Stub axel cracks

[John Mason]

Mike are you serious or Wes that sarcasm. I wouldn’t use it.

John Mason

[Mike Costigan]

Oh dear, sarcasm really doesn't work on the internet, does it?

[Bob Culver]

For cars for which mountains of spares were not available everything got welded at some stage. A local with an Austin 6 had the con rod split almost full length and welded. Some older motor engineering books cover the welding of broken cranks.
In the 60s and 70s before the parts mountains accrued it was common to weld 1st gear teeth on Javelin cars. I attended a spiel at a welding products firm and they claimed leaf springs could be welded. I dunno how successful reclaimed Seven axle shafts are. On every welded part I have explored there were detectable cracks at the weld edge.

[leaf200]

I have now removed the other side and it does not look much better. I will be keeping my eye on these in the future.

[Martin Prior]

I wouldn't drive a car with a crack like that.

Stub axles aren't particularly hard to come by. I'd replace it ASAP.

[Nick Turley]

I would not use a car with a crack in the hub like that.
About 50% of hubs of this type that I have stripped have a hairline crack.
The trick is to always get them crack checked properly.
There is no reason why they cannot be TIG welded by an expert - re-machined and x rayed.
This is not DIY stuff.
Myself I started to keep all the cracked ones and will in the fullness of time get them repaired as a batch.

[Tony Betts]

Hi gene,

You are right, I've seen more than my sheer of cracked stub axles.

Martin, you are kind of right and wrong? I find like nick 50% have hair line cracks.

If half are thrown away, then that starts to make good ones a bit harder to get.


With used austin 7 spares. I was told 20 years ago that all the best stuff had been thumbed through. Plenty of it out there. But finding it in good condition, is not so easy.

working on this theory, I don't suppose things have improved over 20 years.

Thanks tony.

[Dave Mann]

I've come to the conclusion that Seven owners are loath to throw anything away being naturally squirrels, myself included however, of recent years I've sent various items to the recycling centre just to prevent them going back into circulation.

[Zetomagneto]

Agree Dave, take it out of circulation.Out of a recent job lot purchase about a third of it didn't make it to the garage, I just binned it.No point in keeping, or passing on unserviceable parts.

[Mike Costigan]

I'm inclined to agree especially on safety-critical items, but remember most of the second-hand spares available now would have been considered beyond salvation fifty years ago! I recall when I returned to Austin Sevens just a few years ago, wandering around autojumble stalls in wonderment at the state of spares on sale - most were in far worse condition than items I threw away in the 1970s.