The 'E' Type Forum

Just going through some routine stuff on my 1969 series 2, 2+2 and noticed that there is some vertical and horizontal play on my nearside rear wheel.

Given that it's in all directions, am I correct to assume that it's the outer wheel bearing or could it be something else?

If it's the bearing, how difficult is it to change?

It may seem simplistic, but the first thing to check is that it is not play between the wheel and the hub . If that is eliminated , and it is play in the hub, then you need to remove the hub ( see section H 12 in the workshop manual on this site ) and carrier and inspect the roller race bearings for damage, corrosion etc. If these seem to be in good order, then measure the end float of the hub in the carrier which should be 2 to 6 thou . ( You probably will need to make up a 150 thou spacer ) If outside these limits, then a new spacer will be required. NOTE that the spacer dimensions are counter-intuitive i.e the thicker the spacer, the bigger the end float

The wshop manual makes it all sound more complicated than it really is - once you start to do the job it should become reasonably clear to you

Thanks for the reply. I'll do a bit more checking of the wheel to make sure it's not between the wheel & hub but I'm pretty sure it isn't as the spinner seems tight enough.

Thanks for the pointer to the appropriate manual section, much appreciated.

Brian

If you’ve had the wire wheels off recently, ensure the splines are clean and the wing nut tight. I had play once that came from excess grease on splines after a winter layup.

Brian, did you check that the hub had enough grease packed ? Quite some play is taken by the grease.

Looking at it there does not seem to be a huge amount of grease inside once I removed the dust cover.

I'll add some and see what happens.

Thanks for the tip...

Grease is not an answer for a loose wheel....yes if you fill the void it will feel a bit tighter to start but as soon as you drive the grease spins out....movement is caused by the bearings not fitting correctly......measure your endfloat with a dial guage at the hub....then pull the hub carrier from the splined shaft if possible with the lower fulcrum shaft still in place...then measure the spacer shim on the driveshaft that sets the bearing endfloat and adjust as required......or pull the complete hub/shaft and set up as per the service manual....Steve

With the bearing clearances set correctly there should be discernible top and bottom play; not much though maybe a couple of mm at the tyre.

As above make sure that what you are seeing is in the bearings and not the spline sliding in the hub, not the uni joints, nor the bearing carrier on the fulcrum pins.

Thanks for all the advice so far.

At the moment I can confirm that the wheel is firmly fixed to the splines on the hub and that I can feel the play in the hub with the wheel removed.

The amount of play is probably 1-2mm on the edges of the wheel and can be felt when rocking left/right and top/bottom.

I'm not sure what to do next to determine the cause given that it's suggested that the wheel bearing(s) may not be the cause. Any tips on pinning it down? I can confirm that apart from the play, the wheel spins freely with no nasty noises etc.

Hi Brian....very slight movement if you grip the outer of the tyre..left/right...top/bottom.....is ok....if your not sure than as I said previously use a dial guage and measure...or get someone who knows to check for you......you could check on a front wheel....spin it and tighten the center bearing nut till it dosnt spin(no bearing end float)...then just back it off till it spins ..use this to test how much movement a wheel should have...Steve

Spent some time on it yesterday and put a dial gauge on the hub.

The end float was approx 0.1mm which is around 4 thou so within tolerance. I did ‘hit the hub with a rubber hammer as per the manual first. But you can clearly rock the hub side to side and up and down so does this still indicate a bearing issue?

I can’t see any movement elsewhere on the hub or surrounding bushes/mounts, just the hub itself.

If I do bite the bullet and try and pull the assembly apart, is there a way to remove the hub without requiring the special Jaguar puller. Also, i can see the castellated nut with the split pin securing it in the hub but it doesn’t look like there is enough clearance to pull the split pin out let alone get a new one in, any tips?

If it runs smoothly & end float is in spec I'd leave well alone.

Hi Brian...as above..if its not been apart for a refurb then they can be very difficult to pull apart....look carefully at the hub it has a hole where you push the split pin in through it into the nut...it comes out the same way..you've checked and its within spec...my advice would be just get it checked by someone local who "knows" maybee a forum member nearby....Steve