MRC Forum- brought to you by www.morini-riders-club.com Member: g7AW3f

I've just had a call from Hagons who are rebuilding the wheels on my 76 drum Strada - there's a problem with the front hub, the twin leading shoe Grimeca one. Apparently the outer rim of the hub is running out by about 1.5mm from side to side, meaning that they can't rebuild the wheel.

The bike got an MOT last June from NLM and I've not noticed any problems, and it has always had good progressive braking giving no indication of a distorted drum. Hagons confirmed that the bearings are fine and true.

So, some mystery as to how the hub is now distorted, and doubt about what to do. Hagons said that they might be able to correct the distortion by applying a lot of weight, but are concerned that this might damage the hub irreparably. (If the alternative is to have a hub which is not fit for purpose, I'm willing to let them try).

Has anyone experienced a similar problem or have any advice?

Thanks, Mark.

Well, Hagons confirmed that they won't try to repair the old hub, so a new one is winging its way from NLM. What I need to do now is to get the speedometer gear ring off the old hub and onto the new one. The gear ring is presumably steel and a shrink fit onto the alloy bearing housing section of the hub.

Can anyone advise on the best method of removing the gear ring and getting it onto the new hub? Thanks for any suggestions.

Mark

Problem solved: get a professional to do it properly. I struggled and sweated and swore over the weekend - hub in the freezer, hot air paint stripper on the speedo gear, pipe wrench, oil-filter chain puller, cold chisel etc, none of which gave any indication of shifting the gear and just left me feeling depressed.

Yesterday I took the old and new hubs to T&L Engineering near Bedford and they had to machine out the old hub to remove the speedo drive which they then fitted to the new hub and popped in a new set of wheel bearings. Simple, when you know how to do it and have the proper machinery. They turned the job round in half a day, and it cost me the same as what I'd spent on various tools to try to do it myself. There's a moral there somewhere...

Mark

Its sounds like you made a good effort, if the engineering company had to machine it out then I doubt there was a subtle way of doing it. Although when heating things on a vehicle a gas blow torch will do better than a hot air stripper as you normally need a higher temperature, the hot air stripper is best for your wiring when using shrink wrap sleeving. The money you spent on tools is not wasted as I am sure over the years they will get you and others out of trouble many times. Out of interest how did they fit the speedo drive onto the new hub, I suspect it would be a hydraulic press of sorts. Good tip on that engineering company in Bedford for those in the locale for that job that needs a specialist touch.

Regards

Robin

I too, recommend T& L engineering- a good bunch who know what they are about!!

Robin, the chap who did the work was out when I collected the hub so I don't know how he fitted the speedo drive, but I suspect it involved a great deal of force. And yes, I now have some useful additions to my toolbox!

As Alan says, I'd recommend T&L - knowledgeable and quick, with an interesting array of old car and bike cylinder heads, barrels etc being repaired. They specialise in old motors so have a sympathetic approach.

Mark