Sierra rear wheel bearing housings, how easy to make?

[mr henderson]

Amongst the many kit car related tasks that I've never actually needed to do is the handling of the bearing housings from a Sierra, the bits that are bolted to the Haynes uprights.

I am involved in another project that would need to use something like that, but possibly a bit different in various dimensions.

Would such an item be difficult to make?

[AshG]

not to difficult. you turn the part on the lathe first leaving a flange on the bottom then mill the flange into the shape and stud pattern you want.

i would ask this though. why would you go to the trouble of making them im sure you can just use/modify sierra ones.

i believe the cars like the 3series and omega have similar items so with a bit of research you may find something off the shelf so to speak

[mr henderson]

Originally Posted by AshG

i would ask this though. why would you go to the trouble of making them im sure you can just use/modify sierra ones.

Thanks for the advice, the reason for not using Sierra units is that the bearings I may need to use may well be a different size (to fit different driveshafts, but to still fit the various readily available Haynes uprights) maybe. All a bit up in the air at the moment. But even f I use billet machined aluminium uprights I would still need some kind of bearing housing

[Bonzo]

I have been looking at this particular problem for a while.

The Sierra hub assembly could be replicated to take a different size bearing. it is quite a simple hub.

The cost is likely to be prohibitive, as you say they would most likely need to be machined from billet with the added expense of having the bearing housings machined once the hub is made.

You may remember me posting a while back about plans for a rear/mid engined 7'ish car.

Some of the early drawings are taking shape. We have done some R&D on the rear hubs. Looking at the driveshaft issue, personally I think the most cost effective solution would be a hybrid driveshaft.

Donor engines CV joint on one end & donors hub joint on the other end.

[mr henderson]

Originally Posted by Bonzo

The cost is likely to be prohibitive, as you say they would most likely need to be machined from billet with the added expense of having the bearing housings machined once the hub is made.

How about having the flange laser cut, then a cylindrical bearing housing turned on the outside diameter, welded to the flange, then the inside diameter machined for the bearing? A bit long winded, but it would cut down on the size of the stock needed, and save a bit of turning too.

I realise there is a cost element to this, but surely supplies of Sierra units aren't going to last forever, and most other makes of car are either front wheel drive or the bearings are pressed straight into the trailing arms (such as BMW)

[RAYLEE29]

For a rear engined car using a frontwheel drive transmission why not just use the uprights from the donor with suitable wishbones and a tie rod instead of the steering rack
its not a new idea its been done before I think transformer do/did it on the stratos replicas and didnt gtm do it with a mini based kit?
Ray

[Bonzo]

Originally Posted by mr henderson

How about having the flange laser cut, then a cylindrical bearing housing turned on the outside diameter, welded to the flange, then the inside diameter machined for the bearing? A bit long winded, but it would cut down on the size of the stock needed, and save a bit of turning too.

I hadn't thought of that method of constructing a rear hub

That would certainly open up the way to have the parts made from steel & greatly reducing costs.

So far I have not looked into the industrial bearing route, there is a vast array of flange mouning bearing units available.
They would definately be able to withstand the loads placed on them but ultimately might prove to be unsuitable for automotive apps.

I must say, it is refreshing to have an interesting topic to bounce some ideas about.

[mr henderson]

Originally Posted by RAYLEE29

For a rear engined car using a frontwheel drive transmission why not just use the uprights from the donor with suitable wishbones and a tie rod instead of the steering rack
its not a new idea its been done before I think transformer do/did it on the stratos replicas and didnt gtm do it with a mini based kit?
Ray

Thanks for the suggestion, but it's too restrictive in this case, and the donor uprights are completely unsuitable. Then there's the problem of the brakes, of course, need cable operated handbrake.

If this can be solved then it will in fact be easier than using any of the donor front suspension (which possibility I did investigate at some length.

[mr henderson]

Originally Posted by Bonzo

So far I have not looked into the industrial bearing route, there is a vast array of flange mouning bearing units available.

Now I must admit I hadn't thought of that, although I knew that such things were available, I just didn't apply that knowledge to this particular situation. Thanks, I will look into that.

As regards longevity, it may well be that there is a flange which is near enough to be machined to fit the original type wheel bearing if there isn't one that exactly matches it.

[Bonzo]

Originally Posted by RAYLEE29

For a rear engined car using a frontwheel drive transmission why not just use the uprights from the donor with suitable wishbones and a tie rod instead of the steering rack
its not a new idea its been done before I think transformer do/did it on the stratos replicas and didnt gtm do it with a mini based kit?
Ray

I mulled over the use of the front wheel drive donors uprights & it was the handbrake issue that stuck in my mind

I am sure that there is probably a hydraulic solution there somewhere but to be honest I do not posess that sort of knowledge.

Had serious visions of using Citroen BX/Xantia front uprights

It was about then that I thought it was about time I stopped trying to think