Removed the front splinned hubs this weekend in preparation of bolt on hub
conversion. Removing the passenger side hub with brake disc, I found that
the brake dust shield was significantly damaged along the lower most
portion. Degreasing the stub axle revealed a few small pits/depressions just
inboard of the threaded end. There was no corrosion of any sort but the stub
axle did appear to have some machining marks that were not visable on the
drivers side. I am guessing that at some point in its life, my SV lost its
passenger side front wheel and ground to a stop on the brake disc, damaging
the dust shield. Perhaps the axle stub broke and was subsequently rewelded
as evidenced by the pits and machining marks. The passenger side brake disc
exhibits no evidence of this theory, however, the driver side disc has a
flat spot/chunck missing that extended about 1/4" in from the edge.
Strange... Trying to imagine how this senario could have played out leaves
me a little perplexed. If the stub axle did in fact break just inboard of
the threads, wouldn't the brake caliper retain the hub and wheel? Has anyone
ever heard of front stub axle failure? Most important, could a broken stub
axle be reliably welded and returned to service?
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Tue Sep 05 2000 - 10:40:32 CDT