Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Classic Morgans (pre-CX) Wire wheels

I have a 2009 Plus four with wire wheels .I want to take the wheels off to clean them , grease suspension and so on.The car is fitted with standard "federal" wheel fasteners .I would be grateful if anyone could suggest a suitable web site giving info on greasing hubs how tight to tighten spinners etc.
Perhaps Dave W could offer a master class of do's and don'ts
Regards
Gerry

Gerry,
So far as I am aware, there are no factory recommended torque settings for the locking nut Neither will you find any advice about how much to grease the hub spindles over and above, 'enough but not too much'

When I chatted to my garage ( Mike Duncan) about this, he stressed two things:
(i) don't grease the hub spindles to the extent that it contaminates the brakes or spreads all over the wheels themselves
- also make sure that when you have the locking nuts off for wheel cleaning you ensure that they or the spindles do not get contaminated with dust, grit etc ( I wrap the end of my hub spindles and the nut themselves in food/ freezer bags)
(ii) if you use a hub release spanner and a hammer, tighten, run the car for a hundred yards or so and then use the socket/hammer again to check full locking

I've also got a Phil Ledgerwood 'tool' but find that if I've tightened the locking nut as above, I cannot release it with the tool- even using a breaker bar.
I'm sure Dave W or someone else may be able to expand on this, but 'them's my thoughts'

Regards

Gerry,
try the go mog workshop manaul.
John

Hi

I found the factory "spanner" very difficult to use, with the supplied hammer or even a bigger one. It kept slipping and you have to hold it on with one hand while whacking with the other, a recipe for bruises.

So I bought one of these from MWS wheels, and a Thor hammer with two nylon faces (recommended in a TR forum for releasing two-eared spinners):

http://www.mwsint.com/Shop/Details.asp?Id=KAS42

It is brilliant, makes the job easy, looks very durable and is portable (unlike a breaker bar).

The movement of the car automatically tightens the nuts, there are several explanations of this on the web.

However you may not need to take the wheels off (or even jack the car) to grease the front suspension - try turning all the way to one side. In my case I had angled grease nipples fitted (for a few pounds) which makes grease gun access easier.

Nigel

Funnily enough there's little 'science' to this. Don't go mad with grease is obvious. Clean it off occasionally and redo, but don't get hung up on it. I only remove the wheels sparingly, once in the first twelve months. I clean them on the car and grease the kingpins on lock as is noted above. By jacking up a few inches it's even possible to wipe the drums over (from behind) with Roadster wires. The major risk with large offset wires is 'clipping' the rim with the hammer. My nearside rear has a tiny perfect arc of metal knocked out - clearly where somebody got careless, but it took a few days of pondering to work that out. I have two conventional Thors - big & small, plus the the standard issue hammer. I also bought a second 'hex' spanner (from an MG specialist as it's cheaper) so that I could leave one in the car and have one in the garage. I bought a Ledgerwood stainless tool and a really long breaker bar, and amazingly it will undo fully tightened nuts, but it's very expensive. I have re-tightened with that first, then a couple of hammer blows to finish off. I try to remember to put a bit of masking tape on the nut to take out the slop, but the special tool has no slop.
The MWS gadget looks to be excellent value.
How tight? - really tight is the answer.
Do it in the air or on the ground? - opinions vary. The special tool doesn't 'shock' so rears can be done either way. Fronts need to be on the ground for the initial loosen unless there's a volunteer who can press the brake pedal.
That's about it I think.

I think Nigel and Dave have said it all and much more eloquently than my post.
I like the look of the MWS tool and think I'll be getting a couple.
I'd endorse what Nigel said about the Thor hammer- great bit of kit.
I've also got a 'dead blow' version ( Nylon head filled with lead shot) which has no rebound and I find this very useful.

Cheers