I'm sure this has come up a lot in the forum but does anyone have a source for a JD15 hub bearing tool? Or any recommendations or suggestions on how to do this correctly.

 

Do you have a Jaguar shop manual for your car? The JD15 is a spacer (.150 thick) that is used as a "known reference point" to start taking measurements of the hub end-play. If you don't have a Jaguar shop manual, it is a rather complex procedure, if you do have a manual, it's only slightly less complex. The .150 test spacer can be had from SNG along with all the other spacers you might need to set the final end-play.

Add what kind of car you have so that we all know how to help more efficiently.

Dave

 

Assuming we are talking about the rear hub, this thread explains what I did on my XJS, in case it s useful. The procedure, in my view, is very poorly explained in most places, but this is relatively easy to follow. The following link deals with the entire rear axle rebuild, which may or may not be interesting, but post 35 and post 38 shows how to set and assemble the hub bearings properly without special tools:
https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...-225834/page2/

 

Members of the Jaguar Clubs of North America (JCNA)(www.jcna.com) or Patrons of the Coventry Foundation(www,coventryfoundation.org) can loan the tool for no charge. JD 15 is a much loaned tool and very necessary for a reference point.

 

Very nice write-up Greg, pictures are worth thousands of words. I would only caution that using digital calipers might not be as accurate as using the JD15 spacer, but with a steady hand, it should suffice.

Dave

 

Thanks for the kind words. I found I could get repeatable readings no bother with the caliper. In fact as you can safely be between 2 thou float to 2 thou preload, and the calipers can easily repeatably measure to 0.5 of a thou, even less of a problem. All the other ways of identifying the required shim I found out about were less accurate ways, in my view.
Obtaining the precise shim to your measurement may not be possible either, say you need a 15 thou shim, maybe there is only a 14 or a 16 thou available etc etc. Incidentally, I lucked into a huge stock of OEM phosphor bronze shims (aftermarket are steel) so if anyone is stuck they can PM me.

 

when I replaced my rear hub bearings way back in the late 80s, I put the existing spacers back and found the play to be correct. Was I just lucky ! Well, I don't think so. Bearings from the major manufacturers are made to very tight tolerances, but machining of the hubs they sit in was by Jaguar and the tooling was just not up to repeating the same dimensions thousand of times. This plus the guys doing the machining on piece work means the mantra was "that's good enough". So the spacer with varying thicknesses available was to allow take-up of the variability of the hubs, not the bearings. Anyway, that's my theory and the more I read about Jaguar workshop practices, the more confirmed I am in the correctness of my theory !
When the Jaguar XK engine came out in 1948, it was built using secondhand machinery bought from Standard Motors. That machinery was still in use in the early 80s. Jaguar spent a load of money on machinery for the V12, only for it to be destroyed in the market place by the 70s and subsequent fuel crises. It was only when Ford came along that the production machinery was modernised.

 

Hey guys, sorry for the lack of information. It is for a 1985 XJ6 rear hub. I'm going to read through the posts now. I was able to get what i think is the correct dimension of the press tool so i'm going to see what a local shop would charge to turn me one.

 

Note that this tool will not mean you do not have to measure the endfloat of the hub. It just gives a known reference point to start measuring from. You do not need it to do the job if you follow my method, and even if you do have it, you will still have to measure.
If you have not already removed it, you may find that by far the hardest part of the job is removing the splined drive shaft from the hub centre. Some, in no-rust/no salt areas come out easily. Mine, after an early life in the UK took a 40 tonne vibrating press to remove, cracking the old bearing outer in the process!

 

Greg,

Yeah I'm not having much luck getting the old out myself or locating a shop that feels comfortable being able to support the housing without braking it.

 

This is a pic of mine on the press:

The nut is on the hub threads, about 1/4 inch proud to protect them. There is steel bar under one side of the hub to even it up.

The press does not just press, it thumps, which gives a measure of shock loading , without which thie hub would never have come out.

The driveshaft (shown in the next photo) is hanging down, which in the first photo you can just see

Until the driveshaft is removed from the hub, the outer UJ cannot be removed and replaced

The hub casting can take the load, but even if it breaks, second hand ones are easily found.

 

What about getting the hub assembly out of the carrier. Do you have any pictures of that process? That's where i'm at now.

 

My drive shafts came off the hubs very easily, but I believe due to "clicking" and complaints of this, Jaguar put Loctite on the splines to stop any slight movement. This is why it can be a struggle to press out the driver shaft. When I reassembled, I put grease on the splines.

 

The hub is held into the carrier just by the fit of the INNER bearing INNER race on the hub tube part. In this photo the pointer is pointing at that part. The hub tube has to be driven out of the aluminium carrier, thus forcing the bearing up the tube and off.

The pointer is touching the hub tube. Using a suitably sized tubular driver, this part has to be driven out, forcing the bearing inner up the tube and off.

This is what the removed hub looks like

You need a bearing puller like this to remove the INNER race of the OUTER bearing from the hub tube.

When refitting, once the hub tube is in the aluminium carrier (the OUTER bearing INNER race having been pressed onto it) the INNER race of the INNER bearing has to be wound into place using threaded rod:

 

Greg,

Thank your so much for the picture pointing out the press point! I was actually trying to press it out by the tapered lip on the bearing. Once I decreased the size of my socket it popped right out! Now to clean this thing up and get the old bears and races off.

 

I just happen to have a couple of pics of mine. Please excuse the home-made affair, the press frame sat out back of the shop for about 25 years. Pressing the hub out of the inner bearing cone was slightly difficult for me because I didn't have a proper tool (if there is one). Because the hub carrier is round and asymmetrical I had to get creative with jigging it up in the press. The second picture shows the hub after being removed, the 2x4 is just there to "catch" the hub and prevent damage.

Dave

 

Dave,

Looks like you are a wood worker trying to play mechanic. DITTO haha my set up looking pretty much the same!