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REAR HUB, Loose Bearing - RA-101C

When you disassemble a rear wheel hub for maintenance (changing a seal or installing a Speedy-Sleeve), you may find a damaged octagonal nut (chisel marks). You may also find the inner bearing race to be loose on the axle housing, or the outer race to be loose in the rotating hub. The loose fit (worn housing) is a common result of leaving the nut loose (someone didn't have the proper octagonal wrench). The outer race is supposed to to be a light press fit in the housing. The inner race is supposed to be a locational clearance fit or close slip fit on the shaft (axle housing for the MGA).

If the housing wear is not too bad this can be repaired during reassembly by using a bearing set adhesive such as Loctite 620 or 660 High Temperature bearing set adhesive. This adhesive can fill up to 0.015-inch diametrical clearance (0.020-inch for 660), and it will set up hard to restore the firm bearing fit. There are different grades of adhesive for differing applications with various gap filling capability, set-up time, etc. Review the Loctite web site for specifications.

I have successfully used Loctite 620 to set front and rear wheel bearing outer race in a worn rotating hub. It should work just as well on the inner race. Beware that the anaerobic adhesive sets hard and is temperature resistant, so it may require a torch to heat it for later disassembly.

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