Rear hub and halfshaft problems

[Bob Culver]

Hi Squeak
I feel like a priest at Confession. On old Sevens nothing can be assumed! Owning a lathe is a mixed blessing. Everthing is seen as a challenge of ingenuity.

[steve davidson]

Hi All,

I've used commerically avaialble shimming washers in this application with no ill effects yet. For mind it's a better solution to insert a high tensilte shim and get maximum torque on the nut than to "back off" to the next castellation.

[Robert Leigh]

With a taper joint backing off to the next castellation will always fail; it is fundamental that the taper be kept as tight as is reasonably possible. You can remove a whisker from the back of the nut with emery paper on a surface plate (or plate glass if you don't have a surface plate), just enough for the nut to line up its next castellation. I see no reason not to use a washer if the nut goes on too far, but care is needed if the taper has been lapped. The pinion on the end of the shaft must not be in contact with the inside of the differential housing. If it is you will find bits of silvery looking metal coming out with the oil next time you drin the axle.

[Steve Jones]

I see no reason not to use a washer if the nut goes on too far, but care is needed if the taper has been lapped. The pinion on the end of the shaft must not be in contact with the inside of the differential housing. If it is you will find bits of silvery looking metal coming out with the oil next time you drain the axle.

Might get pilloried but it works for me


  Chummy Hub.jpg (Size: 28.12 KB / Downloads: 143)

In this case, not a problem with the half shaft but a hub that has had a bit too much lapping during its 90 year history. Done  a lot of trials without any problems. An added advantage is that the washer stops a socket damaging the hub outer threads when tightening the half shaft nut. Because of that added benefit, all my rear hubs are now fitted with a similar washer. Robert's warnings about careful fitting and the position of the pinion gear in relation to the inside of the diff housing are very important.

In the case of the OP, I'd have doubts about any new half shaft bought from Kirby Wiske in the late 1980's. As the link to the previous thread in Stuart's post shows, some of these were flawed fundamentally. I bought the one I referred to in that thread at around the same time. In defence of the late Chris Dalby, I'm sure his aim was to produce a economic replacement half shaft at a time when the retail cost of an entirely new item might have been more than the average Sevener would be prepared to pay.

Steve