8 lug inner bearing & seal help please !!
 

I finally got around to installing my reconditioned 8 lug wheels on my 66 Catalina. Back ones went on fine. On the front drums, the races were installed by J&G when they relined and restored the wheels. He also provided boxes with new inner and outer bearings and a new seal. I greased up the inner bearing, dropped it in, and pounded in the seal (old style with felt on the inside).

The problem is that now the bearing will not turn. I don't know what the issue is.

I put the other side together and put it on the spindle without the seal and the castle nut screws on to an appropriate depth and the wheel will spin freely. I'm afraid to go in with the seal though because I don't want to lock that one up too.

I'd assume it has to be that either the race wasn't pressed in far enough or the seal is wrong? Since the race was installed by the wheel shop and the seal was provided by them I'd like to believe they're correct. I'm going to email or call him in the AM, but I figured it was worth asking if anyone here has any ideas. Thanks for any suggestions you can provide.

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This is the wheel with the bearing and the seal installed. I put the other side seal in the pic for reference.


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It does seem like the bearing is not in far enough. Stick your finger in there and see if you can feel a gap between the inner race and where it seats.

Also check to see if the seal fits over the part of the spindle that the seal rides on.

Called the guy who relined them. Asked if this brass looking ring is supposed to be sitting below the race. We’ll await the response, but it doesn’t look right to me. I guess I should take apart the other side to see if it has that also, but damn I’m tired of messing with these right now.

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He may have changed something that makes that necessary but it sure does not look right to me.

I never was a fan of re-lining brake drums and that started years ago when I asked one guy about the liability factor if the liner let go upon a panic stop. He had no answer and basically blew me off.

There's a step that the race should be parked against.. Looks like somebody was beating on it, that should of been pressed in or at least hammered in with a piece of soft wood against the race..

There isn't supposed to be any spacing ring, the bearing race should be right down against where that indent is (the indent is so you can reach in from the other side with a punch to drive the race out.)

Oh wow, I didn't see that ring I thought that was empty space. Stuart is right... I wonder where that ring came from? I never saw anything like that?

Did you try Franks Pontiac Parts for an original.. https://www.frankspontiacparts.com/

I had all kinds of issues with relined drums. They can be cut..

Technically you are not suppose to turn an 8 Lug drum. They are supposed to be ground. Turning them causes chatter while turning which creates pulsation. The difficult part is trying to find someone these days that still has the drum grinding attachment for their brake lathe. I had one until about 8 or 10 years ago when I upgraded and sold off my old lathe with all the attachments.

I have successfully machined, (turned) 8 lug brake drums, both front and rear ones. As Chief says, grinding would be preferred, but who has one anymore? I use a regular AMCO 400 Lathe. Mount the drum to the lathe with the proper adapters for a front or rear drum. Then I bolt the 8 lug wheel to the drum and torque to factory specs. like it's on the car. I use brand new carbide cutter triangles for each drum. Each cutter has 6 working surfaces so you can cut 4 drums with 1 cutter. I cut an old tire inner tube and tie it inside the well of the wheel to absorb vibration from the cutter bar. It there is room, tie two tubes in there. This acts like a much larger and better anti-chatter belt than the ones supplied with the lathes. That's about the best you can do. The problems is , many of these old drums now have corrosion between the aluminum drum and the iron lines and there is really no easy way to know how severe it is or if there is any. Drums may be perfect off the lathe and begin warping, pulsating and chattering once put back into service and heat cycled. It's a crap shoot. I used to machine allot of them. In my experience here in Ohio, about 25% of them after this time consuming process were lousy after 6 months back in service. That's why at least 2 companies stay in business relining them.