3 replies to this topic

[m1n1]

In 2005 my radius arms suddenly both developed play, so i went to minispeed near brooklands and swapped them for exchange units.   Some time later i realised they had roller bearings both sides, didnt bother me at the time thought it was a good upgrade! Some 6 years of use and probably the wrong grease used (moly - i liked it) the needle rollers had worn totally flat! I pressed new bearings into them but was never that happy and the o/s arm seems bent.

 

 So i replaced the bent one today with a brand new minispares one.   I looked inside and i'm positive the grease tube was inserted as the top of the bearing rollers were flush with the bore, although it wasn't white plastic like what you get in the kit.   You would never get a tube in anyway with the bearings fitted.

 

How many grease pumps from a grease gun does it take to fill it so grease pushes out the little rubber seals? i'm up to 50 pumps already... 

[mab01uk]

The plastic shaft grease tube sleeves often split and leak out the grease which then gets pumped into the hollow radius arm. Originally Mini radius arms had a steel grease sleeve which was much better for retaining the grease....

 

 

[Spider]

Gordon at Catmint does the original style grease tubes, the plastic ones are a 100% waste of time in my view.

 

https://shop.catmint...e-steel-21a396/

 

I'm not surprised you found your needle rollers worn flat, with rolling elements, like a needle roller, molly isn't a wise choice of grease as it does just what you found, it doesn't allow the elements to roll, but causes them to slide.

A decent quality chassis grease is a better choice, I'm not sure if this is available in the UK, but I swear by it;-

 

 

While molly isn't the grease of choice for the arms, it's actually a very good grease to use in your ball joints.

As a rule of thumb - if it rolls, a chassis grease, if it slides, a molly grease.

[gaspen]

Minispares sells the metal tube also

 

REAR RADIUS ARM METAL GREASE TUBE - Mini Spares