Legend has it that all the axles are broken at the factory when the
keyways are pressed in. It is just a matter of time before they finish
breaking!! Lowered cars that do not have the bump stops removed from the
trailing arms are candidates for earlier failure. When the bump stop
bottoms out the spring is no longer the suspension spring; The AXLE is!
Get the picture?
That is why racers spend the big bucks on the Corvair axle upgrade. It
is a lot cheaper than body repair and Dr. bills! (Or funeral costs.)
Mike Munson
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-6pack@autox.team.net [mailto:owner-6pack@autox.team.net] On
Behalf Of Robert M. Lang
Sent: Monday, June 24, 2002 11:19 AM
To: Sally or Dick Taylor
Cc: 6pack@autox.team.net
Subject: Re: Old wives tale?
Hi,
I've seen two actual cases of TR6 hubs coming off.
The first one (VTR '97) was due to the studs holding the hub carrier to
the trailing arm pulling out of the trailing arm. The entire wheel,
hub/outer axle went bounding into an adjacent parking lot with resulting
minor physical damage to a car and (thankfully) no bodily injury...
although that was purely luck.
The other I saw after the fact. The axle stub cracked off at the point
where the key is "staked" to the axle. The entire outer hub parted
company
(along with the wheel attached) from the car.
Once the axle's integrity is compromised, it is entirely possible for
the
wheel to depart the car.
Note - the outer axle design for the TR6 rear hub is exactly the same as
the TR3/TR4 solid axle setup. It's a taper joint with key. If the outer
axle fails, there's nothing holding it on the car...
The fix for TR6 is to upgrade to something a bit more substantial. I use
Corviar axles, others use all sorts of "solutions" (including 240Z axles
and others). The TR3/4 "solution is to convert to a "semi-floating axle"
or to replace the entire rear axle assembly with a narrowed Ford 8"
setup.
The Ford is a full-floating axle, the wheel won't depart from the car
unless the lugs shear off (or you forgot to tighten them!) or you have
other damage that far exceeds the seriouness of the departing wheel.
regards,
rml
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