[DeTomaso] Fascinating front wheel bearing advice

[MikeLDrew at aol.com]

Hi guys,

Claude Dubois, the former main European distributor for De Tomaso cars, told 
me a few days ago that Patrick Hals suffered a wheel bearing failure on his 
factory Gr4 Pantera recently, due to a long-known problem with the design that 
hadn't been properly addressed by his mechanics.   I asked him to elaborate, 
and today he told me this:

-----


 Hello,Mike
  
 When  I  begon  selling  Panteras (the  first  offical  public  introduction 
of that car  was at the January  Brussels  Motor Show, months  before  the  
USA 
 Launch) , I  received  three  units  from  Modena , a  yellow  car, a  red 
one , and  a  green  one that  became  my  demo.
  
 I  tested  that  green  car  seriously , between  other on  a  race track 
(Zolder,in Belgium) before  sending  a  technical report to Don Coleman, in 
Modena,with  a  list  of  modifications  I  found  necessary  on the Pantera  for  
further  production.  This  report  almost  cost me  my  franchise  and
 Don  was  sent  back  to Detroit,because  Alessandro  would  not  accept  
any  advice  from  anybody,even on how  to make  an air  conditionning  system  
work
  
 In March , I  went  to  Paris  for  a  business  meeting , with my  green  
Pantera and on my  way  back ,on the  Paris-Brussels  freeway , one of my  
front  wheel  bearings  seized  and  locked, and  my  nice  demo  came  back in 
our  workshop on a flatbed  truck.
  
 My  chief  mechanic  knew  well that kind  of problem, which  can happen 
 rather  often  in  severe  or  competition  duty  with  disc-braked  cars.
  
 In fact,  I  had  to  abandon  the  gruelling  (4  days  and  night  non 
stop in the  Alps and  gravel  trails of Yugoslavia)  Liege-Sofia-Liège  rally, 
in  1957,on
 my  works  Triumph  TR3, when I  was  third  overall , when  a  front  
wheel  bearing  gave up going  down (like  hell)  the  Allos  alpine  pass in 
France.
  
 So, I knew  the  feeling : it  begins  with  a  « longer »  brake  pedal 
 travel (when the  bearing  begins to  desintegrate  and  the  disc  wobbles  
and  pushes  back the  brake  pads in the  calipers), and  it is  then time to 
stop , because the  next  step is a  locked  wheel  or  worse.
  
 For  years  after that  1957  problem on a  TR3 , I  rallied  and  raced 
those  cars  without  a single  front  bearing  failure.
  
 The  problem  had   been  adressed  for  ever , because my  chief  mechanic 
, a  very  smart  engineer , made  a  modification  which  looks  rather  
simple , but  needs  a  very  careful  and  experienced  mechanic, with  a  good  
machine  shop , to  achieve.
  
 The  modification  is  placing  a  calibrated  spacer  between the  two  
inner  cages  of the two  front  wheel  bearings , and  locking them  solid  
together : of course before  locking  them  one  must  measure  very  carefully 
the  needed  clearance of the  bearings  and  adjust  them  with  some shims 
(like  the  shims  used  to  adjust the  backlash  on  the  pinion  in  a  rear 
axle).
  
 This is  of course  time  consuming , and therefore  expensive  and this  
is  why  no  car  Manufacturer  uses that  method  when  aseembling the  front 
end of  our  automobiles.......but  this  is in fact the  best  way  to  
install the  front  bearings  on a car.
  
 When I  say  « no  auto  manufacturer «  , I  am  not  right. There is  ONE  
car that  was  assembled in  productioin  with that  spacers  system and  it 
  was the   MG « B ».
  
 Because  I  knew  nobody  would  listen in Modena , I said  nothing to the  
factory , but  decided to  do  something about that problem on the cars I
 distributed, in order  to  avoid  warranty  complaints :
  
 During  the  « pre delivery  inspection » of the  De  Tomasos  we  
distributed  in Belgium , the  spacers  were  automaticcally  fitted  to ALL the  
Pantera,Deauville and  Longchamps , in my  workshop ,  and  we   never  had  a  
bearing  warranty  problem  after  that.
  
 I  also  fitted  that  system  on  all the  cars  I  prepared  for  
competition  during my  career and  this  is probably  why  I  never  had  a  single
 bearing  failure  in  racing, either. The  modification  also  improves  
brake  pedal  feel.
  
 My  Shelby  GT350 R  was  equipped  like that  , and  not  only  finished 
the  Spa  24  Hours  in  second place  overall ,but  also  did about 6  racing 
 seasons  without  replacing the  bearings.  2860  the  Team  Claude Dubois 
G4  Pantera was  also modified  like that.
  
 On a  Pantera  G4 , with the  wide  wheels , without  spacers , bearings  
should  be  renewed  before  each  endurance race.
  
 Possibly  in  typical  USA  light  service  on  public  roads ,  there is  
not  too many  problems , but believe me, in  HD  service , the  front  wheel  
bearings are just  too  small  and  subject  to premature  failure  on a  
Pantera !
  
 Warmest  regards ,  Mike !



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