Hi,
This seems to be a common problem.
I have found a shop that will metal fill the spines and then machine the hub
splines
to fit the wheel.
Cost 98 USD per wheel and hub.
The other alternative is to replace both wheel and hub (expensive).
Barney sent me this mail on how to check them out.
Oh yeah, about those splined hubs. The 57, having inherited the front
spindles, rear axel, splined hubs and wheels from the 58, was showing your
symptoms. Clunk when I hit the brakes backing up, clunk when I hit the
brakes again going forward. A short while later it got worse, clunk each
time I hit the gas or let off the throttle. One day I put it into reverse to
back up and it didn't, also wouldn't go forward, winged knockoff at left rear
was turning while the wheel wasn't. Lucky I was a stone's throw from the
garage at the time. The splines inside of the wheel hub were stripped out,
almost smooth, the splines on the axel were worn but not too bad, splined hub
in the spare wheel was pretty good. Put the spare on the left rear, old left
rear in the boot with a prayer and never had to see it again (luckily).
When the splines are new, they have a small flat at the ridge and no
discernable clearance, slip on and off smoothly when clean, have no backlash
even with the knockoffs removed.
When the splines get warn some, the flat at the top dissappears, ridge comes
to a sharp point, and the wheel developes a bit of rotational backlash, maybe
1/4 inch at the tire tread with the hand brake on hard and the knock off
loose. Still driveable at this point but makes that nasty clunking noise.
If you're not buying new splines at this time, the best advice is to keep
the knockoffs really tight and don't stomp on the brakes hard.
When the splines are worn nearly to the point of failure, the splines get
shorter (height not length), have a very sharp ridge you can nearly cut your
finger on, have a lot of bachlash, like 1/2 inch or more at the tire tread
with the knockoff loose. When you remove the knockoff, the wheel will also
wobble a bit on the splined hub. At this point it's a death trap, one good
stab at the brakes and the splines wipe off to a rounded ridge, the wheel hub
rotates on the axel hub, and the wheel free wheels, might even loose the
knockoff when you try to drive off (UNDO does). This is not something you
want to happen on the road.
If left alone for a long time, and especially if the knockoffs are not tight
enough, the rear splines will wear more, being subject to constantly
reversing torque. Jack and block up the car, remove all four wheels, clean
and inspect the axel splines and the wheel splines, use a magnifying glass if
necessary. Compare the front and read axel splines, expect the rear ones to
be worn more, the front ones not much. The wheel splines could be all about
the same if the wheels were rotated occasionally.
Get someone to stand on the brake pedal while you try all four wheels on a
front spindle, say start on the left front. Leave the spinner off and check
the wheel for backlash. Try to rate each wheel in turn for the amount of
backlash, 1, 2, 3, 4 (and 5 if you try the spare also), 1 being the best with
the least and 5 being the worst with the most, and tag the wheels
accordingly. Then take the best wheel with the least backlash, test it at
all four corners, and rate the splined axel hubs the same way, from 1 to 4, 1
being the best with the least slop and 4 being the worst with the most slop.
Now for the scary part, put the number 4 (or 5) wheel on the number 4 axel,
and check the backlash. Compare that combination with the results of the #1
wheel on the #1 axel. Then get out the magnifying glass and take another
look at all the splines. By this time you should have a pretty good idea of
what "good" is and what "bad" is, and which splines you may have to replace.
I haven't owned a wire wheel car for nearly 27 years, but I still get real
concerned any time I hear that notorious clunk. When you get through with
all this inspection, testing and rating, let me know what you found.
/Steve MGA Sweden
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