1946 est front hub

Steven, dont do anything drastic , not straight away .Try shimming up the bearing in the hub with some circlips,its possible youre missing a grease shield or a seating washer.Circlips are strong and cheap,and can be used to either estimate the amount required for machining,or as a permanent fix.Assemble the entire wheel and fit it to your forks,to make sure whatever you decide on is going to work.Regards John.

If the front brake is on the left then you probably don't have a 1946 front end fitted as '46' (and '39 civilian) had brakes on the right. The 1946 fork is unique as the headlamp was supported by brackets instead of the traditional prongs. Watch out for speedo drive gear direction in the brake drum.

An ex-WD fork and wheel might have made an appearance. A photo would be helpful to see what you've got. I can scan a copy exploded diagram from the WD workshop manual for you.

Which part do you mean by 'carrier' ?

The drum side bearing will be pushed up tight against the shoulder in the hub by the shouldered nut on the inside of the brake plate when fully assembled and the other side retained by the lock ring and top-hat spacer.

In practice, if everything is in good condition, the brake side bearing can be drifted up to the shoulder and stays there during assembly. If yours is floating around then it suggests worn bearing housings. If it's not too bad then Loctite might be enough.

Box of bits means parts not belonging or missing,unless you pulled down a complete bike. Anyway,provided the threaded ring and any spacers positively locate the wheel bearing on that side,and the whole axle assy fits correctly into the fork slots,its ok.Probably best to assemble the axle complete including the brake plate but without the hub and check the fit in the forks and it will be obvious if anything is wrong.I dont think anyone would mistake an army front wheel for any other.Regards John.

Why not John ? As far as I can tell from the part numbers, the front wheel fitted to the WD16H was identical to the civilian models from 1936 - 1938, apart from finish which can easily be changed. The forks too were identical for this period with the exception of the top clip (adjustable with no rubbers on the WD) and the addition of bolt-on 'snubbers'

Previously wrote:

I dont think anyone would mistake an army front wheel for any other.Regards John.

The long securing bolts. Regards John.

John, are you referring to the 9506 Wheel Sleeve Nuts ? The part number was unchanged for post 1936 civilian until 1939 and was used all through WD 16H production although it is evident that at some point they ceased to be the waisted nuts shown in the parts books.

Regrettably, Norton's decision to begin post-war production with a completely new part number system (and not to ilustrate the 1946 parts book at that) means that comparisons between pre- and post-war parts is very difficult (for me at least !).

Rich

Previously wrote:

The long securing bolts. Regards John.