WHEEL BEARINGS REFURBISH

SAFE HARBOUR STATEMENT:

This “How I installed it” essay is presented as
general information and has been prepared by
a Triumph TR6 owner with very limited auto
mechanic knowledge. The installation proce-
dures shown in this document are not profes-
sional instructions and are not intended to be
such. The front wheel bearings and wheel hubs
of a 1969 Triumph TR6 were successfully refur-
bished with these amateur procedures and I
was not injured during the process.

The following essay documents the removal,

cleaning and refurbishing of both front wheel
bearings. Therefore these procedures can also
be used to remove old wheel bearings and install new TOOLS I USED TO COMPLETE THE PROJECT:
sets. Specifically, the recommended every 20K mile
routine maintenance task of cleaning, inspecting and In order to access and remove the wheel bearings,
repacking wheel bearing with new grease the project requires removing the two wheel hubs,
both disc brake calipers and both brake rotors. The
working space is mostly open with easy access to
most of the fasteners. Most of the bolts are fairly high
torque and require a long handle ratchet for leverage.

Normally, I work with two jack stands but this was not
possible due to no access on the opposite side of the
car. (car non-functional) I worked with two primary
hydraulic jacks and a scissor jack for a third.
 WHEEL BEARINGS REFURBISH
There was still a ton of grease and road dirt inside.
The work area in my car presented difficult working Have plenty of paper towels and garage rags on
conditions due to the many years’ accumulation of hand. You will need them in order to keep your tools
old grease and road dirt. Many of the fastener bolt and hands clean and for safety reasons.
heads and nuts could not be seen due to thick layers
of grease / road dirt. Step One: Remove Brake Caliper-

Four days before I began the disassembly, I sprayed

the entire wheel hub and suspension system area
with a heavy degreaser liquid. I applied the
degreaser several times over a three day period.

After three days of soaking in degreaser, I hooked

the garage hose up to the hot water tap and pressure
washed the wheel hub and suspension components.
I let the work area air dry. I then sprayed the bolt
heads and nuts with Liquid Wrench and let it soak in
for one day.

Wheel hub before cleaning

Brake Caliper - seen from behind

As an amateur trying to perform auto mechanics, my

own safety is always foremost in my mind. Working
Wheel hub after cleaning-below beneath a car and putting my hands and tools in
places I cannot see with my eyes scares me.

The Bentley Book is a great resource but it does not

always give the depth or perspective of how the
various pieces fit together. For this reason, I try to
take photos of fasteners before I put tools onto them.

Two bolts secure the brake caliper to the caliper

mounting plate, as seen above. The two bolts also
secure two of three tabs that attach the circular dust
shield and the brake hose clip.

A brake caliper centering shim should be found

between the two bolts. The shim was missing from
my car and is on order.
 WHEEL BEARINGS REFURBISH
Removing the two brake caliper bolts is a difficult task
and requires great strength. Perhaps the heat gener-
ated during braking has caused the bolts to seize.

After soaking in Liquid Wrench for one day, it was still

necessary for me to lie on my back and with a long
handled ratchet and 9/16” sockets, put my entire
body weight onto the bolts before they would rotate
and could be removed. Use only six sided tools for
this project or you will round off the bolt heads and
have a real mess on your hands. Be sure to wear
safety goggles as a lot of crud falls down in your face

Outer Wheel Bearings Exposed

Once you have removed the cotter pin, castle nut and
steel washer, the outer wheel bearing is exposed. As
seen above. The bearing will slide out into your
hands. For now, wrap it in a clean cloth, label it and
set it aside with the other removed parts.

Note: Now is probably a good time to remember a

camera is a tool you need for this project. Take
many photos of pieces before and after you have
removed them. They make an excellent reference
when you try to put things back together.

Brake Caliper Removed

Once you have removed the brake caliper it is very

important to secure the caliper to the upper A-Arm so
it is out of the working area and more importantly, so
you do not break the rubber brake hose or connec-
tions. Set the bolts aside and label them.

With the brake caliper safely secured out of the way,

it is now time to removed the wheel hub and brake
rotor disc. This is an easy, straight forward task.

The wheel hub and brake rotor are secured to the With the outer bearing safely set aside, it is time to
stub axle by a single castle nut, cotter pin and large remove the wheel hub and disc rotor. Firmly grip the
steel washer. Remove the cotter pin and back off the rotor at 9:00 and 3:00 and pull it straight toward while
large castle nut and set them aside and label them. being careful not to bang up the stub axle.
Gently work the washer off the stub axle.
 WHEEL BEARINGS REFURBISH
After the stub axle, caliper mounting plate and dust
shield were cleaned of grease and road dirt, I ran a
tap thru the two bolt holes of the mounting plate to
clean up the threads. This task can be viewed in the
lower left photo.

