7 replies to this topic

[tom130691]

having a look in to lightweight hubs, came across the one on force racing,

the discription mentions they use metro bearings,

i there any advantages of using the metro bearings ?

[jaydee]

Bearings are the same, its the balljoints and the inner CV joints that are different on a metro.
Id' check that the hubs are mini hubs adapted to accept metro balljoints, but if the casting is the metro hub, i wouldnt even consider it due to the different king pin angle.
Plus i wouldnt fit alloy front hubs in anythng road going, they're intended for track use really.

[jaydee]

Hes asking if bearings are the same and the advantages?

[tom130691]

Bearings are the same, its the balljoints and the inner CV joints that are different on a metro.
Id' check that the hubs are mini hubs adapted to accept metro balljoints, but if the casting is the metro hub, i wouldnt even consider it due to the different king pin angle.
Plus i wouldnt fit alloy front hubs in anythng road going, they're intended for track use really.

ok cheers, im doing my motorsport dissertation on the mini hubs/uprights, i will be runing the standard ones through various software and optimising them or redesigning them, so im looking at whats avaliable now and was just wondering if there was any advantage to the bearings,

as for running an alloy front setup providing, with alluminium it would only be the fatique strength that could cause a failure after XXXmiles, other matirials suchs as titanium would probably be ok for road use however i will be simulating this in a track cornering condition and braking thenhitting a pot hole, so will find out if they are road worthy

[jaydee]

I think the most fatigue will be hitting pot holes/speed bumps
Being lighter they'll put less strain on the bearings, but i can guess the difference will be very very marginal

[tom130691]

fatique is cycles material weakens over time

post holes is shock loading

[Guess-Works.com]

Front wheel bearings on the A series metro are the same as those used on the Mini fitted with drum brakes, ball race bearings... the metro did not use the timken taper bearing because of the offset of the wheel and the kingpin angle.

Many people have used the ball race bearing on minis fitted with disk brakes, mainly because they are significantly cheaper than timken, however I'm not sure that this is an economic solution... It all really depends upon suspension set up, where the wheel centre is opposed to the king pin angle etc etc

[tom130691]

cheers john, not just a gearbox expert then,

still havnt put mine in my mini since you built it :/