Roland says:
>Is it possible to interchange the hubs?
Sure, it's possible, but this is easy for Zahid. The Jag knock-offs have
the words "RIGHT" and "LEFT" (or at least R and L) on them, so it's pretty
hard to get them wrong. If they are wrong, just swap the hubs. (Zahid:
Which ones have the left-hand thread? See below.)
And then from James A. TenCate:
>Worn splines will tend to wiggle the knockoff
>right off (at least that's what I've read). Check them if you haven't!
>It would be awful to lose a wheel at speed!
Want to know what happens then? ... In 1975 I was traveling on I-20
towards Dallas from west Texas, doing 75-80 mph in my wire-wheeled '68 GT6.
Approaching Ft. Worth I slowed down to follow a friend down an exit ramp,
and upon braking heard a great grinding sound from the right front. A
moment later I saw that wheel continue on down the exit ramp sans auto.
Luckily I had slowed enough to maintain control, and the right front just
rolled on down the ramp on the brake rotor. The wheel hit the curb in
front of an Exxon station, bounced over another car, and smashed through a
wooden fence before coming to rest beside a pancake house! I was able to
pull up beside the station and park the car. After getting over the shakes
and taking a bit of a break, I caught a ride on to our destination with my
friend. The hub was stripped clean of its splines, but the wheel splines
still had some profile to them. I remembered that I had left a spare hub
at my father's house in Abilene, so I called him and he put the hub on a
bus. That night I had the awful realization that the left and right hubs
were opposite threads, and I had no idea which side my spare was for. Fate
was kind, and it was indeed a right-side hub that arrived on the bus.
Installed and *tight*, I was merrily on my way, never again to forget to
regularly give the knockoffs a few blows with the mallet.
NOW, just what is the justification of using opposite threads on opposite
sides of the car? If you think about it, whatever accelleration does to
apply "positive" torque to the knockoffs, then braking does just the
opposite. The fronts are only affected by braking, so if the front splines
break loose during braking, then the hub stops and the wheel keeps turning
until the knockoff unscrews itself from the hub. OR, is there a chance
that my GT6 hubs were reversed? (They didn't have L or R indications on
them.) I.e. should the left-hand threads be on the LEFT side? (On my '88
Mazda, the RIGHT side rear brake drum is held on with a left-handed nut.)
Any ideas on the reasoning here?
Lee M. Daniels - Laboratory for Molecular Structure and Bonding - Texas A&M
daniels@lmsbvx.tamu.edu | DANIELS@TAMLMSB.BITNET | (409) 845-3726
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