Front hubs

[falcott]

Hi all, I found, as a relatively new A7 owner, that on my first decent drive, applying the brakes sternly caused a massive dive to the left. I ascertained that there was grease on the brake shoes from, I guess, copious enthusiastic greasing. Now as I say, as a new Austin owner, never having rebuilt Austin brakes before, I find that Mr Doug Woodrow in his otherwise excellent manual glibly states "Remove the split pins through the hole provided in hub" (page F2-2). Oh really. The holes may be adequate when inserting the pins, but when extracting them it seems damned (oops) near impossible. Even with pounding on a tiny screwdriver not designed for such treatment, I can't get it to budge in an upwards and outwards direction. In my younger and more enthusiastic days, and with 50 year younger axles and whatnot, I would just unwind the nut and shear the pin. (That was on prewar Fords incidentally.) Would that be permissible behaviour today, by chance, by someone growing as frustrated as I? I really need to get these hubs and backing plates off. Thanks for any assistance, even if from afar.

[Tony Press]

Hi all, I found, as a relatively new A7 owner, that on my first decent drive, applying the brakes sternly caused a massive dive to the left. I ascertained that there was grease on the brake shoes from, I guess, copious enthusiastic greasing. Now as I say, as a new Austin owner, never having rebuilt Austin brakes before, I find that Mr Doug Woodrow in his otherwise excellent manual glibly states "Remove the split pins through the hole provided in hub" (page F2-2). Oh really. The holes may be adequate when inserting the pins, but when extracting them it seems damned (oops) near impossible. Even with pounding on a tiny screwdriver not designed for such treatment, I can't get it to budge in an upwards and outwards direction. In my younger and more enthusiastic days, and with 50 year younger axles and whatnot, I would just unwind the nut and shear the pin. (That was on prewar Fords incidentally.) Would that be permissible behaviour today, by chance, by someone growing as frustrated as I? I really need to get these hubs and backing plates off. Thanks for any assistance, even if from afar.

After taking off the brake drum you could use the hub puller to draw off the hub leaving both bearings and Felt Housing in place on the axle stub,  then you have a clear go at the split pin. If you just unwind the nut and shear the pin you could damage the thread.

After the nut is off put the hub back and install the drum screws attaching it to the Felt Housig and again use the hub puller to draw off the bearings  
 
After cleaning out the grease from the hub and bearings, if the bearings look and feel alright (they are well oversize) just fill the bearings with a lithium based multi purpose No 2 grease. Never grease the hub as the handbook advises.

The usually well worn Felt Seal is a b*gg*r to replace so you might fit sealed bearings and save any messing about. 

Leave the steel felt spacer in place to correctly locate the large bearing in the hub  

Cheers, Tony.

[falcott]

Aah, so there is an inner hub and an outer hub...

[Ruairidh Dunford]

Geoffrey,

Yes, I have always used a specially thinned socket to remove the nut and shear the split pin.

[Tony Press]

Aah, so there is an inner hub and an outer hub...

Not what Austin call them, but yes.

---

Geoffrey,

Yes, I have always used a specially thinned socket to remove the nut and shear the split pin.

You has your choice and you takes your pick 

[Ruairidh Dunford]

You need to explain your intention please, Tony?

[falcott]

Geoffrey,

Yes, I have always used a specially thinned socket to remove the nut and shear the split pin.

Interesting. But doesn't that leave the stub of the split pin to be squished (technical term) by the thread of the nut? How can it shear the pin neatly at the surface of the stub axle?  The split pin protrudes to the outside dimension of the nut, if you can follow me.

[Ruairidh Dunford]

The thinned socket take the ends of the split pin off as it is tapped on and the split pin is far too soft to ever do any damage to the stub axle or the nut threads.

Good luck with your quest.

["Slack Alice" Simon]

I, too, always shear the pin with the turning of the nut.

The remains of the pin are easily pushed out of the threaded stub.

[stuartu]

In recent years (the last forty or so) I have used a split pin of a suitable length and arranged matters so that I can manipulate it to remove it through the hole provided. Prior to that I would split the hub but since using sealed bearings I have seen no reason to do so.
Because it is decades since I used the hub splitting technique my memory may be faulty but I think if you split the front hub it is as well to remove the grease plug since it may foul the outer bearing.
In your case you probably intend to clear excess grease from the hub so you might as well split the hub anyway. When you replace it you can decide if, next time, you will appreciate a suitable split pin.
I will come clean and say that, in my time, I have sheared a split pin with a socket as described.

Regards,

Stuart