28-04-2018, 06:26 AM
When I first used my car a teenage apprentice mechanic a year or two younger lived a few doors away. He had a dreadful Ruby. Whilst out gallivanting one Saturday night there was a significant bang and the car commenced to torque steer. No mean mystery. It transpired the broken axle had flicked itself through the diff and stayed there. (He lived on an alpine Wellington section where could not get car off the road so repaired outside. He later owned a Morris 10. He offered a lift to work to a young woman waiting at the adjacent bus stop. Turning up a steep street downtown an axle went. Laboriously replaced on the roadside at home and when complete he offered the same girl a lift again. They turned up the same side street and the other axle broke! Several older cars were notorious for axle failure, and many others managed occasionally. If wanted a piece of tough steel could cadge one from any garage. Yet the reliable half shafts on fwd moderns are remarkably thin)
The terribly battered axles I have seen must have had hardened keys to inflict such damage. There is no point in running with no key but ommitting the split pin encourgaes regular checking and tightening of the nut. Or may be room to drill for a pin just outside the castellations.
The terribly battered axles I have seen must have had hardened keys to inflict such damage. There is no point in running with no key but ommitting the split pin encourgaes regular checking and tightening of the nut. Or may be room to drill for a pin just outside the castellations.