Although our 1969 MGB GT looks absolutely fabulous with wire wheels, the have never worked very well. There is play on the splines and driving at any decent motorway speeds there's an annoying vibration. We tried many different fixes, but the only cure would be to replace the wheels and hubs. Also the differential has some internal play. It's all fixable, but I decided it would be much more practical on the long term to change to ditch the wire wheels and go to steel wheels in stead. As the wire wheel axle is narrower than the steel version it would be best to get another rear axle and front hubs. I found this at a very reasonable price from
Andy Jennings in the UK.
So after a few days a lorry appeared and a pallet of goodies was offloaded.
And was parked on our drive.
A nice rusty axle and hubs and a set of headrests too.
The hubs came apart easily.
But as expected new bearings were needed.
All the brake gear and seals will be replaced.
Rear wheel bearings looked great, so there's a bonus.
Still quite a few new parts were ordered. While you're "in there, you might as well.."
New bearing races fitted.
Looking much better. Ready for assemby
The old drum
Now we need to get the old axle off the car. Awfully tight wheelnuts need some persuasion.
Old splined hub out.
Backplate ready to come off.
"New" axle looks a bit cleaner.
Tapping didn't free the hub from the axle. Big puller did the trick. I could have left the axle assembled, but I decided as I wanted to change the seals and all the brake components I might as well take it apart to make the axle light enough for me to handle.
The two axles together.
Mocking up the Rostyle wheels for motivation. I know they are strictly too modern by a year, but I'll think about more suitable wheels later.
Next: fitting it all back together.
