Another MOT another wheel bearing!

Took the GT6 down to Moonface to get a quote on some bodywork the other day. The intention was to split the quote down into anything needed for the MOT and then the rest of the work as the MOT is up at the end of the month.

Jim down at Moonface suggestted best way to do this was to actually put it in for the test, I knew I had an issue with the rear nearside wheel bearing but thought what the heck, at least it will tell me anything else that needs doing.

Sure enough the wheel bearing failed the test, but that was it, no other problems. So I know what I need to do in the evenings next week, rotoflex wheel bearing change.

As any Triumph experts know chnaginmg a wheel bearing on a Rotoflex car is a PITA. To make matters worse, my car has been eating rear nearside wheel bearings for a while, the last one only lasted 1,000 miles and the one before that only 3,000 so something is definitly not quire right. The rear nearside is the axle that got knocked about a bit when we spun off the road after a near miss with a deer on the RBRR back in 2010 resulting in a broken tie rod so it could be that the outer halfshaft is slightly damaged although I couldn't find any damage when I checked it. It could also be some wear in the splines on either the outer halfshaft or hub so I've sourced some decent 2nd hand replacements and I'll rebuild the halfshaft with a hub and shaft change at the same time as the wheel bearing. I guess the other possibility is that the wheel bearings available now are of dodgy quality, like lots of our spares which seem to be sub standard far east manufacture nowadays, just hope this is not the case....

The bearing is adjusted using shims and a distance piece that comes in various sizes.  If I'm changing the hub then sods law the existing distance piece won't be the right one for the new hub. These were pretty much unavailable parts last time I looked but I can see that both Canley Classics and Mick Dolphin list some of the sizes now, in fact the same parts are avbailable under different part numbers for the 1300/1500 fwd models so fingers crossed the one I need will be available other wise I'll need to have one made up....