Rear wheel bearing complications

[tom1985]

Hi everyone,

I'm hoping to get some advice on a job I'm doing on the moggy (1000 saloon). I'm a complete amateur at this, and feel like I have two left hands sometimes. But I like to give things a go (whole point of getting the car really) so here goes.

I'd noticed a rumbling noise from the rear of the car, and on investigation discovered the rear offside wheel bearing had failed. The ball bearings were still present but the spacers had completely gone. On removal, shards of metal dropped out, along with bits of a black, rubbery material. I obtained a replacement bearing and dismantled the hub. The old bearing tapped out easily, and before going any further I made sure that the inside of the hub and axle were clean of any metal waste.

The bearing kit came with a hollow, circular oil seal, which according to the diagram in my BL workshop manual, fits inside the hub, behind the bearing itself. There was no such seal present when i removed the old hub - although it is possible that it totally disintegrated, given the bits of rubbery stuff that I removed from the hub. However, when I tried to fit the bearing and seal into the hub, it will not fit. The bearing sticks out of the front of the hub by about 5mm or so. Wierdly, I then tried refitting it without the oil seal, it fitted perfectly! Does anyone know what is going on?

Then (as is so often the case) I discovered another problem. In the meantime I had replaced the rear wheel cylinders, which had seized (unsurprisingly, I have done this before, so knew how to do it). However, when I replaced the hub back onto the axle, just for somewhere to put it, I noticed that the brake cylinder is now foul of the hub, preventing it from rotating! I've used pattern cylinders, but they have never failed to fit before - and it didn't make any difference when I fitted an identical one to the other side! I wasn't aware of any form of adjustment for how the hub sits on the axle, but something must have changed. Does anyone have any idea what's going on?

One last thing, any idea why the bearing would fail like that? And should i be worried about contamination of the inside of the rear axle and diff by metal waste from it?

Thanks for your help folks. Once again I have reached the limit of what I can do!

Cheers, Tom

[ManyMinors]

I'd guess that the new seal won't go in because the remains of the old seal is still there?
As for the brake cylinder, you probably simply need to jiggle it about a bit so that it slides freely as it should in the backplate?
I agree, the pattern cylinders seem to fit OK.

[RobThomas]

As above, seal has a steel ring to make it stiff and it may well still be in the hub. (For pics, see "Adjustable real seals...What??? thread)

Once the bearing is in it should protrude out from the face of the hub by the thickness of a sewing needle, approximately.

[dudload]

I had the same issue with an old seal still in there , the old one actually looking like it was part of the hub but getting a screwdriver in the and tapping out from behind got the old seal out.

[tom1985]

Thanks guys. I'll have a closer look at what may be left inside the hub next weekend. Cheers for now!

[tom1985]

Just wanted to say thanks again for the advice on the wheel bearing, which was correct. I finished the job today, and the obstruction did turn out to be the remains of the old oil seal. Once removed the new bearing fitted without any trouble.

If you're reading this because you've having the same problem as me: The metal inner of the oil seal looks like part of the inside of the hub assembly if you've never seen in there before (and I hadn't). Worth checking