[Roadsters] Breakdown on the way to the Glen

[Al Boettcher]

I was on my way to the Glen two weeksago for the east coast reggatta and
Vintage race festival held there each year in Sept.. less the 60 miles and
pulling off to the 14from
the 90  I heard a clunk clunk sound from the rear end. I pulled over on the
off ramp..stopped the car and took a look
I first thought I had a loose rear wheel. When I checked the
right rear ..I noticed two off my wheel nuts were missing with
no stud..at first I thought the nuts came loose and the stud
worked it way back in. On closer inspection I notice that the
studs had sheared off opposite from each other ..I jacked up
the right wheel and it was still tight with the remaining two
nuts holding the wheel on ..when rotating the wheel I heard
a noise from the diff end.. I rotated the drive shaft and noticed a noise
also...I managed to drive the car into
Geneva which is at the north end of the lake with Watkins
glen at the other end...less than an hours drive. when in
town another stud broke..but I managed to limp it to the
side of the road ...A Ontarian stopped and offered asistance...I was still
trying to figure out what went
wrong...how bad was the damage. In the end I had it towed
home the 274 miles of which 170 were on the US side.
Good thing I renewed my CAA as it only cost me the
extra passed 100 miles for the tow . Back in Canada
it was free....I have now disassembled the right rear wheel
axle..I was hoping to see some damage or indication what
the problem was..I drained the diff oil..hoping to find some
broken bits but nothing on the magnet...
    I bit of retrospect...I have NASCAR  studs on the car
with two 1/4 in spacers on each wheel..due to the offset of the Wanabees . The
wheel spacers have elongated holes
not to the extact spacing for the studs..when I tighten them
up I make sure the center is centered to the opening in the
wheel. I had to drill out the regular holes to accept the larger studs..The
holes may not have been exact center to the
original stud holes but he wheel went on a ok...
   Next I am going to pull the diff and check this out...in the mean time has
any one had this problem...
   I am just glad it happend when off the 90 which at the time
I was crusing at 79 mph before exiting ...IF I was still on
the 90 and the wheel came off ...I may not be writing this.
   I guess more tear down will hopefully give me a clue
what broke or came out of aligment to break the studs..
The drum had cracks in the hole openings due to the
shearing action..There had to be a lot of force of some sort
to break the stud...the axle end was ok...I tapped out the
studs there is no cracks the the axle... Any hints as to
what forces of nature caused this..  I will update later when
the diff is out...I hope I find the problem ...its been bugging
me for two weeks since I have never come across a breakage like this... The
splines on the axle showed no signs of scaring or missing splines.. I am going
to have my
wheel checked for balancing ..the weights are still on the
wheel from when I balanced them. Any thoughts out there.
Al Boettcher
68 solex NOTMGB