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MG parts spares and accessories are available for MG T Series (TA, MG TB, MG TC, MG TD, MG TF), Magnette, MGA, Twin cam, MGB, MGBGT, MGC, MGC GT, MG Midget, Sprite and other MG models from British car spares company LBCarCo.

MG Midget and Sprite Technical - Front bearings.

The original front bearings on my midget were 34LJT25.

I just received this in an email.
"We have some stock of 34LJT25"
"How many do you need?"

I am following up and will report when I know more.
tomshobby

I searched for the number and found a supplier in the UK that listed stock of a few but not the other one in the pair. Can't find the bookmark at the moment but IIRC it was some company near Slough.
David Billington

It would be interesting to get an original pair of bearings and actually see if they correspond to the original specification drawings.

How much did the supplier want for them?
Robert (Bob) Midget Turbo

I will keep you in mind Bob. I sent back an email with several questions. As soon as I know I will let you know.

I have to admit being somewhat excited. I sent out well over 100 emails to companies and suppliers trying to find these. And a couple days ago I sent out just one more and got that response. Can't tell you how close I was to not sending that last email and just saying enough.
tomshobby

Does anyone know what "face adjusted" means when discribing wheel bearings? Sometimes quoted as 30 degrees or 40 degrees.SKF inner bearing #7303becbp gave me a quote of $100 plus.One reference to this said it was a "cold weather" bearing, whatever that means! What's a good number for front bearings? Bob C
chamberlain Bob

"Face adjusted" or the term now being used "FLUSH GROUND" means just what it says. The inner and outer races are ground flush. I believe the #7303 would be the outer bearing. The 7205 would be the inner. The problem is to find bearings with the correct "r" value so they fit properly or to use a shim to fill the gap (usually a 1mm shim).
The original inner bearings on my "74 were 20 degree face adjusted 34LJT25 bearings. The outer bearings were the same only 3MJT17 bearings, the "r" radius is not important on the outer bearing.
After nearly a year of searching and many more than 100 inquiries of bearing manufacturers and suppliers, say nothing of the follow up emails, I found a few and ordered a pair of each. I only found these a couple days ago and will not know for certain if they are even correct until they arrive and I can inspect them.
In the mean time I am finishing up my web page in an attempt to make it a little clearer. Especially the part Norm Kerr has been helping with concerning the gap or none between the bearing and stub face; and the use or not of the spacer between the bearings. It is at the bottom of this page. http://smithtr6.com/bearings.htm

BTW, the drawing shows a 40 degree angular contact bearing.



tomshobby

Face adjusted means that the bearings are made to fit the set up used by the Midget and Sprite font hub. This relies upon the inner spacer being exactly the same length as the spacer machined into the hub, which it is. If you do not use a face adjusted bearing then when it is assembled into the hub and fitted the bearing will have "play" in it and the wheel will move backwards and forwards suggesting the bearing was failing. Use of correct face adjusted bearings Solves this problem.

However a further problem has been identified by Tom which is the inner radius "r" If this radius is too small on the bearing itself (which ALL modern bearings are) then potentially the inner bearing will not butt upto the hub face correctly and could cause a problem. I personally recognise this issue but considering that almost every hub that uses this configuration (Midget, Sprite, Morris minor, etc etc) has at someime in its life had a modern bearing fitted then there must be thousands of hubs around with bearings that do not seat correctly and do they fail? well no!

However it would be nice to find the holy grail of bearings but that appears not to be possible, I therefore believe that the use of a face adjusted bearing to make the wheel bearing a perfect fit and not worry too much about the radius problem (which has existed for many years) is a fair resolution.

Hopefully a pair of the original bearings will decide if the radius was sorted out many years ago, if it was then fitting the original bearing would be the holy grail, but that will not be an ultimate answer as there are very few available if any, now if the radius is not correct Well!!! let's wait and see.

My Midget had non face adjusted bearings fitted to it 20 years ago. Thus it had 2 problems the first it ALWAYS had "play" in the front wheels (had to argue with the MOT man each year to get a pass.and it also would not have been butted up correctly due o incorrect "r". However like thousands more this did not cause a problem. A year ago I fitted face adjusted bearings and now have perfect fitting bearings with no "play" in the front wheels and still no failure of he axle.
Robert (Bob) Midget Turbo

This thread was discussed between 18/03/2010 and 20/03/2010

MG Midget and Sprite Technical index

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