No, not the norm, but nice.

Hey, Thanks for the great Pic, it would have REALLY helped me a few days ago so I guess it will help others watching this thread, there's nothing to be scared about

but prior knowledge is fantastic, I hope the original poster has enought info now to advise his mechanic who in reality might never have seen a Mini, Mini clued up mechanics are pretty thin on the ground aroud here that's for sure.

I too knocked out the outer race, it's the logical choice, really it took me longer to find my brass drift than it did to knock the 4 bearing outers out of the swivel/upright!

ssuperflyoldguy, there will probably be a vast differance between the drumand disk hubs/bearings but don't let that faze you, there's not much new under the sun and as somebody told me when I was

working at Ford Motor Co in Gellong, if they made it on a production line it can't be too hard as it would take too long, once again, thanks everyone for your input,

Regards, never say die, Joe.

Once again, another thread where I never cease to learn. Have to rebuild some disk hubs and was dreading it. Now will enjoy it, thanks for hanging in there new-guy!

Woops. Sorry Joe. I haven't been too active latey. I'd say the Dr and others have you pretty squared away. But just to add a picture to the thread so others can see the "webbing" that was being discussed.

I would personally call it a bearing spacer that is cast into the hub (or more likely it's machined out). And you should be able to tap the outer bearing out from the inside of the hub, and the inside bearing out from the outside of the hub. Mainly because this spacer allows for a nice gar to put a drift into. Once one of them is out (I like to do the outside race first as it's easier to put the face onto a hard surface) then you can easily have access to the other race and the grooves that are already cut for you into the stationary spacer. The other guys pretty much covered the rest of it.

No worries Joe, glad I could help. I'm not far behind ya (I'm 70, come May).

[edit] I'd consider joining the ausmini.com forum, there is lots of local knowledge there. My handle on there is `drmini in aust'.

G'day Kevin,

                 after knocking out the bearing inner cage and balls there it was, the web with two lovely 1/2 round grooves which allowed me to drift out the outer races, so sorted.

Naturally there will be blokes who will sn***** and say "fancy not knowing how to remove Mini Front wheel bearings" but I'm pleased to say at 73 I'm still willing to learn, so thinks a lot
the added inmormation about knocking out the inners did the trick.

If I can work out how to upload an image I will post a pic of my Morganesque Trike, I scratch built it about 5 years ago, passed the stringent ADR tests and love it,

see you later Joe.

PS Bearings arrived today, with new wheel hubs and ball joints the front should be sweet.

If one bearing race fell out, you may want to replace the hub, if the new race also slips in easily and subsequently falls out. Some previous owners have been known to use loctite or dimpling to get a race to stay in place. Each to their own best practices.

Also there is a flat washer trick to torquing the axle nuts that the Haynes should explain. This is an important step.

Image Gallery

It's always easier at the side of the road...especially when the bearings are in bits.

Haven't taught my wife to swap CVs and bearings at the road side...but she can stand on the brakes!

Which skill was helpful in undoing the hub nut and retorquing the hub with a 12" long wrench and a suitable trip mate! 

You mean that isn't normal ?

Suzy only gets me to work on her car as I'm faster than she is.

Am I the only one that thinks that is kinda "hot" ?

Hi Kevin,

             thanks for your reply, I did not realise there was a web between the bearings, they appear to be touching so I assumed you could knock them both out from the same direction,

That would also place the new bearings in the correct place,  now armed with your additional information

I might just be able to TAP them out, I also did not realise it was best to knock out the inner race, actually one fell out while I was donging the other side with a heavy hammer.

An acurate cross section pic would be great, my manual Pics would be best described as poor, useless migh be a better description,

Thanks again to everyone who has responded, I'll have another go tomorrow, Joe.

Joe,

the swivel hub has a web in the middle which spaces the bearings.

This web has 2 slots in it, to allow a flat ended chisel or drift to be placed behind each bearing. The 2 outer cups of the bearing are then drifted out, 1 from each side < >.

The centre journal, balls & cage of the 2 bearings must be removed first, by use of a hammer and flat screwdriver. Tap from the inside where they meet.
Early ball bearings had a separate centre spacer, late ones do not. They have 1/2 spacer projection added to each bearing instead.

Hope this helps.

[edit] These days I'd fit Timken tapered rollers instead, they have about 2x the load capacity of the ball bearings and are more reliable.

Hi MiniMans,

                    thanks for that, I thought of that but I don't have such a grinder, it's funny that everything I read says "Tap out the bearings"

When I do get the things out then the next thing I need to know is exactly where they should go, I've never come across bearings that don't have a shoulder or Circlip to press up against.

I took a measurement befor I started all this and found that the outside bearing inner was 9mm in from the swivel outer surface, any further in and the Hub will rub on the swivel, seems very vauge to me

Any help/advise very much apreciated, JoeMini.

PS Spel check doesn't work and I can't spell, most of it is guesing, sorry about that.

Die grinder, Carefully cut a slot in the race but not all the way through then hit the slot with a GOOD sharp chistle and the race will break and fall out

G'day MtyMous,

                      if your good wife is free could you ask her to pop round to my house in Brisbane and help me remove the bearings from my 83 Mini Mayfair.

It's a drum brake model, two ballbearings in each side, no spacer between the bearings, fair enough, I washed the swivels, removed the seals and thought "This could be fun, two bearings at once"

I was correct, tap them out! mate you couldn't tap them out with a sledge hammer, in destperation I tried a mash hammer, no luck.

I moved on to an Air over Hydraulic press, 6000PSI and still no movement, my next move is to run a bead of weld around the the track where the balls used to run, it will shrink the cup? that's my last resort, any ideas?

I'm fresh out, JoeMini.

While I agree that they are a bit different, but most cars have a different design or arrangement than the next. To call yourself a "mechanic" and not be able to figure out a simple hub is a bit strange. If the mechanic has the new bearings and races in hand, then it should be very easy to see. The "retaining" ring is the seal spacer. Even with the haynes book of lies, they describe how to remove the bearings in slight detail. But just looking at the hub shuold be fairly obvious.

Maybe I'm being too harsh here, but I just don't want the OP to get caught in a situation where the mechanic didn't do something correctly or messed something up because they just don't know what they are doing. Like I said.. if my wife can change bearings on a classic, I think anyone should be able to do it. Especially a mechanic

For those who have not messed with new/ late model fwd wheel bearings you have no idea what a hassle they can be. Most have both bearing components made into one. They are often retained by a snap ring and press out one side as a unit. I think I'm correct in saying the mini bearings are not retained by a ring. I believe what you are talking about is the inner seal spacer. They are different thickness for drums and disc. Also ball and taper bearings present a different look. It may be better to ask than assume. I work on a high end Lotus collection. I always ask for the service manuels and read them before taking on a job.

CTR 

I'm just being completely honest here and not trying to offend... but if your "mechanic" can't figure out how to remove these very basic wheel bearings and races (the rear has a spacing ring as well) then I would suggest getting a new mechanig.

My wife helped me remove the wheel bearings last time. I did one side while she did the other.....

First, it is bearings (plural) - an inner and an outer wheel bearing on each side.  They may be ball bearings (complete bearing unit) or tapered roller bearings (race and bearing).

Second, each of these bearings are driven out from the opposite side of the hub using a brass punch or drift to tap out the inner race.  Do not use a steel punch which may distress the inside of the hub.