MTFCA Forum

I think this is about 1915/16ish machined with Jones gear. If worth trying to fix I have an idea, but looking for input. The only crack I can see is in the bearing cup which is not seated and cocked a bit. I think most of the dented part is more in the threaded end.

Later than 15/16 and not worth fixing in my opinion, easy to find good ones.

Yes I would agree that this is better as an anchor for a model boat or the scrap bin, or maybe a "work of industrial art"
Keep the speedo drive gear from it though. That is something harder to find and unusual.

Hub: junk
Gear: marginal/poor regardless of rarity...I think once cleaned up, it would be kind of tough on the fiber gear. If you had a source of fiber gears, and couldn't find the drive gear (this) then it is worth using.

Ok thanks. I will take the gear off first, then too the scrap bin it goes.

I probably have a couple of that type if you're needing one, Mark.

I don't need one, just was wondering if it would be worth ($) the time to try and fix.

To me the best part of this hub is the flange. It could be saved to be reused. Lang’s sells sandblasted used ones for 19.95.
But again to each his own about saving rusted up parts. I have some borderline T parts and have kept the ones that are not to far gone to use. I still have some of the T parts that I bought from a guy in the 70’s for 150.00 that were in a storage/garage bldg. Engines, frames and you name it. But I had to buy all of it to get the good stuff. In this area finding piles of T parts isn’t so common as it use to be and what’s found now is pretty much gone condition wise.

Lang's very well may get that for them, the rest of us not so much.

The machined hub is very useful when mounting the Stewart 8685 gear (60T8P) as the gear fits snugly and centers this gear onto the hub. I know John McLaren used this hub with his wire wheels so a speedometer setup could be easily installed with his wires. Granted, it is not a 1915 hub, but it is desirable. I would not toss it in the scrap bin. I hope this helps,
Russ Furstnow

One of the posts gave me the impression that some may consider $20 quite a bit for a used hub. After all, they are one of the “dead common” parts that everyone has a bunch of and “don’t seem to sell too well”... I just wanted to share my thoughts.

Actually... When you really examine front hubs and know what to look for, you will likely find that truly “good ones” are actually fairly scarce. I’m sure there are plenty of $20 “used hubs” available, but I wonder if those actually fit the criteria of “good used”? A new front hub is $260. They are made because people buy them. There is always the 10% that just don’t know any better, but the other 90% of sales are likely people that can’t find or don’t have a good one. I’ve always figured an excellent used one to be between 1/4 and 1/2 the price of a new one ($65-$130). An EXCELLENT used hub needs to have ALL the following qualities:
-Cleaned inside and out to bare metal (no grease, dirt, rust).
-Good threads that a hubcap turns all the way by hand.
-No cracks. Especially in the bearing race areas.
-No, or not very noticeable rust damage / pitting.
-A straight, flat flange.
-And the absolute most important feature as far as I’m concerned, which is usually the toughest to find is: Bearing cup recesses that measure just slightly undersize of new Timken races so that the inner and outer bearing races will be a proper press fit when installed. This is the one single item that sends probably 75% of the otherwise decent front hubs I’ve had straight to the scrap pile. The measurement should be made with a dial-bore-gauge set up to the diameter of a new timken race and then measured all over the bore to insure the average size of the bore will be a press fit to the new race. A single measurement may not show this properly if the bore is not round. Many times they are not. “Feeling” the press fit or how a race drives in isn’t an adequate test either because if the prior race has been moving around, there generally will be a slight lip or burr just above it and what you “feel” when installing the new race is that burr, NOT the actual fit of the race.

If I had to make a guess, I’d say that maybe 1 or 2 out of every 10 used front hubs I get end up being “good usable” and the rest end up in the scrap pile. Maybe others are lucky, maybe they just aren’t picky...

The subject hub would stay in my parts stash.Heat from a torch and some effort the gear would be removed if needed.if not,it would just lay idle for future generations.Folks that chunk parts because of minor defects over the past few decades have only drove up the price of used parts and allows new parts to have high prices as well.

I read the post about the 19.95 flange to be the flange plate not the hub.

There is already 1 company that is going to quit making 300 different parts,his muiltiable ads are in the classifeds.So the folks making the hubs may decide to quit to.
Just because it is cheap to you and plentiful to you,does not mean it always will be for everyone else.
I read all the time about concern for the future of our hobby,then 3 post down I read about another load of parts going to the smelter. Hum?

More than likely, the most common source for front hub damage is removing & installing new bearing cups - removing causing the most damage. This is a Ford installation tool for installing both cups at the same time - quite easy to use !

I would be more then happy to send it to anyone that wants it for the cost of shipping and you can store it. Let me know your zip and I can get back to you with the cost.

I sent a zip code. 10 charactors,I hope that is enough.When did this 10 charactor mess start anyway?

I got to thinking about the races moving around mentioned above. My dad,a mechanic for Duke power company for 30 years taught me if there is any evidence of a race moving in a hub,you simply take a center punch and a hammer and peen around the area the race is pressed into.And the race won't be moving around anymore.
You can also do that in the seal area if the seal is a bit "loose". Of course Loctite is more common now than it was then back when he was working.His work was out on the transmission line right of ways during new construction. If a machine broke down,you had to fix it where it sat.Knee deep mud,snow,whatever.You had to know how to make things work.I try to learn all I can from him.

About a week ago or so re the 10 charactors.
I sent a reply but really don't think it is worth the shipping cost.

Like I said in the email,the shipping at 27 bucks is a bit more than I can see paying.It woulda been fun to get it apart and clean it up and show it's potential. And that would have been my first Model T speedometer Part to!.
So many of us have more hours than time.Thus a part some consider not worth it,is worth it to us. I have more hours than dollars at this point in my life!

No problem. (Don't tell anyone, it's going back on the shelf )