[DeTomaso] Fascinating front wheel bearing advice

Tue Aug 14 16:33:31 EDT 2007

I'm surprised at this statement. This is more or less standard equipment on all RWD cars so I'd expect failures to be more common if it was such a problem.

Tomas

----- Original Message ----- 
From: <MikeLDrew at aol.com>
To: <DeTomaso at realbig.com>
Sent: Tuesday, August 14, 2007 8:21 AM
Subject: [DeTomaso] Fascinating front wheel bearing advice

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 !

**************************************
 Get a sneak peek of the all-new AOL at 
http://discover.aol.com/memed/aolcom30tour
_______________________________________________

Detomaso Forum Managed by POCA

Archive Search Engine Now Available at http://www.realbig.com/detomaso/

DeTomaso mailing list
DeTomaso at list.realbig.com
http://list.realbig.com/mailman/listinfo/detomaso