Recently started doing some brake work, figured I'd go ahead and re-grease the bearings and wheel hub while I had everything off. When putting the races back in place, I guess I dinged up the sides of the inner hub. Should have bought a kit to reinstall the races, but thought I'd save some money and use various sockets and tools lying around. Once everything was back together, I put the hub back on the axel stub and was spinning the hub to tighten the locking nut and settle the bearings, but I was hearing what sounded like metal scraping. I imagine these dings on the hub's wall are what caused the scraping sound. I also imagine that the pieces of metal I broke off are caught somewhere in the grease, too.

My question is, are these hubs effectively ruined? Is there something I can do to fix it? Or, must I buy new ones?

Clean the grease out, then take a die grinder with a suitable rotary file, and clean up your indescretions. Take your time, be careful and only remove the displaced material.

Be sure to thoroughly remove all bits of metal shavings before reassembly.

 

Edited December 1, 20204 yr by Racer X

Those dings might be rubbing on the washer that sits under the nut.  So a little grinding/scraping like Racer X says to do should get it back to shape.  Pretty common to have dings and scratches in there (for me anyway).

The hub is supported completely on the races inner surfaces and the bearings.  The rest of the metal in the vicinity shouldn't contact anything.  If the bearing race seats are good and the races are fully inserted in the seats then the hub itself should be fine.

There are two notches underneath the bearing race that are meant for punching out the old races.  Best to use brass or aluminum though to avoid gouges.  Make sure the races are seated all the way, no gap underneath.  Not clear why you even took them out, you can just leave them in there for rotor turning, cleaning, whatever. 

 

I'll get to grinding tomorrow (it's much too cold once the sun goes down right now). I take it a Dremel with the proper attachment will do the trick? I thought grinding might be what I'd have to do, but I wanted to know it was an option before I spent several hours fixing something that was, in fact, unfixable.  

The races are placed properly, but you're right Zed Head, I don't know why I took them out either. I realized after all was said and done that the races would only have to be removed if the bearings were replaced. I did replace the bearings on one side, but that's not the side pictured. At any rate, following the FSM's protocol and the various videos I watched, all removed the races though this was the intention of replacing the bearing, and thus the race. I should have thought first, but, oh well, I learned the hard way.

Firstly, don’t sweat it buddy, we’ve all done something like that. I used sockets too, you just got unlucky.

Secondly, I erm, second what Racer and Zed Head have said already, I don’t think you’ve ruined anything either. The advice above is very sound.

Finally, have you considered that it could be the metal guard on the flange? It’s a close fit and easy to knock out of round by accident! (See my dodgy red arrow mark-up below)



Keep the faith, you will find it to be something very simple and insignificant.

47 minutes ago, AK260 said:

Finally, have you considered that it could be the metal guard on the flange? It’s a close fit and easy to knock out of round by accident! (See my dodgy red arrow mark-up below)

Yes!  I have spent hrs chasing that sound thinking my bearings were screwed, a pair of needle nosed pliers and its fixed.

Cheers everybody - it worked! No weird sounds, and the hub rotates silky smooth.  

@AK260 For future references, is the metal guard from your picture on the hub itself, or part of the axel? I couldn't seem to find what you were referring to either way.

5 hours ago, Tweeds said:

@AK260 I couldn't seem to find what you were referring to either way.

Well I wasn't going to mention it before, but since you asked... The reason you can't find what he's talking about is because we're all at the front of the car except AK... He's at the rear of the car instead of the front.

I was going to just let it go until now, but I'm thinking he's been sniffing the spray cans again and someone might want to think about doing a cabin fever intervention.   

Oh, and glad your issue was pretty much a non-problem!   

AK... He's at the rear of the car instead of the front.
I was going to just let it go until now, but I'm thinking he's been sniffing the spray cans again and someone might want to think about doing a cabin fever intervention.   

Damn, you know me so well!!!!

TOTALLY missed the fact that it was a front hub! Attention to detail - fail! I definitely need more sleep.

Yeah, I know you're stressed and not feeling your best. I hope you can get some sleep.

You were simply trying your best to help, and regardless of which end of the car you were on, the fact that you were trying counts big!   

You were simply trying your best to help, and regardless of which end of the car you were on, the fact that you were trying counts big!   

You are awfully kind sir, but I do feel like Eric Morecambe:

https://www.youtube.com/embed/3OB3NE9-uMI