Benjamin Swatton

I've managed to solve this sufficiently to get back on road simply by swapping the hubs over from one side to other! It just shows that there are some tolerance variations somewhere and unless it is the modern races and bearings or new brake discs then it can only otherwise be the OEM parts that were always like that from new. Probably the best way to solve properly is to skim the face of the mount lugs on the brake calipers  by about 0.5mm. So you can see although it look's wayout in photo we are talking of still relatively  small dimension that could easily build between various parts to throw you out especially if new part suppliers are "metricating" the original imperial dimensions to the nearest value...

This is an exasperating recurring issue every time I'm in the hubs the old chestnut of get the right split pin size looms. 

Twice I've order split pins from paddocks and they look too big and are really tight through the hole needing to be almost wound through! - theyre at least 1/8 inch diameter the eye head sits too far out - you give up as they ridiculously big for the nut and you get imperial next size down at 3/32 and then find they're way too small and nearly pull through!

The install is very size fussy because if the pin diameter is too big the larger eye end scrapes on the inside of the hub grease cap as it rotates - it would be very easy to misidentify this then  as knackered bearings - a wild goose chase which I narrowly avoided.

Sick of waiting for more pins via ebay - I went back to the old days and went down to Halfords and bought a pack labelled 3mm  code HFX111 - i can confirm these are exactly the correct size IMO.

For the pins to not scrape the inside of oem grease caps the outside face of the pin eye end needs to be less than 15mm from centre point of stub axle shafts - the paddocks eyes are several mm over whereas the Halford 3mm ones are about 14.5mm.

Interestingly if you buy the paddocks hub overhaul kit it comes with several different size split pins one of which is correct 3mm size but if you order a load of individual paddocks pins as spares - youll be stuffed as they're too big! 

3mm split pins everytime as the last photo shows

Yes the braided hoses came from paddocks, but the problem is the taper is too short I think to engage at bottom of caliper thread which does indeed have a taper but also bear in mind stsndard rubber hoses have no taper at all anyway! . Either way it appears a compromise from new unless anyone happens to still have an oem rubber  hose and can prove they had a taper. Ultimately the copper washer is the only bit doing the sealing so not the best.

Other problem is good ridge hose has diameter reduction between thread and nut head this result in a very loose fit of washer and means it's lateral displaced as tightened meaning the seal is on a tiny sliver of copper. Rubber hose doesn't have this problem. Having fitted rubber I got an immediate and good seal. 

These are goodridge hoses compare them to a standard rubber hose in photo

The problem is made worse by the fact that the thread in type 12 calipers starts 3mm into bore.  Note also the copper washer NOT shown in photo is approx 1mm thick which needs to be taken into account So  what this means is for the good ridge hose you have by measurement just 2.8mm depth of thread holding the hose on which is just 3 turns of thread... the rubber hose you have 7mm of thread which is 7 turns of thread...

And early cars have single circuit brakes so there is no fallback second circuit if you have a failure... you make your choice

Lack of corrosion in bore plus corrosion high up on pistons is telling me is the main source of corrosion is actually outside of hydraulic seal which suggests regular dot 4 fluid replacement would not help reducing corrosion at all. Also having cleaned pistons  not suprisingly nickel is not as good as chrome corrosion wise but at least they may not stick.

Drifted  races in hub which has improved their seating and clearance with caliper by 0.5mm which was main issue, out of true is now 0.008 on hub and the other hub  is 0.005 I will probably live with it and see how it goes

I've managed to improve things a little  by drifting the rear  bearing race abit deeper into hub clearly whoever rebuilt hub didn't quite get them seated, both hubs on either side now sit about same clearance of 0.75mm on outside disc face, still not central  but there is only another 0.75mm to go to get central  as disc is 10mm thick and caliper clearance only 13mm so can't expect perfection - it could just be spec of races is slightly out.

Came with car will check have yellow tag,  all manf. /suppliers seem the same judging by on line photos can't tell Goodridge ones though as photos show end caps on them all

Really Aanoying that triumph did not set this up so that shims could enable adjustment - I've yet to check if oem stub is not fully in VL but it was torqued up to book other side caliper/ axle is acceptable but still 1mm off center.  Prior to rebuild I seem to recall them being off center with different VL's - I'm now wishing I measured everything - you just can't trust anything ! - very tempting to get caliper machined to allow a shim as required - I have a nats whisker of clearance - I could get rid of paint on shield , all other paint is gone.

Im not sure if the calipers had ever been zinc plated - amazed at lack of corrosion in bores

Took off the calipers I overhauled about 4 year ago 20k miles using DOT 4. The chrome piston's were of unknown aged all had corrosion pitted and one was seized the fourth piston i used was what thought at time was a stainless piston and now looked awfully corroded but had not seized. The caliper itself inside is totally rust free impresive considering I never changed fluid since overhaul -all corrosion is outside of seal.  However after de rusting the "stainless" piston I see it is actually a nickel plated steel!

