Well, we gave the spacers a very very hard workout this weekend.
We had them in three cars, my TR4, Tony's TR4, and Jim Hill's TR6 at Road
America. All three cars have Southwick aluminum hubs.
Jim was more than pleased with the improvement. He told me that they
virtually eliminated his brake pedal problem. Tony and I raced each other
very hard all weekend and they continued to work fine.
Here's a little more detailed report:
We find that if we set them up with zero clearance, that by the end of the
session the clearance will range from zero to .001 - .002 clearance. After
the hubs cool down, they are back to the original clearance. We don't know
why the clearance increases with use and heat. It would seem that the
expanding aluminum hub would tighten the bearings, but this is not the
case. We like to run them at zero because then the pedal problem is at its
minimum. Remember, this is not a total cure but it is a significant enough
improvement that pumping the pedal is not mandatory.
Tony did have a failure that was pretty interesting and potentially
exciting. His car started acting squirrely and the left front bearing
adjustment was very loose. He found that the nut on the spindle had
stripped, but the cotter was still in place. Of course the caliper keeps
the wheel on too. That car has been a racer "all its life" and we figure
that the nuts may be original, and have been taken off and on who knows how
many times. Also Tony cranked the nut down pretty tight a couple of times,
to seat the races and to get the cotter in. We think that the spacers had
nothing to do with this. I've noticed in the past, before this whole
project, that when I tighten the spindle nuts initially to confirm that the
bearing races are seated, the nuts seem to deform a little bit and are a
little harder to unscrew. Our bet is that the original spindle nuts are
made from very low quality steel.
Considering all this, we continue to think the spacer addition is a genuine
improvement, and that Mark's policy that our 40 year old parts should be
replaced with new spindles, hardened washers, and high quality nuts.
uncle jack
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