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MG Midget and Sprite Technical - Removing FW bearings without damaging them.

Can anyone do this? or has a technique for doing this?

I'm a bit reluctant to throw away perfectly useable original bearings but I need to remove them to clean them thoroughly to remove years of garage grit.

Rob
MG Moneypit

Remove the hub in the normal way, wash out as much of the grease as you can and use a long rod to tap the bearing outer races out of the hub from the opposite side - there should be a couple of cutouts in the hub race ledge to allow you to get a good blow on the outer races.

I wouldn't bother reusing the old bearings - if there are full of "garage grit" then they are probably worn anyway.
Chris at Octarine Services

Hi Chris, by garage grit I mean they were stored without grease caps and the grease has been contaminated with years of grit.

Also, don't you need to remove the distance piece to remove the outers? This means removing the inner race and balls, which must damage the bearings?

Rob
MG Moneypit

It is difficult to say the least to remove FWB without them coming apart. I have done this in the past when funds were scarce by driving out the inner bearing being careful to not lose any ball bearings. Then I made up a drift that fit the inside diameter of the hub and large enough to fit the outer race of the smaller outside bearing. This will remove the outer bearing intact. I have reassembled the inner bearing and reused it. Today I would just buy the bearings offered by Heritage Car Parts.
J Bubela

Hi Rob,
I tried this a few weeks ago, but failed as the bearing came apart.

My advice would be to knock out the smaller one, then its much cheaper to replace.
I got one from my local shop for 350 baht (8 pounds).
Its the bigger inner bearing that has the issue with the radius etc so you can use a std one for the outer bearing replacement.

Bearing i got was a Koyo 7305B, its a 40 deg ball bearing, works just fine.

Just make sure your spacer is exactly the same dimension as the shoulders inside the hub and youll be fine.

(Is this this years mammoth FWB thread about to start ?)

;-)

Andy
Andy Phillips (frankenfrog)

Sorry, 7303B, not 7305B...
Andy Phillips (frankenfrog)

I modified an old screwdriver to fit inside the cutouts
to drift out the bearing.
After some trial and error it seemed the important part was the relief under the shoulder which allows it to sit firmly in the cutout.

M J Chapman

How about a 2-piece drift?

You slot the two pieces in, line them up, clamp them together and drift the bearing out.

Just a thought!

Dave O'Neill 2

I recall having problems getting the larger bearing out of the hub. In the end I had to resort to using drift on the inner race, which is not good practice and likely to brinell the race.

And Andy, without starting another mammoth fwb thread, both bearings should be matched face-adjusted bearings in order to get the play right. Even if you match spacer to hub dimensions there is a risk of to much play without face-adjusted bearings. Statisically, you may get away wiht it.
Graeme Williams

Hi Graeme,
I understand that it depends which bearing you use.
If you have the original type then they may be a matched set.

But with the later types they are designed to be mixed and matched as required and still give the correct preload as long as the inner and outer abutment lengths are exactly the same.
With modern manufacturing methods the new bearings can be guaranteed to have the inside faces align exactly.

This from the SKF website:

Bearings for universal matching
Bearings for universal matching are intended
to be used in sets. The width and the standout
of the rings are manufactured to close tolerances.
When two bearings are mounted immediately adjacent to each other, a given internal clearance or preload or an even load distribution between the two bearings
is obtained without the use of shims or similar
devices .
Bearings for universal matching can also be beneficial in arrangements with single bearings. Most bearings
belong to the SKF Explorer performance class and as such have higher precision, increased load carrying capacity and speed capability.
Bearings for universal matching in the
72 B(E) and 73 B(E) series are identified by the
suffix CA,CB or CC for internal clearance or GA, GB
or GC for preload

Andy Phillips (frankenfrog)

Andy:
If you buy a quality bearing made to "matched" or "face adjusted" standard then that would be fine. As you state, a number of the SKF bearings are in a product range made to that standard.
However, there are a lot of cr*p bearings about, all claiming to be equivalent and many fwb kits were made up of this rubbish. Poor tolerance, manufacturing quality and no inner radius has all contributed to the poor reputation of FWB.
The other downside to the whole bearing issue is the fact that the other components (hub, shaft, spacer) all need matching precision and if wear or bad manufacturing quality has affected any of these, problems will still be encountered.
Graeme Williams

Hi Graeme, yes agree.
I think were on the same page.
Andy
Andy Phillips (frankenfrog)

This thread was discussed between 19/02/2017 and 22/02/2017

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