Once the brake rotor and wheel hub are removed as

a single unit; the stub axle, caliper mounting plate
and dust cover are exposed as seen in the photo
above. Pretty nasty looking to this non-mechanic The front wheels rotate on the stub axle and are
guy. supported by two sets of bearings. An inner set and
an outer set. After I had removed the grease and
Spray the area with degreaser liquid and start clean- road dirt I polished the bearing’s areas of the stub
ing up the work area. This will take a bit of time and axle with #1500 wet grit paper, as seen above.
make a great pile of greasy paper towels. I preach to
my construction workers “ A clean work area is a I lightly coated the exposed metal surfaces with
safe work area.” I don’t see why auto mechanics wheel bearing grease and then removed the dust
projects should be any different. shield to inspect the suspension system behind it.

Remove 3rd dust shield bolt from caliper mount.

Clean all threads with tap
 WHEEL BEARINGS REFURBISH
So far, it has been about four hours time to get to this With the wheel hub and brake rotor set aside
point. Now would be a good time to scrub the grease soaking overnight, now is an excellent opportunity to
off your hands and arms and take a beverage break. perform a little general suspension / steering cleaning
Coffee, beer, iced tea. Coca Cola- any will do. and inspection. As seen in the photo below left, the
brake caliper mounting plate looked pretty sad and
Wow, that icy cold Coke hit the spot. Now back to the the vertical link and trunion behind it were both
Wheel Bearing refurbish. covered with at least a 1/4” thickness of ancient
grease and road crud.

The wheel hub with inner and outer bearing sets is

fastened to the brake rotor disc with four (4) bolts as
seen in the photo above. It is easier to remove the
bearing components with the wheel hub separated
from the brake rotor. The brake caliper mounting plate is held in place with
four bolts and two sets of tab-lock washers. The
The four bolts holding this hub and rotor together yellow arrows show the tabs in their down or
were “frozen” so tightly even an 18” ratchet extension unlocked position. In the UP position, the tabs
could not break them loose. I filled the bolt area with prevent the bolts from rotating. I used a flat screw-
Liquid Wrench and set it aside to soak overnight. driver with a ground off, widened tip to flatten the
tab-locks.

The four bolts are thru-bolts secured with conven-

tional lock nuts on the opposite side. Two bolts are
short and easily removed after sprayed with Liquid
Wrench. A 9/16” socket is required on the bolt head
and a 9/16” wrench is required to keep the lock nut
from rotating.

The other two bolts are long thru-bolts passing thru

the caliper mount plate, a steel spacer and the steer-
ing control arm. These two bolts might be difficult to
remove due to rust build-up inside the steel spacer
and steering control arm. Use Liquid Wrench and a
ratchet extension to remove these two bolts.
 WHEEL BEARINGS REFURBISH

If you are going to all the trouble to rework or

replace the wheel bearings, the few extra
minutes it takes to inspect the front suspension
bushings is well worth the effort.

As seen above and below, All the suspension

Grip the caliper mount plate at 9:00 and 3:00 and
pull straight forward over the stub axle. Make sure to bushings in my front end were either deterio-
keep the stub axle lightly coated with grease. rated with age or were not the proper bushing for
the component. The inspection of this car
indicates a complete replacement of all the
bushings is required. Also, a broken tie rod end was
observed.

Bushings Deteriorated
 WHEEL BEARINGS REFURBISH

Next day after the wheel hub / brake rotor have

Soaked in Liquid Wrench:

Once you have the hub separated from the brake

rotor it is easier to work with things. The inside of the
hub might be filled with old grease. Yes or no, clean
the hub interior thoroughly. Once clean, you will be
be able to see the bearings access slots, as below.
SEPARATE WHEEL HUB FROM BRAKE ROTOR:

Four bolts secure the wheel hub to the brake rotor.

They are a bear to back out even with Liquid Wrench.
This odd position with the rotor locked against my
legs was the easiest for me to hold everything tight
and use an 18” extension on the ratchet.

(bearings and races removed to show access

slots)
 WHEEL BEARINGS REFURBISH
The outer wheel bearings have already been
removed and are safely wrapped in clean cloth and
set aside. The outer wheel bearing race piece is still
in place inside the hub. The inner wheel bearings
and race are also still inside the hub and must be
removed.

The access slots are narrow and rectangular in

shape. I ground down an old screwdriver to make a
punch tool to fit the shape of the access slots. A
small hammer is used to lightly tap the bearings’
edge or race edge where they are exposed in the
access slots. Tap from side to side so the piece
slides forward and does not jam. A great deal of
force is not required.

Photo above shows removing outer race.

Tap out both bearing races and wrap them in clean

cloth with the two bearing sets. Once again clean
the inside of the wheel hub and give the machined
metal surfaces a light coating of wheel bearing
grease.

