How To: C15a Wire-3 restoration

[Jordan Baker]

So I reread the relevant sections and I think the retaining pin now makes sense me. Does it keep the centring pin from dropping down into the axle? Once that retaining pin is out the centring can drop down and the centre ball can now fall out. Initially I believed that the retaining pin actually held the centring pin in tight. This was my confusion.

[Phil Waterman]

Hi Jordan


I believe you are correct the second or cross pin holds the center pin from backing out in the passage and letting the center ball loose.


Will have to look at my disassembly pictures to see if I can find something of uses.


Cheers Phil

[Jordan Baker]

Today I got a bit of time in the shop. Everything started off well as my bulk order of grease nipples arrived and a tap and die in 3/4-16 for cleaning the threads on the connecting rod pins. (thanks Amazon two day free shipping).

I made up one of the handy greasing bolts as described by Phil Waterman for adding new grease to the 928 bearings. I soaked them in some cleaner to get the old grease loosened up inside. A few squirts of the grease gun and they were freshly greased.

Then things turned frustrating. I went to install the bearings into the knuckles and one went in fine. The second one would not go in straight and kept binding. 1hr later and I’ve called it quits.

[rob love]

Put the bearing in the freezer, and warm up the knuckle with the propane torch. It really does make a difference.



There are induction heaters that we use for heating bearings before installation onto shafts. Same principles.

[Jordan Baker]

Thanks for the tip. I’ll give that a try.

[Jordan Baker]

So I finally managed to get the king pin bearings installed after a few hrs of frustration. I realized I had done some minor damage to the ball socket when removing them in the press. The hole for the 928 bearing outer edge had been squished ever so slightly. This kept causing the bearings to go in and then grab on one side. I fixed it up using a sanding drum in my dremel going very slowly until the bearings press fit in.

With the time I had today I did get the left side CV joint back together and mounted in the inner and outer knuckle. The pivot pins went in fine

Two questions that did come up due to not taking enough pictures.

In my first picture you can see the splined shaft, then the grease slinger and then the bearing cone. Should the raised lip on the grease slinger be facing the bearing? If the lip is towards the CV joint the slinger doesn’t sit flush. The second question is about the bearing and it’s fit on the splined shaft. It sits loose on the shaft with a considerable gap. Is that gap supposed to be there? It does match up with wear marks on the slinger

[Jordan Baker]

The right side steering knuckle is all rebuilt. The only thing left to do is put some safety wire through the 4 bolts. Can anyone post a drawing of how the wire should go?

[Bob Carriere]

Hi Jordan

Were you able to set up your bearings with the required shims as per the shop manual????

Doing a great job....messy but great.... I used Moly grease for the front axle.... took weeks to get it all out from under my finger nails....... that is when I discovered that rubber/latex/vinyl gloves from Princess had an expiration date....... never stock up when on sale!!!!!! they dry up sitting on the shelf.

Cheers

[Jordan Baker]

Yes the shins were fine. The caps already had all the shims and everything lined up just fine. I made sure to mark each shim cap so they all went back on in the same spot.

Now to my annoyance, I discovered I forgot to install the outer front hub bearing spacer before I installed the bearings. I fear the bearings won’t come out without damage and I’ll have to order new ones. But I’ll go carefully and slowly.

[Tony Smith]

Originally Posted by Jordan Baker

Can anyone post a drawing of how the wire should go?

As the final position of each bolt and it's safety wire hole will be in a random orientation, there is no "Authorised" pattern or layout to follow. The wire is just there to ensure the the bolts don't unscrew in an anti-clockwise direction. sometimes the wire can run direct to the next bolt, sometimes it needs to be wrapped once around the head of the bolt, always in a clockwise direction.

Some people run the wire in a square around the perimeter, some in an "X" pattern across the middle. Sometimes a single strand is used, other times a twisted pair of wires are used to increase tension. All are good, as long as the wire is run to prevent the bolt heads from turning anti clockwise.

[David Herbert]

Tony,

What a nice drawing, showing most of the possible orientations. As you say, the wire is there to stop the bolts unscrewing so ideally should be in tension on both sides of the bolt head if the bolt is trying to undo. Another way to look at it is that the wire between two bolts should be trying to tighten both bolts as it is under tension. Otherwise one bolt undoing is trying to take the next bolt with it.

Bob,
I was taught not to use molly grease on anything with ball or roller bearings as it is so good that it can make the balls/rollers skid rather than roll. Quite what harm this would do was never explained as it seemed to me that any flatspotting would need metal to metal contact and that would make the rollers roll way before any harm was done. Maybe some sort of partial skidding was meant but what do you think ?

David

[Perry Kitson]

Jordan,
Regarding your question about the bearing fit on the splined shaft. The bearing should be a press fit on the shaft. Same as the corresponding cup should fit tight in the bore. You want the rolling elements of the bearing to do all the work, not the inner or outer race spinning on the rotating parts.

