Front hub help

[bpimm]

Hi all,

I'm new to the forum, and new to Fiat's.

Last year we "inherited" a 1980 X1/9, by inherited I mean My Mom refused to get in Dad's X any more because it almost never brought them home. They bought a Mazda Miata and we bought the X. It is in good condition, excluding the electrical, 56K miles garaged all it's life.

Dad thought he ripped us off charging the $2 we paid for it but we felt it was a fair price.:innocent:

After a bunch of electrical work it seems to be much more reliable and we had a blast with it this summer including 1 autocross run with it. I run an open wheel mod car and had a fun run coming but the rain was coming down so fast there was 1" of standing water almost everywhere so we hopped in the X for grins. On the 10 Year old tires it turned into a continuous drift from start to finish, had a blast.

From that we decided that we would prep the X for Her to drive next season instead of the Legacy.

I decided to convert it to 4X100 bolt pattern so the wheel/tire selection will be better, upon disassembling the front hubs, I found the interesting seals, I found the online factory service manual, found the exploded view, the parts I'm talking about are called gaskets and thrust rings. The thrust rings have to come out to service the bearings but I can't find replacements anywhere. I got the front side out still reusable but I can't get the inside one to budge.

Is there a source for these rings?

Also the local Napa shows the bearing with a 2 piece inner race for easy assembly, The inner race came out with the hub when I pulled it. If it's made to come apart, can it be reassembled and reused? there is nothing wrong with it.

I found the "gasket" a couple different places and can get the bearings locally if needed, but I'm afraid to pull the thrust ring and bend it if there are none available. Midwest doesn't have any and I have not found any at all.

Where do I go from here?

Thanks
Brian

 

[eflexter]

!

Swapping hubs in general isn't commonly done, as far as I've known. I'm curious what parts you're using to give you the 100mm bolt pattern?

Are you having problems with the front hub or the back?

Also, Midwest has MANY more parts than what's listed. Send them an email for advice and parts support. They have new and used.

 

[bpimm]

I'm not going to swap hubs, just trying to replace the bearings if I need to, the old bearings are fine just caked up with old dry grease. The problem I started with was the rings that hold the seals, I couldn't get it out without damage. I have since worked it out in reusable shape and I think I can do the other side as well.

For the front hubs the 4X100 is just drilled into the existing hub so it is now 4X100 and 4X98. I can use either wheel now.

The rear will use a thicker wheel spacer than the front and I think I can do the bolt pattern conversion on the spacer itself, if not I'll pull the rears apart and redrill as well.

Question now is:

Are the inner races supposed to come out of the bearings? if so I can clean and repack the bearing and reinstall.

I called Midwest and was told they didn't have anything.

Thanks
Brian