It transpire's my disk was not out of true and neither is an axle bent and neither are the taper bearings as ive tried new - the problem can only be either the races which look good or the hub has been bored from new out of true? - dial gauge is showing about 0.007 to 9 wobble total range not helped by fact that caliper almost touches as well. What sort of trueness is OK? I have read in book it's 0.004 runout. The other side is 0.004-5 not had any brake scrub issues whereas the wobbler side I've has persistent brake scrub when manoeuvring /parking and I want it sorted it's naff.

The braided hose on my car has very little thread just 1/4inch and by time you have inserted in caliper there is only 1/8inch depth of thread holding hose on ! - I'm finding even with new copper washer it does not want to seal on one caliper side and I'm v worried about stripping especially as some overhauled caliper threads seem a bit tired - although I've had this braided on for 20k, I'm seriously toying with going to rubber as they have 1/2inch of thread. Is there any problem running rubber when the rear brakes are on braided?

However have found you can only fit one brass spacer as hole pitch is different between wishbone and ball joint -maybe that why they made bore too large!

And for completeness this is the axle -I'm not scrapping it out its still good enough in my mind and is better than photo suggests with machining marks over half of diameter still visible plus the slightest of ridge's over the otherhalf and compared to a barely worn oem axle the bearing wobble on axle is pretty similar.

Further spinning evidence, the axles and bearing bore dont really show significant distress though suggesting the lateral loading of this bearing is not much compared to the inner which I have read takes most of the load

A closer inspection of my 20k power drives shows one to be very scrap suprisingly no apparent damage to race at all though. This side I did tighten bearing a little more but still as per book as had occasional brake rub with when manoeuvring with large smounts of steering lock - in reality i think it is a warped disc issue-we shall soon see as I'm fitting new disks. It's possible bearing damage due to over tightening but who knows certainly I will earing on Loose rather than tight in future.

It nigh on impossible to work out what your actually going to get prior to purchase as photos can be dated and only use will prove -  but here is a visual review of a set i just bought some from Paddocks. My old ones were stamped Powerdrive which I think is Indian they were still smooth after 20k miles but the bore fit of outer bearing on stub axle was too wobbly so I'm replacing as these new ones are a tighter fit and on one unworn OEM stub axle the inner bearing fit of the new bearings is superb so tolerances seem bob on.. the outer bearing still have some slop on unworn axle but about half my worn ones - but I think this is as good as your going to get and maybe even inevitable.

There are various supplier labelling you can see in photo Inc.  and the bearing race is etched id possibly suggests Korean manf.?

ExxonMobil grease 

Felt seal housing is much thicker steel than the seal paddocks sells individually and also not glued on much so easy to remove if required 

I think Paddocks has used this supplier for a fair few years as I bought rear bearings 4 years ago in same packaging and not had any issues..

In summary I think these maybe good quality although time will tell and I'm not buying timkens at £160 for both wheels

Completed second and final test on same 2 VLs having soaked for 12 to 20hrs the VL in cellulose thinners to degrease scrubbing with toothbrush and then follow Flawtek process but increasing die penetrating time to  3 to 12hrs. The results are basically the same with a bit more die in the corrosion area's on one VL,  still no cracks observable. 

So with 11 die test's now done following varying methods and durations - In summary I think die test in general probably provides a level of confidence that no surface cracks are present particularly in the thread grooves where it is difficult to assess just visually even with magnifying glass. You do need to be sure you've cleaned all the excess die out the grooves first though otherwise you will get a false positive!

Brass tube ideal

It just occurred to me there is very good reason for the balls to be sufficiently stiff and that is so you can screw the nyloc nut past the nylon as otherwise turning the spanner would just turn the ball instead of the nut and you would be doomed...

Results are as per earlier testing no signs of cracks and slight dye marks where corrosion pitting is located. This is now the 9th crack test I have done

Received another overhauled OEM caliper from different supplier and it appears that it has come from the same overhauling company however thay had to send me two as the first was in such poor condition that I have a suspicion if was a previous customer return who maybe even swapped out one half of the caliper and then returned it... Anyway  v pleased supplier let me keep the dodgy one for free as well.

Just ordered 12inch Length of 9mm od 8mm I'd  K&S brass tube on ebay , that should sort it

Spotted an annoying quality issue with these - the bolt holes are bigger at 9.3mm than OEM 8.5mm which means the already generous clearance with bolt  OD 8.0mm is now even greater so much so you would think unless there is sufficient clamp force then the joint could clunk around in the wishbone's.

There is sufficient clearance for me to slide a thin wall aluminium tube between bolt and housing with still enough waggle clearance between all items!

I am toying with getting a similar brass tube to take up clearance as aluminium is not a good idea here as bolt will end up corroded in solid and getting it out would be hell