[Jordan Baker]

Thanks Tony for doing the drawing.

Perry that was my thoughts too. But now I’m confused.

The following refers to those parts circled in the red on the exploded parts drawing. The parts lists referees to the bearing cone as Timken #462. This is what I removed from the knuckle when I first pulled it apart and have since ordered. The new and old bearing match up.

[Jordan Baker]

Here is the axle shaft in question. Both sides are the same. This goes from the CV joint to the hub.



This is the grease slinger. My understanding is that it fits on so it sits flush against the shaft. The lip would point towards the splines.



Here is the original Timken #462 bearing cone. This was my concern as it has quite a loose fit. However the wear marks on the grease slinger match up to bearing surfaces.





Last shot of the left side assembly all together on the bench.

[Perry Kitson]

Jordan,
Is there something on the hub that fits into the cone when assembled? Surely that splined shaft can't be left flopping around inside the cone.

[Jordan Baker]

I just had a eureka moment with your comment about the hub. Yes there is shaft on the hub that fits into the gap between the splined shaft and the bearing.

[Perry Kitson]

Bingo!!
You have just won a Kewpie doll!

[rob love]

It is that piece, (6.3075 in the parts photo) along with an appropriate amount of shims, (6.3076 in the photo) that sets the front wheel bearing preload.

[Jordan Baker]

Now that my head banging moment is sorted out I managed to get the left side knuckle installed. Using the idea from both Phil and Rob for using the shop hoist, things went very smoothly. The felt retainer bolts are quoted in the manual as being torqued to 30 foot pounds. I did this, for all the other ones I couldn’t find any reference to torque specs so I went wih 50 foot pounds. I also sorted out the safety wire and got the 4 bolts all wired up.

[Jordan Baker]

I also got the right side knuckle built up.

[Jordan Baker]

Front drums went back on and then I followed the bearing pre load steps in the manual. After installing the wheels I can feel very very very minor rocking in the right side. The left side has no rocking at all. I’m thinking the drum may not have fully seated on the splines.







Lastly I’ve got all the original brass brake junction blocks to go back on. Any suggestions on cleaning these up? I’m thinking that sandblasting them will be to hard on them?

[Grant Bowker]

For the exterior surfaces a wire wheel on your bench grinder should be quite fierce enough - basically rubbing off any little bits and polishing the surface. For internal passages a drill bit held/twisted in your fingers to clear any solid bits. For the thread and seat areas - handheld wire brush, gentle picking, perhaps spray brake cleaner would dissolve hardened or dried on brake fluid.

[rob love]

Shining is wearing. You do not want to distort the sealing ring areas, nor pit the areas where the flares of the lines go.

[rob love]

Originally Posted by Jordan Baker

Front drums went back on and then I followed the bearing pre load steps in the manual. After installing the wheels I can feel very very very minor rocking in the right side. The left side has no rocking at all. I’m thinking the drum may not have fully seated on the splines.

Either that or you have too may shims in between the two bearings. Try and remove one and see if the play goes away.

[Jordan Baker]

Hi Rob.

It never had any shims in it when I took it apart. I’ll try it on another spline and see if it seats better.

As for the brake junctions. I’m not really worried about the exterior. I just wanted to get the small bits of compacted rust out from inside the flare ports. I’ve got the bits soaking in some evapo rust solution.

[super dave]

I find that using Glass instead of sand for blasting cleans up the surface really good without doing any damage to the piece.

[Jordan Baker]

Got the rear hubs and rear brake shoes back from the brake shop today. I also sandblasted all the other bits for the rear brakes and painted them. Lastly one of the shoes was missing a pin. So found a suitable bolt and turned it down to make a new pin. Maybe next week the rear wheels will be back on.

[rob love]

Originally Posted by Jordan Baker

Hi Rob.

It never had any shims in it when I took it apart. I’ll try it on another spline and see if it seats better. .

If moving it on the splines doesn't fix it, then it may be that the center spacer is too long for that particular knuckle. To discount the spacer, remove it altogether then re-assemble the hub and see if the freeplay disappears. If so, then the spacer is too long or there is some other part out of spec. The bearings should be at proper preload. Any chance you misplaced the outer bearing spacer (6.3074 on your parts illustration) or is it even applicable to your later hub?

[Jordan Baker]

New bearing cups and cones and new grease seals added to the rear drums. Tomorrow’s plan is to put the rear brakes back together and get the drums on and the wheels mounted.

[Jordan Baker]

Rear brakes are now all back together and installed. The parking brake cables have been installed. I used the ones available from Macs Antique Auto. They are very nice but need to be modified a bit. The end that goes into the drums needs about 6” of outer sheathing removed. I also added in another section of spring on the end of the cable. This keeps the cable end secure in the arm.