What have you done today with your Austin Seven

[Bob Culver]

Shearing split pins seems common practice, esp among "mechanics". But often damages threads. (mechanics have access to common taps and dies). Get away with using soft pins but many are springy and quite hard. Avoid these.The front hub nuts do not need to be especially tight; just collapses the spacer. (For decades most cars had taper rollers where the nut is finger tight or less and ratained only by the split pin, in which cae a new one is desirable.)