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Spacers and spindles report

To: FOT@autox.team.net
Subject: Spacers and spindles report
From: "Jack W. Drews" <vinttr4@geneseo.net>
Date: Wed, 24 Sep 2003 07:54:13 -0500
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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