23 replies to this topic

[imaparana]

Hi There, a while ago i ordered some fully built hubs and they were all fine, however ive gone to fit the hub after building them and theyve gone all stiff ? any help ?
also they seem to be really tight when going into the top and lower arms ?

[lrostoke]

were they pre greased, just guessing but if not any moisture in them could have rusted.

[KernowCooper]

Strange they have gone stiff unless they were loose and you've greased the joint ? Did you shim the joints or did it come assembled?

[imaparana]

yeah they came on the built hubs, they looked to have grease, ill grease them up again, didnt know wether it was because of the cold or anything ?
anybody know whether the ball joint 'rod' that attaches to the arms should be a really tight fit ?

[GreenMini17]

If they are tight without any grease the will become tighter when greased (as the grease 'packs out' the joint). It sounds like they have not been shimmed correctly. People on here will argue that you shouldnt have them too tight or too loose. Its very hard to find a medium ground. I found that my top ball joint was much looser than the bottom one (or vise-versa i cant remember). But providing they dont have any play when reasonably loose you should be ok. The joints actually require 'lapping in' upon fitment, doing this immensly helps fitment and getting them to a good tightness, both before and after greasing. After spending hours looking into it i found that providing they move with a good swirling motion by hand, thats ok. Im sure others will disagree though. I would call whoever you purchased them from (i really hope its not mini sport) and explain your issue and see what they say.

[imaparana]

ok thanks alot mate, but if i recall correctly they were moving fine when i purchased them :/ they may have been/ definately were minisport :/

[GreenMini17]

Oh sorry i forgot you said that. Well apart from having them apart and seeing if they have corroded, its only guessing. Personally, i would have them apart, buy a rebuild kit from minispares and rebuild them yourself. Its fairly straight forward. Yes it means more expense but if they break due to being too tight, that is a nasty accident.

[imaparana]

ok thanks alot mate very helpful, if i pump them with grease again and get them free would they be ok ? if not rebuild kit ? and also where the joints meant to fit tight in the arms ? how hard is it to rebuild them ?

[GreenMini17]

Pumping them with grease i found to stiffen them up as the grease filled out the gaps. Its worth a try though. The only thing is that if they have corroded inside, they will wear very quickly, so you may have to replace them again after a few thousand miles anyway. To be 100% sure i would just rebuild them now. I would be surprised if mini sport supplied them completely dry? Even a small amount of grease would stop them rusting up. Personally i would have them apart and rebuild them. Its a good couple of hours work to do both hubs but fairly simple. Haynes manual explains it quite well. Im not sure what you mean by tight in the arms? They should just slide into the hole in the top and bottom arm?

[imaparana]

ok ill have a look and order some, yeah they dont seem to want to just slide in, wether its due to me not being able to get the correct angle of entry as they wont budge eaily i dont know but they seem large for the holes

[KernowCooper]

Have a look and see what the issue is and them lap in and reshim as required,if you have shims

[imaparana]

ok cheers bud, will have to send minisport an angry email aswell!

[imaparana]

just a pain as ive built the hubs up etc and had problems with calipers and finally thought they were ready to go on

[sonikk4]

ok ill have a look and order some, yeah they dont seem to want to just slide in, wether its due to me not being able to get the correct angle of entry as they wont budge eaily i dont know but they seem large for the holes

If they don't move easily or at least enough to position then yes they will be difficult to fit into the arms. To be honest with you if they are that tight then there is an issue that needs to be looked at before you do any damage.

If you take them apart you will see if the pin will fit into the arm.

[imaparana]

cheers guys, ive spoken to someone at minisport, rob i think and he said that they should be fit so that they bed in etc ?