Hi Robert,
Too late. They are already knackered....but not by me. It was the @!*&^
fool that my DPO hired to rebuild the hubs. I suppose one has to accept that
a few sins have been committed with a 36 year old car. I just need to find
them and correct them.
So I was relating to my brother-in-law how difficult the hubs were to
disassemble. I would not have taken this job on by myself. However, this
was all he needed to hear and he pulled them apart. Fortunately he has the
tools (20 ton press / 9" pully puller) and the know how to keep things from
getting damaged. I will admit that when they separated we both needed to
take a break and change our pants!
Inspection of the parts revealed vise grip bites on the adjust and locking
nuts and mangeled re-used locking washers. The flanges were sligltly bent
before we started but were not any worse when we were done. We have
straighted them out with the press and they now look pretty good. The worse
thing was that the genius previous mechanic used a sledge on the threaded
stub of the axels to separate them from the hubs hubs. The threaded portion
is bent and it may have been re-threaded (I think I showed this to you at
DOT). What really bugs me about this is that this sort of thing is not an
honest mistake or even negligence - it really borders on the criminal.
Although I have cleaned and painted both stub axels, there was some
fretting/galling under the race locations.
Sooooooo......I spent $300 for a new set of stub axels. I don't want a tire
to come off when my kid and I are on the Kancamagus. I have new bearings
and crush spacers and have replaced any damaged or worn parts. I have
blasted and painted all the exposed surfaces. I think I am now ready for
reassembly.
OTHERS TAKE NOTICE - I would have been better off to buy rebuilt hubs, but I
have a need to know how these things go together.
Anyway the keys measure 0.250"x 0.250", but the key slot on the axel seems
to be 0.254"-0.255". Now I did notice the stake marks on the old axels, but
I did not recognize them for what they were. The keys just seemed too loose
in the slots of the new axels.. I know the fit of the hub to the axel is
tapered, but I think the key needs to be tight to prevent slippage and
potentially catastrophic failure. When I saw that something was up with the
fit, I stopped and decided to ask for advice. I will let you know how this
comes out. Any other advice especially on setting the endplay would be
helpful (I have a drop gauge).
John Cyg.
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