Sunbeam Alpine Owners Club

Nick Farrow · Posted: Wed Jun 11, 2008 12:57 pm Post subject: Rear hub leak

Hi Guys,

I've got a leak on one of my rear hubs (Series 3) which I'm guessing will require the replacement of the seal. The problem is I do not have access to the kind of puller necessary to remove the hub. I was wondering if anyone in the South-East has one that I could borrow and if anyone could offer me some practical advice for doing the job!

Cheers

Nick

skysurfer · Posted: Thu Jul 03, 2008 7:08 pm Post subject:

I had the same problem about a year or so ago. Couldn't seem to find a hub puller anywhere local and risked causing serious damage using other pullers. In the end we had to grind the backplate off and fit a new one. I'm sure there would be a market for a hub puller if we all got together and had a batch manufactured. I've recently bought a new one for my Volvo P1800 - which also needs a special puller - and it cost me about £45. Sorry I can't help more.

Chris Barker · Posted: Thu Jul 03, 2008 9:03 pm Post subject:

The Club did have an RG188 puller once........ but it disappeared in 1982.

If you disconnect the brake pipe and handbrake and unbolt the backplate, you can pull out ( maybe with a slide hammer) the whole halfshaft, hub and backplate assembly, with the bearing. Then you can go to someone with a good press and a source of heat and get the hub off. Up to SIV, the seal is separate from the bearing and bears on the hub, so you don't need to disturb the bearing. Note that the backplate gaskets have to be sound to retain the oil.
For SV, the seal is in the bearing and this has to be pressed off and on the shaft.

Nick Farrow · Posted: Fri Jul 04, 2008 8:59 am Post subject:

Well, things have moved on since I posted this originally...slightly anyway! I took the car to a local classic car sympathetic garage to get it done, but their puller wasn't man enough and they had to give up! They told me that the leak really wasn't all that bad....and to be honest it has improved. At one point is was leaking quite badly, but in the last few weeks there's hardly been any leakage. I've topped up/checked the diff twice - the first time needed quite a bit of oil, but the second time it needed practically nothing.

I've got the car booked in with a classic car specialist on the 21 July who have some Alpine experience so I'm hoping they will have more luck!