Front Wheel Bearing & Speedometer Cable Redo

[Ken King]

Prepping my car for winter, I was flushing the brake fluid with a pump up pressure unit when I heard a pop and hiss. Before I could release the pressure the fluid reservoir was empty. Turned out the grommet in the master cylinder came apart.
So, I decided to install a new speedometer cable to replace the one that had recently failed. I decided to pull the dust cap and found water, rust and metal chips in there, some of which were imbedded in the outer bearing housing. I pulled the disk brake off and the rear bearing may be OK, but I'll need to clean everything up to be sure. This water apparently came through the speedometer cable hole. I hadn't pushed in the two shims that lock the cable in the wheel spindle when I installed new bearings a few years ago, but the cable was a good snug fit in the hole, and I can't imagine that would have been the cause of the water infiltration. Two questions:

-What is supposed to prevent water from getting through that speedo cable hole?
-There is considerable wear on the spacer ring where the inner seal rides (the car has about 150k miles on it). Any suggestions on the best way to remove and replace that ring?

[Dick Weiss]

Kenm

Water wouldn't get into the bearing(s) via the little square hole in the dust cap; the real problem is the sealing
of the cable's sheath thru the spindle/axle hole. The early version had a flaired metal split-sleeve pushed inward against a grommet (from the inner end) and it's squeezed by a smaller diameter hole when pressed inward. The later version is a full rubber piece w/a lip for removal itss inner end, and not needing the sleave. It's fitment requires a good cleaning of the spindle's hole--and add a little silicon paste to help insertion.

Dick

[Ken King]

I think the split sleeve is what I called "two shims" above, so apparently I have the early version ('64 SC). It was such a PITA to pull out that I decided to not push it back in the last time I replaced the cable, not realizing that it was a sealing device. I'll put silicone on the cable and push in the sleeve.

Any thoughts on the spacer ring question? I don't know how much wear it can take without causing trouble.

[Dick Weiss]

Ken,

I forgot about the wear you mentioned on the spacer ring on the spindle; Yes, it's difficult to remove it w/o
'beating it' enough for a puller to fit behind it's lip. Back in '86, a front wheel bearing failed on a '65 C cp during
it's return from the Holiday in Colorado; We stopped @ a gas station, used his floorjack, removed the wheel, caliper, rotor, and the rest of the bearings and found that the inner race was really stuck on the spindle! I had to use a small air grinder to un-stress the race and polish the spindle (luckily it's harder) while our traveling companion went on a 90 mile round trip to Des Moines, Iowa for bearings. The time lost was 3-hrs.
A drum brake car w/such a failure would've been a disastor w/the wheel failing off!!! A disc brake caliper keeps the rotor assembly w/the wheel from falling off; It gave a funny feeling @ 75mph!!!!!!!!!!!

The later spindle(s) don't have reliefs for a small 2-arm puller to fit behind them and I had to add reliefs w/a
Dremel for the hooks to fit. At least the early 25mm spacer had a groove in its diameter for a puller to fit.
Years ago, the later 30mm spacer was difficult to purchase, so I've refinished them on my tool grinder--I still
have several in my archive stock along w/some early (more expensive) spacers. I scrap the real bad ones!

Dick

[Brad Ripley]

In the now old days of NLA Limited we often re-bushed several spindles per month. I found the easiest/fastest way to remove the bearing spacer was to lightly heat it and then punch it off. Of course, we had the bare spindle, bead blasted and clean, making it easy to hold in vice by the steering arm. -- Not so easy if the spindle assy is still on the car! To drive the spacer off, a long punch with a small end, plus a good sized hammer most always did the job --- hitting round and round so the spacer didn't get cocked on the bearing surfaces. Underneath, most always, was corrosion or just plain rust on the spindle.

On the 356C spindles, as Dick points out, the edge of the spacer is very thin but still possible with the right punch. Remember, the spacer is also the sealing surface for the grease seal. Most always a groove was worn in the spacer, enough so a new spacer was installed. Dick has been able to grind out the groove to be able to reuse it.

BTW, the 911 version of disc brake spacer is virtually the same but with provision for an o-ring apparently to prevent the corrosion.

Putting the spacer back on was easy, not too much heat (never so it turned blue) but enough so you had to put on a glove to pick it up and pop it on the spindle -- no hammer necessary.

Punch, something like this one: http://www.sears.com/craftsman-3-16-x-9 ... ockType=G5

Photo of the spacer is the later one for disc brakes; note the thin edge.

[Dick Weiss]

Heating the spacer ring may not work very well as the spindle will act as a heat sink and still would need carefull attempt to remove it w/a punch and it won't take very much to get it cocked.
When re-assembling the spacer and the inner bearing to the spindle, you could use a little heat and some anti-sieze paste to prevent corrosion--use a piece of tubing to set them against the shoulder.

Dick