubs will
require a puller. Screw the spindle nut part way back on when breaking
loose with the puller. This will prevent the spreading of the spindle end
from puller pressure.
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.
5. Pack the bearings with clean grease and install in the inverse of disassembly.
N.B. Be sure to cotter pin the retaining rings on inboard ball bearings.
N.B. On wire wheel hubs, be sure that the right side and left side are not mixed. Mark them on removal! (Ed. This happened on my car, before I purchased it. Every couple of days, as I would go to stop, the spinner would fly off the wheel and down the street!.)
Tension tapered roller bearings by tightening them to 20 ft-lbs of torque, and then back off one "flat" on the nut.
Disassembly of Front Suspension
First: Degrease the front suspension. If a 25 cents car wash is available, use it. (Ed. For sure! Most of then now cost $1.00 or more.) The front end becomes unbelievably greasy due to oil from the one-shot lube and road dirt. I cut this corner last time and am still tracking grease into the house. Kerosene is OK, never use gasoline if you value your life!
1. Remove Shock Absorber. (See above)
2. Separate the spindle from the track rod. Remove the cotter key and castle nut (5/8" open end). Use a Snap-On puller (P/N CJ89A/CJ89-3) to separate. Clever people can get them off with a hammer, but I'm not one of them. 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.
ALTERNATE METHOD
by Cuthbert Twillie
Use threaded rods about 9-12 inches (5/16 is the size
of the bolt hole and 5/16 rod works, but I use 1/4 rod.) One one side of
the plate, remove the bolt holding the lower triangular plate and replace
it with the threaded rods close to lush and double nutted above the
plate. The extra extension of the rods is below
with a nut threaded tight up to the bottom of the plate.
The double nuts above the plate are held with a 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
oiler tube and nut and 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 the thread
rods below. Use one of the new ratcheted spanners, faster and easier.
Protecting the Lower Rebound
Springs
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".
Stoatgobbler
Made by Phaeton Engineering, Hampshire (UK) PO10
7DL . It is only for Morgans.
Tel/fax +44 1243 372040
by Quentin English on the MSCC-dg
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.
Please see also Remote
Greasing (the argument against).