Awd gt40?

[Mike]

Tell me what I'm looking at here. This is the inner part of the left front hub as seen from looking down through the front bonnet opening. Does the SPF share front and rear hubs? My concern is the grease seen in the picture. Can't really tell if there is a back side seal in there. Should there be? Seems like that grease is going to attract a lot of gunk and shouldn't be there or at least should be contained behind a seal? Does this also mean that one should keep an eye on the front hub assembly as it may have the same issues as the rear regarding wheel bearings getting loose? Thx

 

[Seymour Snerd]

My concern is the grease seen in the picture. Can't really tell if there is a back side seal in there. Should there be? Seems like that grease is going to attract a lot of gunk and shouldn't be there or at least should be contained behind a seal?...

That really is the way they build them, exposed bearing and all. It really needs to be blocked of from dirt and moisture. This is definitely a place where we don't want an accurate reproduction of the original car.

It's a good question whether the rear wheel bearing issues apply to the front.

 

[Mike]

Wow, so there really is no back side seal inside the spindle? Bearing is exposed?? Does anyone offer a seal retrofit? Does not seem like a well thought out design for a car that will see extended street duty.

 

[Rich E.]

Doesn't/ didn't Rick make a dust cover for this?

 

[Mike]

Hope so, I will contact him!

 

[JimmyMac]

That really is the way they build them, exposed bearing and all. It really needs to be blocked of from dirt and moisture. This is definitely a place where we don't want an accurate reproduction of the original car.QUOTE]

Really ?
Here's an accurate reproduction.

 

[DaveM]

SPF does use the same hub and bearings front and rear. That's why the hub has splines even at the front. Look at previous discussions on Nilos seals. Because they are not a 'hermetic' seal grease will leak out and dirt will eventually enter. Best preventive maintenance is periodic replacement of the grease. An inner cover would help a lot too, but dirt ingress can still occur from the outer part of the hub. At the rear the stub axle shields the bearing some, but it's still not a hermetic seal.

 

[Mike]

What I would have expected ^^^^

 

[Mike]

SPF does use the same hub and bearings front and rear. That's why the hub has splines even at the front. Look at previous discussions on Nilos seals. Because they are not a 'hermetic' seal grease will leak out and dirt will eventually enter. Best preventive maintenance is periodic replacement of the grease.

Thx Dave

 

[Seymour Snerd]

That really is the way they build them, exposed bearing and all. It really needs to be blocked of from dirt and moisture. This is definitely a place where we don't want an accurate reproduction of the original car.

Really ?
Here's an accurate reproduction.

Sorry, I deserved that. Can't believe I of all people would go wrong by assuming SPF was faithful to the original. Should have at least looked in the parts book first.

IAE can you tell us any more about that cover? What it looks like from the other side, who makes it, dimensions, etc.?

I see in the parts book:

2/4138 3.5" circlip
4/4020 front hub dust cover
4/4016 front dust hub cover oil seal.

What's the seal? An O-ring of some kind?

I see Cushman carries the cover at $95/pr, but no sign of the circlip and seal. And of course our uprights are probably not machined for the circlip or seal, and may not have anywhere near the right ID. Sigh.

 

[David]

TVR use a very similar setup where the front and rear hubs are identical.

What they do is stick a bolt through the centre of the front hub with some special spacers/washers either side then simply stick a flat piece of aluminium to the back of the upright.

Of course their uprights are a rather simpler (if rather neat) design and lend themselves to a simple flat protection plate on the back.

(back/inside is up in that picture btw, not that it makes much difference!)

Could you do something similar and stick a round cover plate to the back?

 

[Steve C]

Michael and Rich E,

See SPF Forum page 1, Upgrades/options and mods to P2125

P1 post 3 shows hub cap that can be had from Olthoff (keeps dust ect out of outside)

P3 post 57 shows a modified plug cap and O ring I used to seal the inside along with a foam plug that seals the bore in the upright for the tie rod bolt. This arrangement seals real well and easy to remove for wheel bearing adjust.

As for wheel bearing adjust it is easy and I have only needed to do once so far at 2,000 miles (just checked at 6,000 and still adjusted OK. Olthoff has a tool for this ( I have) but easy w/o.

So easy fixes and at least on the front easy wheel bearing adjusts

Steve P2125

PS: I have found my rear wheel bearings also not in need of a 2'nd adjust so far.

 

[Cliff Beer]

That really is the way they build them, exposed bearing and all. It really needs to be blocked of from dirt and moisture. This is definitely a place where we don't want an accurate reproduction of the original car.QUOTE]

Really ?
Here's an accurate reproduction.

That can't be right Jimmy. With that dust seal in place how do the front CVs drive the hub? I realize AWD was a rare option on the original cars however.....

 

[Dalton Veitch]

Cliff, you are becoming quite whimsical in your senior years

 

[Seymour Snerd]

That can't be right Jimmy. With that dust seal in place how do the front CVs drive the hub? I realize AWD was a rare option on the original cars however.....

Magnetic drive.

 

[Rick Muck- Mark IV]

Magnetic drive.

I have had a customer ask about an "AWD" SPF GT40. "Sure, I said. You won't be needing any pedals or room for your feet then?" Of course you could use electric motors outboard to drive the splined hub and some big honkin' cables for the juice.

 

[David]

You *could* do it. Lots and lots of work and would probably mean losing ever having a passenger unless you also want to lose the rear radius arms, move the sill tanks to twin tanks using that space. Widen the cabin, create a transmission tunnel and *still* virtually be able to rest your feet on the front driveshaft. Unless you also stretch the car to give more room...

What's the point? Go buy something designed to be AWD from the start.

 

[Mike]

The AWD thread title was in jest. I spoke to Dennis this morning who said they are working on a solution. Sounds like for now I'll just repack once a year during the winter down time. No big deal but one wonders what they were thinking during design.

 

[Steve C]

Repeat in case Michael and Rich E did not see:

Michael and Rich E,

See SPF Forum page 1, Upgrades/options and mods to P2125

P1 post 3 shows hub cap that can be had from Olthoff (keeps dust ect out of outside)

P3 post 57 shows a modified plug cap and O ring I used to seal the inside along with a foam plug that seals the bore in the upright for the tie rod bolt. This arrangement seals real well and easy to remove for wheel bearing adjust.

As for wheel bearing adjust it is easy and I have only needed to do once so far at 2,000 miles (just checked at 6,000 and still adjusted OK. Olthoff has a tool for this ( I have) but easy w/o.

So easy fixes and at least on the front easy wheel bearing adjusts

Steve P2125

PS: I have found my rear wheel bearings also not in need of a 2'nd adjust so far.

 

[Mike]

Steve, Dennis told me his first attempt didn't work well and that he was looking into other options. Have you found your setup to be effective? I haven't bothered to look at the rear but do they have the same "sealess" hub as the front?