miata front hubs

[Barry]

Will or Les my front hubs feel tight and smooth how often do they need to be replaced ? Can I replace the berings
or the complete hub assembly. Thanks Barry

[Don P]

The whole assy is replaced. Buy one (or two) hub assys, keep them with your tools/spares. When a hub fails you'll know it. Replacement takes 15 minutes maybe, including jacking the car.

[WillM]

Hi Barry,

As usual, Don is spot-on.

Other than making sure the dust caps are in place, there is no real preventative maintenance on the hubs. That said, you are very smart to pay attention to them every now and again, and especially while getting the car ready for the season.

As Don mentioned, a hub can go from bad to worse in short order. You'll hear it howl and then start to vibrate. Track-side service to the hub is not a problem, provided that you have a spare hub, new hub nut, dust cap, and the tools for the job (including a 23mm(?) socket, long breaker bar, and jack-handle extension to loosen the bad hub. The new hub should be installed to a relatively modest torque setting (I forget the spec, 70 lb-ft(?)), driven for an event, retorqued, and then peened. Rear hubs are a different story and can be difficult to remove, even with the proper tools and tons of power.

Applied Racing Technology sells blue-printed hubs which are rebuilt with higher quality ball bearings and packed with a high-quality (Redline) synthetic grease. The price seems steep, but is not *that* much higher than stock hubs.

[MiataSteve]

I just did the hubs on mine. Will, the torque is 150ft-lbs. As Don says its an easy job, with the right tools. I zipped the hub nuts off with an electric impact wrench. Just don't forget to "un-stake" the tang before trying to remove the nut. Use a new nut with a new hub.

Will did you notice any play after a session...I already staked my nuts.

One of mine has some axial play but passed inspection. After removal I noticed the bearings where quite loose! I got to keep a closer eye on them. If you have a few seasons on them I would consider changing them. Your mileage may vary.....

[CP]

I put the ART blueprinted hubs on my car a few months ago for this season Gonna test them out at Summit Point next weekend to see if I torqued them tight enough...

[tommac]

now they tell me. I have a NC geneation and I've been told by Goodwin Racing that you should change every racing season. Yes, get spares and carry them. All the spec miata guys carry them. I learned the hard way, almost missed a second day of track time due to a failure. Tom

[breakaway500]

Are all NA and NB Miata hubs the same?

[Stynger]

Are all NA and NB Miata hubs the same?

Yes.