Bearing Swap vs Man Cold

So here I am, finally after many weeks of not spending time with the car.  I have been an extra busy bee, and my time has been prioritised for me, with Hugo's repairs taking the forsaken end of the list.
That's not to say that I've not been having fun.  We went to a wonderful wedding, and danced the night away surrounded by fun and music and lovely people.  The ride home at  midnight through the streets of London on a chilly October night was, well, chilly.  And very wobbly with the bearings moaning about not getting any time off.  I can however confirm the heater works.
Saturday came, and my plans to work on the car went out with the large piles of tissues beside the bed - I've been bedridden with the most serious of Man Colds ever to strike a man.  Constantly dripping nostrils do not contribute well to sticking your head under the bonnet.  Figuratively.  It actually contributes quite a bit more than desired.
So, Sunday it is.  I washed down a bunch of Sudafed feel good pills, waited for my head to stop pounding, and trudged off to the car.
First things first.  I got the car up in the air, and decided to do the passenger side bearing first.  I had purchased a pair of bearings from Autolink UK, and I must take a moment to give these guys their due.
I get a fair bit of my stuff from eBay, but if it's important to the running if the car, I'll go to a real shop.  Autolink UK advertises in the MX-5 Owners Club magazine, Softtop/Hardtop, so I thought I'd give them a go.  I rang them up, and I was quickly informed that they had plenty of bearings in stock.  I ordered online (to get my club discount), and ordered the bits.  A few days later I thought I'd check on the progress of the parcel, and the tracking number they thoughtfully provided me with told me that they had tried to deliver but I wasn't home - but I'm sure I asked it to be delivered to my office.... Hmmmm.
Gave them a quick email, and long story short, I gave them the wrong address.  so what do you think they did?  They contacted the courier, and amended the delivery for me!  Way above the call of duty, chaps!  So my sincere thanks to Anthony at Autolink UK - I got my bearings the next day!
Anyway, back to the reason you all flock here...
So, off with the wheel.

I read some instructions on the internet about how to change the bearings, and it suggested removing the brakes and all that, but I figured if I could leave the pads and the disc in one piece, I could save myself some work.  So, I removed the two 14mm bolts holding the calipers on, and gave the whole assembly a tug.  Perfect!  With a bit of wire, the disc and caliper as one piece are off to the side - taking care not to bind the brake hose.

 Here is the offending hub.  I worried a lot about how to get the thing off; the torque rating was 130-160 ft lbs, which isn't easy to do with a standard ratchet.  I purchased a 29mm socket for my 1/2 drive ratchet, so I figured I was ready for that, but what if I couldn't turn it?  I searched high and low for a hollow bar I could use to get that nut off.  Only when I got the jack out of the boot did I discover a perfectly serviceable bar included in the Mazda toolkit!  Yay for smart car designers!

 Looking a little closer, I am confident that this bearing is knackered.  Don't know if you can see it, but there's some big shiny metal flakes hanging around there...

 So here is my big nut.  I put the ratchet on, put the bar on the end, and Heave-ho!  It was a helluva tug, but it came off!  I took the socket off, and looked at it  - oops, I forgot to punch the dent out of the nut.
Well, no real damage there actually, so away we go!

 Ideally, the dent in the nut will hold the nut in place, preventing the nut from walking off the spindle.  That's why they put that spline in...
Anyway off with the hub!  Ewww...  That looks suspiciously like cooked grease...

 Below, you can see where the remains of a rubber seal has stuck to the spindle.  The seal had just parished after 20 years of service.

 Here's the new hub, ready for installation.  I gave it a good clean - the sharper-eyed viewers will notice these are not strictly new hubs.  I'm sure  they'll do the trick, anyway.  In the background you can see the old nut and the new (old) nut.  Note that whomever removed this bearing was cleaver enough to remove the dent from the nut before undoing it...

 A bit of grease on the spindle...

 I crammed as much grease as I could into the new bearings, to give them the best chance.  My curiosity got the best of me though - I wonder what the bearings look like inside the hub?  A quick tap with a hammer, and the old one fell apart.
There are two sets of bearings in the hub, an inner and and outer.  Both showed lots of wear, and the steel balls were'n't strictly smooth anymore.  Some debris had found its way in for sure.

So after a bit of grease, on with the new hub!
I put it on, spun the nut, and went to tighten it.  I could only hope that I got the torque correct - too tight and you can wear out the bearings very quickly, too loose, and you'll know it right away.  So I gave it a good tug, and had a look.
Okay, so I re-used the old nut.  But you know what?  It showed me exactly where the nut was before in relation to the spindle!  So with a bit more grunting and the occasional blast of snot into my very dirty Kleenex tissues, I got the nut where it should be!  Not very scientific, but at this stage I could take it to a garage, and borrow a torque wrench that goes up to 150 ft lbs (mine only goes to 75).
So, on with the dust cap, on with the wheel, and over to the other side!
Wait, do I need to do the other side?
If I wanted to, I could have just bought one hub.  People will sell you only one.  You don't have to replace in pairs.  Go on, you're sick as a dog, get back inside, wash your hands, and wait for your wife to get you some chicken soup.
My brain is trying to wreck the car.
Or it's trying to save me work.
One way to settle - a test drive.
I drove about 100 feet and realised I needed to change the other one as well - there was a definite rumble coming from the front, specifically when turning left, and it went away when turning right.  Sorry, brain, back to work.
Replacing the bearing on the passenger side took about 45 minutes, including 20 minutes examining the old bearings and pauses for emergency snort drainage.  So the other side should be quicker, right?
Well, it would have been if the damned disc would have come off...
If you look through my previous blog entries, you will know about the trick of inserting a screw into the disc to push it off the hub.  Well, I was sitting down, on the floor, tired, sneezy, and grumpy, and without a bolt within arm's reach.  I decided not to get up and find one and save my self a pile of grief.  Instead I wielded the hammer with a loose grip and a sorry determination to get this over with.  Finally, after draining all my energy and nearly all my will to live, it popped off.  Fifteen minutes later, and that hub was changed as well.  And yes, there were metal filings hanging around it as well.
So, pack it all up, drag myself up to the flat, and request mahlaydeez's company on a test drive.  We go a spin, with the top up of course, it's a chilly day.
And how does the car feel after replacing both front hubs?  It's like driving a new car.  Well, a twenty year old new car.
I guess there is truth to the saying that you will never finish a rolling restoration.  I noticed my upper ball joints were looking a bit tired...