6 replies to this topic

[whistler]

Has anyone bought front disc swivel hubs from Bullmotif? They're nearly £20 cheaper than Minispares version. FAM2390/91.

I've had lots of bits from BM before and not had any problem with quality.

 

[nicklouse]

As he is one one of the smaller resellers they will be the same as sold by others. Just make sure your are comparing like for like.

[Spider]

As best as I can tell, they all (from all retailers) come from the same factory

[Shooter63]

This is just a personal view here, but I would buy some S/H O/E ones and refurb them with Timken bearings etc. You have more chance that everything is in tolerance, I'm not saying the pattern ones are wrong, just alleviating a potential problem.

Shooter

[whistler]

The reason I'm looking around for hubs is that my existing ones are OK but I fitted maintenance free ball joints and I'm finding the steering very stiff. Plan was to fit a set of standard ball joints to new hubs and just do a swap over in a morning. Anyone else fitted these maintenance free ball joints and find them very stiff?

[Spider]

This is just a personal view here, but I would buy some S/H O/E ones and refurb them with Timken bearings etc. You have more chance that everything is in tolerance, I'm not saying the pattern ones are wrong, just alleviating a potential problem.

Shooter

 

Look by all means but I'm yet to find a used set that aren't knackered. I find that the tunnels for the bearings wear on the ones that are sold off used items. There is a bit of variance with the new ones and they have a higher pre-loading on the bearings, but so far, there's only been one I 'rejected' as it would have had 0.012" bearing preload. I corrected that, but it's not something that should need to be done.

 

 

The reason I'm looking around for hubs is that my existing ones are OK but I fitted maintenance free ball joints and I'm finding the steering very stiff. Plan was to fit a set of standard ball joints to new hubs and just do a swap over in a morning. Anyone else fitted these maintenance free ball joints and find them very stiff?

Some of these joints need an initial greasing and that maybe why you are finding them stiff. I found them 'floaty' and the hub geometry to be out of kilter somewhere. I didn't have them on long enough to bother looking too far in to just what and why, as their articulation angle is dangerously too small for a Mini, ie on full rebound or compression, you run a good risk of breaking them. This is all of them. I'll add that when I removed them, the uppers had some small play in them and that was after ~ 5000 km. I'd say that's possibly not from any wear but from the lack of swivel angle and then being 'hammered'.

[Shooter63]

[quote name="Spider" post="3791827" timestamp="1754857246"][quote name="Shooter63" post="3791786" timestamp="1754823855"]
This is just a personal view here, but I would buy some S/H O/E ones and refurb them with Timken bearings etc. You have more chance that everything is in tolerance, I'm not saying the pattern ones are wrong, just alleviating a potential problem.

Shooter
[/quote]
 
Look by all means but I'm yet to find a used set that aren't knackered. I find that the tunnels for the bearings wear on the ones that are sold off used items. There is a bit of variance with the new ones and they have a higher pre-loading on the bearings, but so far, there's only been one I 'rejected' as it would have had 0.012" bearing preload. I corrected that, but it's not something that should need to be done.
 
 
I think things might be a bit different over here, without teaching you to suck eggs as they say, we had minis for another 20 years, practically all fitted with disc brakes as std, the last 2 sets of hubs I've brought were still on the original bearings and if I'm honest could probably have gone again with a re-grease and new oil seals.

Shooter