Sprint centre bearing

[cleverusername]

Never rains but it pours. Undoing the prop from the gearbox, for the engine removal, I noticed that the rubber on the centre bearing has completely torn.

Is it worth trying to replace it with an aftermarket one or will they all be Chinese rubbish that only lasts a few 100 miles?

[yorkshire_spam]

Never rains but it pours. Undoing the prop from the gearbox, for the engine removal, I noticed that the rubber on the centre bearing has completely torn.

Is it worth trying to replace it with an aftermarket one or will they all be Chinese rubbish that only lasts a few 100 miles?

I've had one from RobSport and it seems to be lasting ok. When I had my spare propshaft balanced at Dunning & Fairbank they offered quality replacements for the centre bearing - so decent ones must be out there if you shop around!

[cleverusername]

Never rains but it pours. Undoing the prop from the gearbox, for the engine removal, I noticed that the rubber on the centre bearing has completely torn.

Is it worth trying to replace it with an aftermarket one or will they all be Chinese rubbish that only lasts a few 100 miles?

I've had one from RobSport and it seems to be lasting ok. When I had my spare propshaft balanced at Dunning & Fairbank they offered quality replacements for the centre bearing - so decent ones must be out there if you shop around!

Had a look at Robsport but since the batch they have were manufactured with the wrong mounting nuts:

https://robsport.co.uk/index.php/online ... re-bearing

It makes me wonder what the quality of the part is like. If the manufacturer can't get something as basic as the thread size correct, is the rest of it OK?

[xvivalve]

Dave Mac Props commissioned remanufacture and they have M10 captive nuts; I suspect these are the same. They are otherwise quality items, though I didn't have to enlarge the holes in my brackets.

You can probably source them direct from Dave Mac...mine came as part of a remanufactured propshaft.

[Magenta Auto Sprint]

The prop centre bearing doesn't have captive nuts as standard as far as I remember? there are two plates with studs that go through the transmission tunnel.

So I would be tempted to remove the captive nuts and use stiff nuts as per the original set up.

Malcolm

[Carledo]

The prop centre bearing doesn't have captive nuts as standard as far as I remember? there are two plates with studs that go through the transmission tunnel.

So I would be tempted to remove the captive nuts and use stiff nuts as per the original set up.

Malcolm

The 2 plates are bolted to captives on the centre bearing outer housing. The only problem with the 10mm captives is finding a couple of short 10mm bolts to go in them. I've fitted, one way and another, 5 or 6 of these repro bearings, a couple have been supplied to me by my propshaft specialist of choice, Proptech in Hartlebury. But it's my impression that he gets them from Dave Mac, who seems to have more or less cornered the market, the way Baines have with screen seals.

So far, my customers and I have been satisfied with them, deeply as I suspect anything repro which is of rubber/metal construction, these seem to be holding up well. The one on the Carledo has been thrashed mercilessly for 10 years and still looks and works fine!

Steve

[cleverusername]

The prop centre bearing doesn't have captive nuts as standard as far as I remember? there are two plates with studs that go through the transmission tunnel.

So I would be tempted to remove the captive nuts and use stiff nuts as per the original set up.

Malcolm

The 2 plates are bolted to captives on the centre bearing outer housing. The only problem with the 10mm captives is finding a couple of short 10mm bolts to go in them. I've fitted, one way and another, 5 or 6 of these repro bearings, a couple have been supplied to me by my propshaft specialist of choice, Proptech in Hartlebury. But it's my impression that he gets them from Dave Mac, who seems to have more or less cornered the market, the way Baines have with screen seals.

So far, my customers and I have been satisfied with them, deeply as I suspect anything repro which is of rubber/metal construction, these seem to be holding up well. The one on the Carledo has been thrashed mercilessly for 10 years and still looks and works fine!

Steve

Good to know, I am suspicious of parts, especially rubber ones because we have had so many failures. We have one car that eats suspension arms, they basically have to be replaced once a year, the parts are so poor.

So that is another item on the to do list.

[cliftyhanger]

As a curveball, I and others have used a Transit centre bearing. I bought a genuine ford part for £30, repro were about half that.
Fitting entails cutting the Ford mounting tabs off, then gluing the ford bearing into the circular metal bracketry off the original. It is a good fit, a smear of tigerseal has been a perfectly good solution.
There are a few threads lurkng on here with full instructions and the correct part number/source.

[sprint95m]

As a curveball, I and others have used a Transit centre bearing.

Not really a curveball….
The replacement centre mounting they are using is a Ford type.
I don’t know which one but it is not mark 3 Capri V6.

My search took me to Transits because a friend had several (minibuses)
and reported they hadn’t given bother, so on that basis seemed worth a punt.
Type 9 gearboxes and fuel economy (or the lack of) were a different story…..



Ian