fbekholden.com

The cable does touch slightly on the tail shaft catcher but I can’t see it as a problem, seeing they rubbed on the exhaust hanger from factory.

Went down to the local tyre shop to see if they could do me a wheel alignment, but ‘puter said no!


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The big day has finally arrived.


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Good luck Clay hope they don't give you too much trouble.

Well ????

Just a couple of minor things let me down.
I didn’t even check the lights but the reverse lights are not coming on properly. I did point out that they never came out with reverse lights as standard but then they didn’t come out with auto anyway. No big deal.

I had tried twitching up the bearing but it was too tight at the next hole on the castellated nut. Inspector pointed out that probably means new bearing is in order.

I thought about putting a plastic sleeve where the cable rubs on the tail shaft catcher, which is all he said I need to do. I could have remedied these minor items in hindsight, but he may have picked something else if he didn’t find these.

He had a cursory look at the glass and didn’t question the rear window. He was particular about the seatbelts and a bit concerned about the speaker cut outs, saying they could compromise factory mounting plates if there had been any. No problems with the front suspension grease retaining rubbers being perished here and there. He paid a lot of attention to any potential leaks and picked some residue on the outside of the driver rear backing plate, which was where the leaking wheel cylinder had been. Overall the inspector was very reasonable. I wasn’t really happy with the way he was measuring the track but he recorded it as 1mm under maximum front and rear. He measured the exhaust at 92dB at 3200rpm which is a pass.

I will book the follow up inspection after 10am tomorrow. I only have to address the three items, it is cheaper, and hopefully not as long a lead time.


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Happy days, pretty easy fixes there - the inspector used to ping me every year on my hot rod for loose wheel bearings but they were the same - tighten them up one more time and they were too tight.

Bummer Clay, but luckily they are easy fixes for a man of your stroke and bore.
Maybe try a different castellated nut or swap the one from the rhs if the bearings are ok?
You’ll be off and cruising in no time.
Trev.

Thanks Trevor. I’m not perturbed. I bought a bunch of NOS parts a few months ago, including a single inner and outer front bearing and seal, but I might have another go twitching it up. Roger also suggested thinning down the washer a tad but I like your idea of trying another nut.


FB ute fixer upper, EK van on rotisserie

Booked a follow up inspection. Next available, 23rd January.


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Clay,

Replacing the front wheel bearings won't fix the apparent free-play problem. There'll be something wrong with the stackup of parts, so either the nut's bottoming on the stub-axle thread, or the washer's bottoming on the outer bearing surface of the stub axle.

I can tell you what happens with over-tightened front wheel bearings: the inner race of the outer bearing galls onto the stub-axle, needing a puller to remove, and then lots of careful work with a new bearing, bearing blue and a slip-stone on the rocking-horse-poo-rare HR stub axle to get right. Then the over-tightened bearings function as a very efficient cold-forge. The outer races expand enough that when you go to replace them, the new outer races are a loose fit in the hub.

Just a thought - take the adjuster nut and washer off, then slip a (say) spark plug socket over the end of the stub axle. Push firmly on the inner race of the outer bearing while checking the hub for looseness. If there's no free play, then start looking for damaged threads on the stub axle or nut, or the wrong washer. If the hub feels "lumpy" to rotate, then the wheel bearings are suspect, or (heaven forbid) your stub axle's bent.

Rob

Thanks for the information Rob. That doesn’t sound good. For now I have nipped the nut up 1/6 turn. I will run the car around the block and review the situation.

The handbrake cable was a very easy fix, which I had contemplated doing prior to the inspection. I found in my stash, some nylon pressure tube with suitable inside diameter, spiral cut a split in a 4” length, slipped it over the cable and applied plenty of contact adhesive to hold in place.


FB ute fixer upper, EK van on rotisserie

Reverse lights were an easy fix too. Pulled the cover off the shifter and bent the little tin tab that activates the micro switch up a bit and bingo!

Went for a short run and measured the front hub temperatures with the heat gun. Equal at 43C, ambient 31C.


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I was speculating the short drive would create some end play in the hub however it did not.


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Went for a longer drive up old Willy hill, dodging all the Tour Down Under road bike enthusiasts that come out of the woodwork at this time of the year here. Then back down the highway at 100 kmh. It is a clockwise circuit theoretically loading up the passenger side front wheel. Measured the hub temperatures again. Right “ good” side 58C. Left “suspect” side 57C. In calling it done for now.

Lowering block time.


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Nice day for it……


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