Prepare a work area that is very clean and sheltered

from the wind. Locate a very clean work surface to
begin the bearings sets refurbishing. Now go take a
coffee break and scrub your hands as clean as you
can get them.

It is very important that the work area be 100% free

of any grit or sand that might get into the bearings
destroy them.

The photo above shows the inner bearings tapped

out thru the two access slots. The bearing race is
still in place and requires removal as well. The
bearings retaining band is also shown with the felt
grease seal removed for photo clarity.

Wrap the inner bearings in a clean cloth and set

aside.
 WHEEL BEARINGS REFURBISH

I cleaned the bearings and races with a commercial

grade grease remover. I then inspected the bearings
and races for indications of wear or scratches. Every-
thing looked acceptable.

Scoop up a palmful of grease and work it into

each bearing making sure to roll the bearing to
expose all surfaces.

The bearing are now clean and prepared to be

repacked with wheel bearing grease. Make sure you
purchase wheel bearing grease formulated specifi-
cally for disc brakes.
 WHEEL BEARINGS REFURBISH
I began the bearings reassemble with the inner
bearings first. As seen in the photo below left, I used
a flat steel bar and medium weight hammer to start
moving the bearings’ race down into the hub. I
rotated the steel bar at 90* intervals to keep the race
moving straight downward. Very light taps with the
hammer are all that is required. Too much effort with
the hammer and you might drive your wheel studs
out.

The photo above shows the outer and inner bearings

resting within their race rings. I also coated the inner
surface of the two (2) race rings with grease prior to
inserting the bearings sets.

Once the race is flush with the hub, you need to

drive the race home with a flat punch tool, again at
90* intervals. To completely seat the race, I set the
hub and lugs into the wheel. This protected the lugs
from being driven out by the final strong force
needed to seat the race.
 WHEEL BEARINGS REFURBISH

After you have seated the inner bearings’ race is an

excellent time to clean out the mounting bolt threads.
It takes just a few extra minutes and makes for a
better reassemble.

Install the outer bearings’ race exactly the same way

as the inner race. Now it is time to insert the
bearings. Begin with the inner bearing first because it
has more pieces.

Lightly grease the inner bearing's race and then set

the bearings into the race. Make sure they rotate
smoothly. Next tap in the retainer band with the
punch tool until it comes into contact with the
bearings. Add a dab of grease and push in the felt
grease shield. The finished assembly is seen above.
 WHEEL BEARINGS REFURBISH
Carefully lift the hub/rotor assembly and slide it onto
the stub axle. If you accidentally push out the outer
bearings, that OK for now. You will “feel the inner
bearing felt grease seal seat itself around the stub
axle assembly. ( see photo bottom left)

If the outer bearings popped out while you were

sliding the hub/rotor assembly over the stub axle,
carefully slide them back into the race.

Now slide the large steel washer over the stub axle
until it begins to push against the outer bearings.
Install the castle nut onto the threaded end of the
stub axle and begin to tighten.

As you tighten the castle nut, rotate the hub/rotor.

When the hub/rotor becomes very difficult to rotate,
back off the castle nut one flat until a slot is lined up
with the 1/8” diameter hole drilled thru the stub axle
end. Insert a new cotter pin and bend it in opposite
Reinstall the brake caliper mounting bracket and dust directions.
shield as seen above. At this stage, the dust shield is
held in place with one bolt as seen in the photo The wheel bearing project is now complete and
above. Tighten the four bolts to 30# and make sure should look something like the photo below. Reinstall
the bolt flats line up with the tab-lock washers. Now the brake caliper, dust cap and put on the wheel.
bend the four (4) tabs of the tab-lock washers
upward to hold the bolts in place.

The wheel bearing project is just about completed. Yisrael and Randall: Technical advisers
The inner and outer wheel bearings are installed in Dale: Author and photographer
the hub and the hub is attached to the brake rotor.
One optional page follows>>>>>>>>>>>>>
WHEEL BEARINGS REFURBISH

This page is totally optional and has nothing to do

with wheel bearings: But while I had things
apart........might as well----------------

My wheel hub was really nasty looking and had a lot

of surface rust. Plus the lug studs were so filled with
crud it was difficult to remove or install the lug nuts. I
used a paint brush to apply rust remover to the
surface of the wheel hub. The I applied clean water to
wash it off. I used several cycles of this.

Then I used a thread die and cleaned up the four (4)

studs. Next I wired brushed the hub surface with a
rotary drill wheel to get down to clean metal. Then I
washed it with xylol

I masked the threads and hub opening with high

temperature tape. Then I powder coated the outer
surface of the wheel hub with gun barrel black. It
came out looking much better than before.

I hope this “HOW TO “ essay might be

helpful to other non-mechanic oriented TR6
owners.
Dale Aug 2007