Newbie in trouble

[burnham28]

Having just bought my first Morris Minor ( it's an ex metropolitan police panda which is the actual car that I drove ) I found that the nearside rear hub was leaking oil so armed with a new oil seal, paper gasket and O ring I started to rectify this. I slackened off the hand brake cables by undoing the nuts by the handbrake but the drum was very hard to get off I eventually managed to get it off but am not looking forward to trying to get it back on. Does the large nut need a 34mm socket my set hasn't got one this size. Any advice would be appreciated.

[philthehill]

Try one of these:-
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MORRIS-MINOR- ... SwHoFXrg4o
or one of these
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MORRIS-MINOR- ... SwLVZVg9UB
The correct size is 1 7/8" AF
This is what I use:-[frame][/frame]
A chisel should not be used to undo the nut and more importantly a chisel should not be used do it up.

[bmcecosse]

Careful use of a blunt chisel has always worked well for me - and many others. Almost every Minor axle will show signs of this from the past.... The LH nut is Left Hand thread. To get the drum on you will need to slacken back the adjuster - but most likely the cylinder is seized party open. Make sure the little drain hole in the base of the backplate is clear. But why would the hub leak?Possibly the bearing is worn ?

[philthehill]

No matter what other people do or have done - it will pay dividends in the long run if you get the right spanner and do the job properly with less chance of damaging the axle tube threads/hub/hub nut and your knuckles.
I have never used a chisel on my hub nuts because having the right spanner is considered by me to be a good investment in time and money.
I also use a 1 7/8" 3/4" drive socket with 1/2" to 3/4" adapter. The problem with using a 1 7/8" socket is that the majority if not all are concave so requires the concave to be ground out (which I have done) otherwise the socket does not grip the full width of the hub nut.
The added advantage of the flat plate spanner is that it grips the whole width of the nut and some can be held in place by a couple of reversed wheel nuts as per the Sprite Parts spanner. Also the effort to undo and tighten is in line with the nut so no deflection of the spanner so less risk of slippage.