james christie Posted June 7, 2020 Report Share Posted June 7, 2020 Changed the rear hub bearings on my 3 a few months back and this afternoon managed to motivate myself to set up the float on the rear axle having scrounged an aged dial gauge and the requisite bits of meccano to fix it to the brake plate. I have never used a dial gauge before. Thickness of the original shims was 48 thou on the lhs and 31 on the rhs (!) As far as I know the axle has never been apart before in 60 years.With the new bearings and the hub held in place with 3 set screws for the moment I have 52 thou on each side giving 5 or 6 thou float, which would appear to be OK according to the WSM. Can you folks have a look at the attached photos to see if I have got the measuring set up right as it is a bit jury rigged cos my gauge would only fit on the meccano bits and pieces in the way that is shown. My grateful thanks for your preferably polite observations. james Quote Link to post Share on other sites
BlueTR3A-5EKT Posted June 7, 2020 Report Share Posted June 7, 2020 .Hi James, Yes you are doing the right thing..and just to be sure that is thousandths of an inch measured with your gauge.? Not some metric measurement.- I say this as I know your location. Measure with both rear wheels removed and off the ground. The measurement is the total reading on the gauge from pushing the axle shaft in with a lever then pulling it back out again with a lever. Just as if you were cornering hard left and then right. You are measuring the total axle shaft movement through the axle. Once you are happy with the measurement figure fit and tighten all the bolts and recheck the end float again. It may have tightened. I have always thought the tab washers are a nuisance so I changed all 12 hub to axle bolts for flange headed ones. Like this which would need shortening. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2-1-2-X-5-16-UNF-flange-head-bolts-studs-BZP-Qty-10/223755872491?hash=item3418e3a8eb:g:1EIAAOSwYXVYyRnI These have a 7/16 af hex head and integral washer. I also drilled the heads of all my bolts and wire lock for safety. Cheers Peter W Quote Link to post Share on other sites
james christie Posted June 8, 2020 Author Report Share Posted June 8, 2020 (edited) Thanks for your help, PW. Just to raise your comfort level, the gauge is an ancient American one in thous. of an inch, which I was given some thirty years ago....because it was in imperial! The whole car is on axle stands. I have been moving the half shaft back and forwards by hand with a fair effort and clunk. I’ll try with a lever this morning. I totally agree with your opinion on the tab washers, but I am on a roll now, and would have to wait too long to get the flange headed ones from blighty james Edited June 8, 2020 by james christie Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ianc Posted June 8, 2020 Report Share Posted June 8, 2020 Tab washers get in the way of the spanner when attempting to undo the bolts, especially when there's so little space round the axle. When replacing the half shafts etc in my axle, I discarded the tab washers and used spring/locking washers under the heads of the bolts. Ian Cornish Quote Link to post Share on other sites
RobH Posted June 8, 2020 Report Share Posted June 8, 2020 You may like to re-think that Ian. The first part of this video (from 39 seconds) which compares common locking methods is very instructive and somewhat concerning. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
tr graham Posted June 9, 2020 Report Share Posted June 9, 2020 Rob good video, we use Nord lock washers on the bolts to hold the tips to the drum in our high speed shredder , graham Quote Link to post Share on other sites
james christie Posted June 9, 2020 Author Report Share Posted June 9, 2020 I think I’ll stick with the tab washers! It’s all buttoned up now with 5 thou of float - as suggested by PW I remeasured using a pry-bar and I found a few thou more of play and reshimmed accordingly. Brakes to be fitted this afternoon james Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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