Rear wheel bearing lock ring tool

beezee

beezee

True Classic
I am replacing the rear wheel bearings on my '83 X and needed the tool to remove the locking rings. It seems these tools are not readily available so I made one from 1/8" thick steel using my angle grinder, bench grinder and files. After numerous test fittings and adjustments I was happy with the octagon shape. I then brazed a large nut onto the center so I could use a socket to turn it. Here are pictures of the locking ring and tool:

Bearing tool 002.JPG


Bearing tool 001.JPG


The locking ring was pretty tight and I had to use my impact gun, but it got the job done.

Brian
 
Great job Brian. Pretty cool that the brazed joint held up to the impact gun. Often I end up spending way more time making special tools like this than I do on the actual repair. And in many cases that tool never gets used again. But I'd rather do that than either screw up the components with the wrong tool, or spend a ton of money on a one-time use tool from a specialty company. Nice work.
 
beezee said:
replacing the rear wheel bearings
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Nice! Which wheel bearings are you going to use? I have collected some NOS ones, but Tony K has used Fiat Abarth 500 front wheel bearings with success (mind you, I'm not sure if they have the same press fit specifications, etc..). I put in some aftermarket wheel bearings and I'm not quite happy with them, I should have left my originals in there! I have some play.

You removed that nut so clean, and it looks like you can easily reuse it! :) Also, use a nice liberal amount of silicone grease on the V-seals when you put everything back together.
 
Good job Brian,

Saving those rings is pretty important. Last time I looked, new rings were getting hard to find.

Years ago I found a large four toothed tool built to remove the hubs from 3/4 ford trucks IIRC. It had the proper circumference, but no points to engage the interior corners of the Fiat ring. I had to hack off a shaft and slowly grind the four little teeth into points, but it fit great after making those changes. Of course, I had already destroyed the ring by trying many other ways to get it off.

1500_tool_1.jpg 1500_tool_2.jpg 1500_tool_3.jpg 1500_tool_4.jpg

I found a similar large 6 toothed socket that I modified to fit the six slots of the Lancia style lock rings. The circumference of the tool was a bit too large, but a little careful grinding at the working end made it fit nicely.
IM001976.JPG IM001973.JPG IM001978.JPG
 
JimD said:
Saving those rings is pretty important
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Indeed - the replacement ones you pictured are the later ones that were available, and I have a question - I don't think the V-seal can work with the slotted type of ring nut as opposed to the original style which has a seal face incorporated into it. The yellow arrow is where the V-seal contacts.

On the slot style, there is no seal face (and they're on a different plane relative to the V-seal). I guess if you use the slot type ring nut, you can't use the seal. I'm not sure this is a huge issue as the bearings are sealed and most modern applications don't use a V-seal arrangement like the X1/9. Just curious and wanted to point that out.

:)

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Dr.Jeff said:
Myron, not sure if these links offer any insight for you
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Hi Jeff - not really, it's more that in the side by side pics that I stole and pasted above, I'm trying to illustrate that the retainer ring on the right does not have a seal face like the ring on the left does. And the seal face is on a different plane (the ring nut on the right is quite thick where the seal face would be relative to the one on the left).

Basically, I believe if you use the ring nut on the right, you can't use a V-seal. On my race car, I didn't use V-seals (too much drag :D) but I did use the ring nut on the right.
 
As you said earlier, with the bearings being sealed I'm not sure how critical those V-seals really are. Perhaps that's why the later design of locking nut does not have provision for them, the dust seals were deemed unnecessary?
 
Dr.Jeff said:
As you said earlier, with the bearings being sealed I'm not sure how critical those V-seals really are. Perhaps that's why the later design of locking nut does not have provision for them, the dust seals were deemed unnecessary?
Click to expand...
Depending on how the bearing seals are mounted (inner vs. outer race), the V-ring seals may or may not do any good at all. I went through this some months back:

https://xwebforums.com/forum/index....ctiveness-vs-wheel-bearing-seal-design.34699/
 
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