The rubber caps work by ensuring that the pressure is the same inside or outside the hub. This is the way Amphicar was designed orignally.
I did pick up a pair of Bearing Buddies in Celina about 5 years ago when the rubber caps were unavailable and as I had heard good reports I thought I'd give them a go anyway but they didn't work for me.
Bearing Buddies work differently by keeping a positive pressure inside the hub. They were designed for boat trailers. I understand they work well in this application but on Amphicar the large grease seal is fitted backwards so the pressure from the buddy forces grease in to the brake drum as soon as the wheel is turned, you can see how that would happen in the cross section picture in the Amphicar manual.
If you used them with one of the new double lip seals I can see how they then might work, which then just leaves the issue of how to fit them to the hub in a way that the brake drum can still be removed and how to fit them in a way that there is enough hub cap clearance.
Because of use and perhaps tolerance some cars have more issues with water in the bearings, I think mine is one of them, probably because I do a lot of high speed road miles in Amphicar and the river water I normally then drive in to is cold and not always very clean.
David C in the UK
----- Original Message -----
From: LSolheim
To: david@manbus.com
Sent: Saturday, April 19, 2008 12:48 AM
Subject: RE: [General Amphicar Discussion-t-19950] Re: Ice Out! (rubber hub dust caps)
Vic, I've have the Bearing Buddies that Roger StJohn used to sell, for 5 or
6 years now and find them very satisfactory. They're clear plastic & sound
about the same as the ones you refer to from Gord.
--Larry
From: SplitPersonality [mailto:]
Sent: Friday, April 18, 2008 2:55 PM
To: lrsnpark@gmail.com
Subject: RE: [General Amphicar Discussion-t-19950] Re: Ice Out! (rubber hub
dust caps)
I keep hearing about the advantages of the rubber spindle covers vs the
metal caps, but I don't hear anything about the use of bearing buddies. Gord
Souter machines down the bearing buddies to a close tolerance press or tap
in fit
and believes strongly in them. I'd be interested in the opinions of others
regarding the bearing buddies. Gord says to just put in the proper amount of
grease until youo see the spring loaded portion move out slightly indicating
that it is as full as you want - not to over-grease and expel grease onto
the
brake shoes. You can visually see the portion of the bearing buddy move out
and that is when you stop adding any more grease. Gord redid my left front
bearing setup at the Lake Dora show and I saw what he was describing about
the
bearing buddy grease situation when he installed it. The bearing buddy comes
with its own rubber cover essentially doing the same job with the bearing
buddies as the covers being discussed do with the amphicar stock set-up
which
prevents the entry of water from the outside into the bearing buddy. Vic
Nelson
**************Need a new ride? Check out the largest site for U.S. used car
listings at AOL Autos.
(
http://autos.aol.com/used?NCID=aolcmp00300000002851)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
GORDON IMPORTS INC.. The world's largest source of Amphicar parts and accessories. Visit our new website today.
Linear Mode
