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MG Midget and Sprite Technical - Changing brake discs (stupid question?)

Good morning ladies and gents!

Long time no post really. I hope you are all well. Unfortunatly the resto has ground to a halt a little as I have been away a lot and it is too cold and dark to get out to the garage in the evenings.

Because of this I am putting the bodywork on hold until it warms up again and I am turning my attention to overhauling the mechanicals so that when the body is finished I can just bolt everything on and fire her up! Simples eh?!

Anyway, I was thinking about the rebuild of the front corners but I can't really figure out how it all goes together! My main confusion is with the hubs/brake discs. Do you have to pull the hub off to change the brake discs? Will I need a hub puller and will it knacker the bearings?

The reason this came up is I just changed the discs on the Rover, which bolt to the front of the hub, easy. The midget ones dont... surely they wouldn't have made a fairly routine maintence procedure that difficult?!

Your input, as ever, is greatly appreciated oh wise sages of the Midget!

Cheers,
Malcolm

P.S. To avoid confusion it is steel wheel not wire.

Malcolm Le Chevalier

Yes; IIRC the hub comes off and there are 4 bolts from the inner side holding the disc onto the hub.

Disc replacement wasn't a frequent operation 'in the day' since the pads were much less abrasive.

Agree - replacement on modern car easier... normally undo one bolt on the calliper (wheel already off) and the disc pulls straigh off.

A
Anthony Cutler

As Ant says, the hub needs to come off, but the bolts holding hub & disc together are clearly visible on the outside.

As for the bearings, you can often just pull the hub off by hand, although the inner bearing occasionally leaves its inner race on the axle.
Dave O'Neill 2

Or if your hubs are toast (not uncomon these days) you just leave the complete inner bearing on the axle....
No new hubs available so you have to live with it.

Ideas about ease of servicing usualy don't apply to the midget
Onno Könemann

And here is the bad news that hasn't been mentioned yet.

When you pull the front hub off, if it splits the inner bearing in the process, you will likely need a new set of bearings, as when they are split it damages the bearings.

These will cost you circa 20GBP a side for useless ones, or 100GBP per side, for decent ones that do not have play in them.

So if your discs are still serviceable, and your front bearing and stub axles are still ok, I would leave well alone for now.

See Thread: Front hub bearings ( yet again, it seems ! )
Lawrence Slater

Thanks guys, yes, I have been following all the threads on bearings and I am utterly baffled by it all!

My thinking behind pulling it all apart is that it has been sat for over 5 years (in POs garage) and I have no clue about the condition of anything (filthy and rusted was far as my assessment got!) I figured whilst it was apart I may as well do as much as I can. Well functioning brakes are high on my list of desirables!

Thank you all,
Malcolm
Malcolm Le Chevalier

If the bearings do split (and they don't always) it may be worth your while trying the standard replacement ones - I have fitted a few over the years and have yet to encounter the problems that others do with front wheel bearings...

I imagine now I've said that the next time the bearing problem will arise... However I don't think you should consider not changing discs (which on the Spridget are marginal) simply because of potential front wheel bearing problems.
James B

James is right. The discs are pretty thin when new, so don't use worn ones which will be even thinner - its not worth it. You'll find a way round the bearing puzzle. All things are possible in the fullness of time.
Mike Howlett

This thread was discussed between 07/11/2011 and 08/11/2011

MG Midget and Sprite Technical index

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