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Old 06-21-2009, 03:27 AM
JonL JonL is offline
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Location: Long Island
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jt20 View Post
and... if the hub was indeed, expanding more than any other part, and indeed transferring enough thermal energy to the bearings.... this expansion could possibly CREATE clearance b/w the spindle and the bearing.

what happens when a solid ring of metal is expanded? I.D? O.D?
Well, I'd have to study the geometry. The fit of the races in the hub will get tighter, but the inside diameters of the races will get larger. This will create more bearing clearance. The length between the two bearing outer races will increase (hub side) while the length between the inner races (spindle side) will not increase as much. This will create less bearing clearance. Both effects are influenced by the characteristic lengths in question... the race diameters of the inner and outer wheel bearings, and the lengths between the respective races along the spindle axis. The taper angle will also affect how much of the linear and radial expansion translates into actual bearing clearance changes. It's not a difficult analysis, but it would require some measurements and more work than I could do at this hour after a couple of glasses of wine.

My offhand guess is that worst case situation... hard use of brakes right after starting off on a frigid day... would not change the bearing clearance by as much as the adjustment tolerance they give. Still an interesting question to ponder.
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