To reuse or not to reuse.. what would you do..?

[gs.davies]

Still no joy in finding a front hub to replace this one (without having to resort to the potential of having to machine one to clear the 7” disc…

What the consensus here? Use or scrap?

There is a small ridge worn into the upper side of the bearing seat suggesting it’s gone a little oval.

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[Spider]

By the looks of it, it does appear the bearings have spun a few times and the centre popping does nothing.

Sorry, but my view is it's scrap.

[Peter Laidler]

We used to say that up to .004" wear could be taken up with bearing lock..... after all, that's what it's designed for! But I have to agree, that criteria was for large and VERY expensive taper roller bearings and hubs. The principle is the same. Mind you, the inspection team in the bearing bay wouldn't have appreciated those centre punch divots!

The BIG killer you might face - and an important one in me making a decision would be the central collar (that you can see) is exactly parallel. If not, this will play havoc with your bearings.

I know that others, like my old Aussie mate Spider (above), will have an opposite view so I've got my steel helmet on.

So on that basis, what have you got to loose. . Measure the wear at the bearing circumference, measure the inner collar for parallelism, all good so far? New bearings, set them up correctly and see how it goes for 1000 miles.

[gs.davies]

It’d get roller bearings, would that make any difference Peter?

[gs.davies]

Actually, now I’ve had another look, the collar is burred over quite badly and that’s visible to the eye. I presume that really seals its fate in going on the scrap pile.

Oh well…

[Peter Laidler]

Nope..... the fact that the edges of the internal spacer collar are burred are simply an indication that the outer bearing has spun. You already KNOW that......., it's the nature of the beast! What's important is that the collar is parallel all the way round. That's a simple check with a vernier caliper. I know that it's in the past now and the decision has been made but I'd use taper rollers all the time for several technical reasons

[MiNiKiN]

In addition to Peter's statements, I'd give Loctite 620 or even 660 a try. It has the capability to fill bigger gaps (up to 10 thou = 0.25mm and 10-20 though, i.e. 0.5mm respectively). I'd def. give it a try and not scrap it.

Loctite 620: https://www.henkel-adhesives.com/uk/en/ ... e_620.html

Loctite 660: https://www.henkel-adhesives.com/ng/en/ ... e_660.html

cheers
Marcus (aka "the parts rescuer")

[Andrew1967]

For what it’s worth, I had a hub on my 998 Cooper that was worn.

We used bearing fit on it and it lasted for years with no further play.

[Peter Laidler]

I'm glad you agree with me Minikin because, by coincidence, I sent this thread to one of my old friends, Andy Burrows, who was one of the material inspectors in the big main tank workshop. His comment was that for a 3 or 400 ££ land-rover hub or whatever, they'd simply scrap it. On the basis that to them, £400 is cheap and not worth investing in! But for larger, more expensive, they'd examine and locktite. On that basis, if it was for a heavy vehicle or tank hub, they'd save it.

I'm inclined to agree with you Minikin. Even though it's cheap (at 200?) there's nothing lost in saving it. Like Andy says, it costs nothing and could save hundreds! Our own HOY Andy agrees too

Send it to me to do for you Gary..... I'll use it over the summer

[gs.davies]

Well, I've ordered a replacement and I'm hopeful it'll fit without fouling the disc. I'll report back.
Peter, the hub is in the scrap pile, happy to send it if you want it, it'd be interesting to know what your opinion is of it once you've inspected it. To my non-engineering eye, I think it's too far gone and I don't really want to introduce further problems which may leave me also needing a replacement 998 Cooper drive flange!