Rear center caps, dust covers

[cobred]

I have been looking through several Cobra books lately and noticed most of the Cobras with Halibrand wheels do not have rear dust caps inside the rear knockoffs. Mostly the pictures of cars racing. Anybody know why? Does anyone have them left off their Trigos? It seems if they were left of it would become a conversation piece so it would be nice to have the answer.

[computerworks]

My take has always been that front wheel bearings need (should have) the dust cap...not so much the rear, based on the the way the rear is configured.

[LMH]

Yeah, the rear of an original doesn't have exposed bearings like the front.
Larry

[mickmate]

These guys are feeding you the good stuff Ed. If you look at the rear hub cross section the bearings are inside the upright behind the drive flange. The knockoff is just a tube off the flange. The caps don't cover anything and if it ain't needed on a race car.......
The front caps are required to keep the dust from the outside. The irony is they don't have seals on the inside and the bearings would fill with water and rust if you were caught in the rain.

[cobred]

Makes sense, I can see why they are not needed but wondered if there was a reason they werent used. If it doesnt make it go faster or safer leave it off.

[CSX3183]

They weren't used,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, because they were not needed.

Nothing more, nothing less.

Dust covers are used to keep out dirt and dust from the bearings, just like with any car, the front bearings get a cover.

The rears don't come with exposed bearings, pull the rear wheel off of any American car, at least up until 1999, maybe now they do.

I got caught in a torential downpour one day in S. Fla., had to drive 100 miles in it, the floor and an inch of water in it b y the time I got home, never had a problem with the rear seals, perhaps you mean if you drive thru 2 feet of water. This holds true for ALL 427 Cobra's, street cars as well as race, NO rear caps.

[LMH]

That's an interesting drawing Nick. I haven't seen that particular one before. The top shows a spoke wheel and spline drive while the bottom shows an alloy wheel with drive pins. My 289 chassis manual has only the spoke wheel drawing.
Larry

[mickmate]

I was being asked about the fronts. There is a good website from when Brookes owned 3282 427 Cobra - CSX3282 and I quote him "Note also that there is no water protection of the wheel bearings. If the car is driven in the rain, the wheel bearings will rust. I found this out since when I first owned the car it was my daily driver".
According to the diagram in the manual it has a sealing disc also noted as an oil (?) retaining disc. I believe that to be more like an oil slinger type washer or bearing sheild rather than a lip to lip seal. I'd be interested in anyone with a picture or explanation of the part.
I think I have found more explanation looking at the comp cars listing it as a sealing ring nilos. They are shown and explained here NILOS® -RING ‘TYPE LSTO’ STEEL-DISK SEALS PROTECT BEARINGS FROM CONTAMINANTS - SKFusa.com/SKF News/Latest News and are pretty much what I described and visualised. It's to stop stuff leaking out, not to seal against moisture coming in.

[601HP]

Originally Posted by cobred

I have been looking through several Cobra books lately and noticed most of the Cobras with Halibrand wheels do not have rear dust caps inside the rear knockoffs. Mostly the pictures of cars racing. Anybody know why? Does anyone have them left off their Trigos? It seems if they were left of it would become a conversation piece so it would be nice to have the answer.

I think it was 2008 and I was going through tech inspection at Mid-Ohio road race course. They asked me to remove the dust caps because of the possibility of them coming off on the course. So.....I removed them.

I liked the look and haven't had them on my car since.

David

[cobred]

I thought maybe the rears were prone to fly off due to rapid wheelspin or comming hard out of a turn. I think Ill take mine off, easy enough and looks kinda cool.