Holiday aborted - OS Axle spinning within hub.

[Dickie524]

Hi folks,

Well after a 2 day battle with the AA I am getting the van rescued from the south of Ireland to the UK.

Bit of a show-stopper - having succesfully navigated all sorts of mountain roads etc with total ease we have come to a shuddering halt with no drive in any gear. (Thankfully just leaving a campsite at the time) A quick look round showed metal powder in the OSR wheel, and popping off the hub cap showed that the middle castellated nut was spinning when in gear but totally de-coupled from the hub/ wheel itself. So the gearbox and clutch are fine, they are driving the axle, but the axle is not rotationally attached to the wheel!

Obviously nothing which can be fixed locally without significant spare parts. So the van is on its way home.

What has gone wrong?

Clearly some splines are stripped between the outer end of the stub axle and the inside of the hub. Obviously I need to start collecting parts together for the rebuild (as and when my van reappears, it is presently at the SW tip of Ireland!!)

Thanks for any tips.

Has this happened to anybody else on here before?

Thanks all, Rich

 

[radish]

I had this year's ok on my split which i irs'd. The stub axle is probably case hardened which is considerably hard than the drum so the drum are more than likely gone.
When you take it apart 1st check if the hub nut was tight enough if that's ok then see if the spacer is between the hub and drum. It's probably worn due to the drum moving, if not the drums must of been made of cheese!

 

[radish]

Oh yes, the reason mine failed was because I didn't fit the spacer. As this irs was new technology compared to reduction boxes I didn't even know what they were for.

 

[Dickie524]

Aha, thanks Radish. I was homing in on brake drums - I'm pretty sure mine are still the originals. That nut was loose on that side when I first got the van though so I graunched it up. I later stripped and reassembled for new brake shoes but really can't remember if the spacer was fitted or not.

So what do I need - new hubs, obviously - also new bearings, spacers etc and a new nut - no idea how I am going to get this nut off without cutting it as I won't be able to hold the axle from turning!

 

[ozziedog]

I'm guessing you could get home with a new brake drum, obvs second hand original is better. If you is getting a drum then buy a new nut and spacer and that should sort you to get home. I've heard of a couple like this recently then someone commented that they had sent several brand new drums back because they either weren't centred or in some cases even round, but it would still get you home. To get the nut off, if you have access to a windy gun, socket on nut, hold the rest as best you can and hold the socket sort of squeezing it while going for gold with the windy gun. That mostly works, I have not a clue why it does but it does. If you are gonna repair it there, just order a new nut with the drum and spacer.

Ozziedog,,,,,,,,,,,l just get home in one piece. :mrgreen:

 

[Moseley]

If it's any help, I recently gave one of my spare drums to Ron on here as he was looking for a match to one of his odd ones. Long story short, my drum was one of the later style ones (1970) whereas he needed a 68. As such, he has no use for it as I was going to take it back when next in his area. I'm sure he'll be able to come to some arrangement with getting it to you?

 

[radish]

Aha, thanks Radish. I was homing in on brake drums - I'm pretty sure mine are still the originals. That nut was loose on that side when I first got the van though so I graunched it up. I later stripped and reassembled for new brake shoes but really can't remember if the spacer was fitted or not.

So what do I need - new hubs, obviously - also new bearings, spacers etc and a new nut - no idea how I am going to get this nut off without cutting it as I won't be able to hold the axle from turning!

It should be just a drum, nut and spacer. If the stub axle is spinning freely then it's CV joint/drive shafts issue. But I bet it's just a drum worn.

 

[Dickie524]

If it's any help, I recently gave one of my spare drums to Ron on here as he was looking for a match to one of his odd ones. Long story short, my drum was one of the later style ones (1970) whereas he needed a 68. As such, he has no use for it as I was going to take it back when next in his area. I'm sure he'll be able to come to some arrangement with getting it to you?

Cheers fella - I also need a '68 so I gguess will hav e to keep looking JK etc seem to do a pair for about £260.

I had been wondering about getting the nut off a spinning axle and was wondering about taking the CV joint off the back and bolting a long bar through two of the bolt holes - so I had something to conunteract spinning the nut...

 

[Moseley]

Ah bugger. Are you sure the nut is still tight? You may find it has loosened off and get lucky removing it.


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[67westy]

You can always cut the nut off

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[Dickie524]

Yep, suppose I could just cut it or as you say if my stars are aligned it might have loosened! there was plenty of metal powder about the place for sure, it looked like I'd just left a trail of glitter behind me, must have come from somewhere.

 

[Dickie524]

Early indications moderately good - hub nut came off easily,

There was a post-1968 drum on a 1968 backplate - one potential source of difficulty - secondly there was no spacer fitted - as Radish suggested!

 

[Dickie524]

oh, yeah, and the van came back today too, obviously!

 

[james_stan]

I have an early 70 (drums all around) with the splined hub/brake drum but I don't recall any spacer - where's it supposed to go?

 

[Dickie524]

Apparently slid down the spindle between the bearing inner race and the drum - 2.5mm thick or thereabouts?

They just don't seem to be available from anywhere is the surprising bit!

 

[67westy]

Apparently slid down the spindle between the bearing inner race and the drum - 2.5mm thick or thereabouts?

They just don't seem to be available from anywhere is the surprising bit!

I had this spacer made for an issue I had where the inner face of my drum had worn so I couldn't torque it correctly. It's not a standard part and was a workaround for the issue with the drum. If everything is in good condition you shouldn't need a spacer like that

http://www.itinerant-air-cooled.com/viewtopic.php?t=11737 is a good reference for the parts in the rear stub axle

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[*Sam*]

Check with radish but I suspect he means the spacer between the the 2 hub bearings.


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[Dickie524]

Possibly, also as I have been discussing with 67 Westy after that link he posted, I suspect I do have everything I need after all.. I was expecting a spacer outboard of the brg seal but it sits within the seal as I now understand it.

The other issue is that somebody seems to have horsed a post 68 drum into a 68 backplate... Proper drums are on their way, but I will need to un-splay the backplate...

 

[Dickie524]

Many thanks to BeetleLee72, I had a new drum arrive, a hasty rebuild, and a successful bank holiday weekend away
lee was very helpful in getting the right bits to me quickly and a great help with photos etc in identifying the bits I needed.