Superformance hubs, bearings and bushings

[wanab5150]

While everything is fresh in my mind I'm adding important information for anyone having issues or replacing axle, bearings and bushings in the rear.

On a trip recently with our Cobra group going to Atascadero I made a hard right sweeping turn onto Hwy 101 and seemingly out of nowhere the car took a violent hop to the left then back to the right. I assumed it was just heavy foot but once home realized the left rear wheel bearing let go. Unfortunately it went home on a AAA tow...after the lock-up again...oh, and the fire....That's another story.

Anyway when that happened the brake rotor which is (attached to the hub) started flopping around due to the bearing failure while the caliper (attached to to aluminum hub carrier)remained aligned and rigid. As I turned right onto a freeway the bearing let go and the left rear brake locked up causing a violent slide to the left then back as the same wheel was now acting as an anchor.

The damage was actually not that bad and so far I need a new fire extinguisher ( I had to use it), rear brake pads, rotors turned, L/R SS brake line (burned up), CV joint boot and clamps(burned up), all 4 green bushings used in the lower control arm pin that connect the hub carrier to the lower control arm, a new right wheel from curbing it when it slid back to the right and bent the living S#!t out of it beyond repair, and complete disassembly of both cv joints (the grease caught on fire) and I'm sure Ill find more as I go.

It's not been easy finding parts and/or numbers for this series of Superformance #2769. These are some of the things I have determined....

1. The axle nut is 36mm. With the wheel adapters in place and the wheel on the car, the socket won't fit through the adapter. If you remove the wheel and the spinner adapter and have a 5 hole wheel that fits, you can lower the car onto the ground and bust you back trying to get that nut off..... I ended up removing the 6 allens from the axle to the differential and removing the axle along with the hub carrier all in one part. I then took it to my favorite tire shop and had them blast the nut off with 200 lbs. of air and a Mongo air wrench............ Using the bolt pattern on the differential end of the axle, bolt a 4 foot pipe to it so you can hold the axle in a Mongo vice or get a 400 pound dude to stand on the pipe.....I'm putting it on the same way when I'm done.

2. The brake lines don't exist either at Hillbank or Olthoff Racing but Dennis Olthoff is making me one.

3. The large pin mentioned above uses 4 green bushings that don't fit all cars but may fit mine. They are replaced by RED ones which Hillbank says are bigger and will have to be "sanded down". Dennis says they're the same but better material. I gave him the pin size of .825 and he said they are the same...just up graded material.

4. The CV joints are a nasty mess to disassemble but quite simple to service. They too have been changed and anything pertaining to axles, boots, CV joints Olthoff say's to go through "The Driveshaft Shop" near Olthoff in N.C. as the old ones are no longer stocked.

5.The rear wheel bearing is really important as they're two different bearings depending who you talk to. Don't buy a Ford Racing 510010 which is very close to the correct bearing. The #Timken 51010 is .015 larger OD than the correct Timken #513058. Pressing the 510 bearing would surly explode the hub carrier even though is looks exactly the same to the naked eye.

6. The CV boot is almost impossible to find but Olthoff thinks he may have one. If not I'll have to buy a universal fit and cut it down.

7. When removing the pin don't forget to remove the allen under the hub carrier which helps secure the pin in place. Regardless of the allen I had to beat the pin out with a 5lb. sledge. Beat is an understatement. I have some clean up and re-threading to do and may have to turn the pin (demention 8.25 X10) inches to make sure its still round...........Nightmare getting it out!

8. If you have single piston calipers for cars after #2769 the rear pad number is Wilwood #150-9184K. I use BP-20 compound in the rear and the Wilwood Matrix pad in the front. When the cars changed over to the small single caliger near my car number the brakes in the rear (in my opinion) are very inefficient. I use the weaker Matrix pads up front along with a proportional valve so I can turn down the front bias and allow the backs with the small caliper to work harder. Before I added the valve the fronts would lock up uncontrollably. The back still suck but it's better than it was 12 years ago when it was built. They should have stayed with Dynalights in the rear.

I have disassembled everything and cleaned everything in solvent. I have most of the parts but I will add anything required to complete the job to the thread as all this info is a crap load of work to find.