Thread: RRC front rubber hub cap, what to use to keep it on?

I have run rubber caps on my County against some pretty silly terrain and haven't had one knocked off yet. I reckon you'll struggle to lose one, I only replace them after I have used a screwdriver to remove them too many times.

I think Dougal uses a cable tie to secure them on his Rangie, but thats more to prevent leaks if I understand correctly.

Yes, zip-tie.

Early RRC's had steel mushroom caps which were integral to the CV stubs. Nothing to come off.
Later metric axles all had the rubber caps, but they also had greased bearings, so there was nothing to come out if they come off. I'm running oiled bearings so the oil keeps trying to seep out. A bead of silicone inside the cap and a zip tie around it works perfectly.

I run alloy wheels which protect the cap.

The steelies are for weekend Muddies only I run Alloys daily.

The silicone & a zip tie sounds the way to go.
BTW I have knocked the rubber cap off several times just changing wheels so that's why I wanted something to keep it on.

Also I put a mix of 50/50 ones-shot grease & oil, best of both worlds
or maybe master of none

Originally Posted by HangOver

Also I put a mix of 50/50 ones-shot grease & oil, best of both worlds
or maybe master of none

Definitely the messiest of both worlds.

Well 2000km later my zip-tied rubber cap spat oil. It was the first use on a hot day (~30C) so I'm thinking it's building pressure and I need to lose the seals between the swivel and axle housing to let it vent through the axle breather.

The cap moved enough that it tore the lip partly off it and once the lip was gone the cap kept moving and the oil kept coming. So the zip-tie was doing it's job of holding the cap down, the cap just wasn't up to it.

I placed an o-ring in the groove on the hub so the (new) cap would push further over and seal against that. It all went on nice and snug, I went outside to clean the oil off the wheel and came inside to see the new cap had split in two places and was dripping oil already.

These caps were the harder and shinier plastic. I've had others in the past that were a lot more rubbery (FTC5414). I'll be looking for more of those next time.
Right now I'm out of caps. The old one is back on, partly split and full of silicone but it won't be road driven. I can get some replacement caps on Friday and will ease them on with the heat of a hair-drier.

Can anyone confirm/deny whether series steel caps fit?

can't confirm re steel caps but I put a thin bead of silicon on the inside lip of the cap then cable tied it on when the silicone was still wet. They still haven't been knocked off leaked.

can't confirm re steel caps but I put a thin bead of silicon on the inside lip of the cap then cable tied it on when the silicone was still wet. They still haven't been knocked off or leaked.

Genuine caps arrived yesterday. OMG these fit like they should.

They have a real lip on them which fits nicely into the groove on the hub and is the same thickness all the way around. The taper fits perfectly onto the taper of the hub too.

I threw one on without any silicone behind it and it's holding oil all by itself. Fancy that, just another problem caused by aftermarket parts being complete and utter poo.

Genuine cap part number FTC5414.