Well! I never knew that

[Genocache]

Early hubs were designed to be oiled not greased. The hole is for filling with oil as you can't fill with the drive member off. IIRC the thru hole is the one positioned between the lug studs. When LR went to greased wheel bearings they went away from the fill hole. Who knows what PO's have cobbled together?

[w3526602]

Hi SS,

If the hub is hot, or maybe even warm, and the river water cools it, there will be a tendancy to suck water in as it cools. From time to time, I ponder about pressurising the axle before wading.

There is something in my mind about atmospheric pressure being 14psi, with that being able to push water 32ft up a pipe if there is a vacuum at the top (or 76mm, if its mercury, and my 1956 schoolboy memory is correct).

That might suggest ... er ... that 2ft depth of water (in your local pond) will exert 14psi divided by 16, giving not a lot of pressure. so not much incentive to leak into the tyre.

Or something like that!

602 (Whose ears started to hurt at the deep end (10ft) of the swimming pool at RAF Sharjah ... but that was salt water, so a smidgen heavier).

[Serious Series]

602 the hole is not open to the river when the drive flange bolt is fitted.

[biloxi]

If that passage was done by Rover,  on production vehicles,, surely there would be a mention of a seal for that one bolt.
I've just checked 5 hubs sitting on the bench, all are solid.
.W.

[Oilierthanthou]

If that passage was done by Rover,  on production vehicles,, surely there would be a mention of a seal for that one bolt.

That passed through my mind too. My parts book only shows spring washers under all the driving member bolt heads. And yes, one leaks.

But I'm sure these passages were done by Rover as I have so many identical ones from 3 different vehicles and GHOBHW has some too.

John

[GHOBHW]

there were different manufacturers of hubs, I've seen at least 4 "types" with different names/casting on them

maybe they had them on some and not on others? no idea. I have quite a few hubs (a lot...) so I will have to go through them one day and have a look at which has them and which don't.

but yes these are 100% original, not some aftermarket/previous owner thing


infact looking at the images, yours is an early stud type, with the mushroom backing, manufactured/cast by LEYS. my later push in large type stud hub, also manufactured/cast by LEYs. both have holes, my other branded one doesn't.

so it does seem produced them with a hole and some without for whatever reason?

[diffwhine]

That 5th hole was definitely a feature when there were oil filled hubs. There have been discussions on here before about this and I have seen a technical publication on this. I just can't find it at the moment. It is correct and genuine.

[biloxi]

Oilierthanthou
The wheel studs in your picture appear to have been interfered with.
This picture shows some undisturbed ones.
.W.

[w3526602]

The wheel studs in your picture appear to have been interfered with.

Hi Biloxi,

I used to "interfere" with my hubs with my hubs ... some of them.

On S1 thru S2A, the hubs were drilled and threaded ... I think 9/16"BSF.

The studs were double ended, also 9/16".

The studs were screwed into the hubs, then (tack?) welded on the back side to prevent them coming undone, which was OK (but not good engineering practice).

Years pass, accompanied by some wading, and the nuts eventually rust onto the studs, and eventually, removing the nuts would result in the stud breaking its tack weld, and unscrewing from the hub. On it's way out, the hard remains of the weld would rip into the threads in the hub, rendering them useless.

I have had Land Rovers with ONLY TWO adjacent nuts actually doing anything, with the other three being there for show. The two good nuts tended to creak. Worrying!

My solution was to drill the remains of the thread out with my 9/16" drill bit, coz that was the size I had ... with the shank turned down to that it fitted my 1/4" Dead & Blacker drill gun. I could then pull NEW Series 2A 9/16" SPLINED studs into the holes, using sacrificial nuts (they tended to get mangled by the forces needed).

Memory says that "somethings" were about £1 each, but I can't remember if that was the wheel nuts, or the splined studs. Probably academic, as this was in the 1980s, and they probably cost a lot more now.

Also, not good engineering practice, unless you have engineering facilities, so can drill accurately at 90* to the hub face. I used a Dead & Blacker 1/4" hand drill, working in the gutter. Whatever, I never had one of my bodged nuts come undone.

Another thing to bear in mind ... the splined studs had a small flange, to prevent the stud being "pulled through". The hole in the hub had a corresponding recesses. Without those recesses, the stud was too short to poke out of the end of the nut, which upset my MOT man. I don't know if longer stud are available.   Whatever my day was saved by my trucks becoming MOT exempt.

The "proper" solution would be to fit Series 3 hubs, which had 16mm spined wheel studs. (It could be argued that if Rover felt 16mm studs were necessary ....) My calculator suggests that 9/16" equals 14.3mm.

My research, a few years ago, indicated that new S3 hubs come complete with 16mm studs, but not bearings. At that time they cost in excess of £100 each. Does anybody know the latest price?  I'm guessing that four new S3 hubs, complete with new bearings and wheel nuts, will cost in excess of £500.

But you know it makes sense!

602

PS. Would/could Defender studs be fitted, and cost less?

PPS. What price for an "engine shop" to modify earlier hubs to accept 16mm studs?


What value a rolling, but scrapper, S3?

[Craig T]

I checked my 1955 hubs last night and no drillings on them into the drive member bolt.
Must have been a later thing but maybe didn't carry on to the latest series III's?

I have seen that hole before though but never gave much thought about the purpose of it.

This is the cross section of a hub and swivel put together. I can't really see anything that seals the wheel bearings from the swivel housing oil so over time, oil will make its way through and fill the wheel bearings up to the same level.

Craig.

[Dormy]

For some reason I have known of the drain hole at the end of one bolt in each hub for as long as I have interfered with L/Rs. Of course IIRC, the fill hole is actually the crosshead screw in the drive flange.

However, over all these years I never quite associated the position of the drain hole as next to the single machine screw securing the drum (probably because I have always used grease).

Every day is still a school day !

[jkhackney]

In December I just replaced the front wheel bearings on mine and noted in the workshop handbook that it said to not let grease block this hole ... it's the first time I ever took notice of it. In fact, I found the hole on mine (which was blocked) by blowing into the drive member holes one at a time. A glob of grease flew out of the hole on the bearing side when I hit the right hole. I remember that a drive member bolt (freewheeling hubs) used to leak, then stopped. It must have been as a result of grease migrating into the hole and causing this clog. So now I packed the grease in order to keep this hole free, just because it said to in the manual, but put gasket sealant on the threads of the bolt. I don't like those black streaks up and down my wheels!

[Betsy1969]

My solution was to drill the remains of the thread out with my 9/16" drill bit, coz that was the size I had ... with the shank turned down to that it fitted my 1/4" Dead & Blacker drill gun. I could then pull NEW Series 2A 9/16" SPLINED studs into the holes, using sacrificial nuts (they tended to get mangled by the forces needed).

Hi 602

I did exactly the same and then used a bigger drill to countersink for the flanged studs. It was a pain doing it freehand and that was my excuse for buying myself a pillar drill , which I now use to stand things on , never used in anger yet .

Regards Andy