These wheels and hubs were purchased by my wife for a Christmas gift during the restoration. (Am I lucky, or what?) The wheels aren’t Dayton the rim is chrome and the spokes are SS. I used a dial indicator on the lower edge of the rim while the car was in the air to measure the wobble. I can then grab the top and bottom of the wheel and wiggle it while watching the indicator deflect 0.050" (1.25mm). The spinner is tight and the wheel bearing is with a slight preload. It now has 600 miles on the car. These parts were purchased in 2012, but the car wasn’t completed until 2017. I showed the car for two years and decided to retire it from the show circuit and drive it. Since then I have driven 600 miles. A thunk/clunk has showed up at slow speeds that sounds like a locker read end when it goes around a corner but it happens only when going straight without the brakes on. This is why I started looking for something loose.
I replaced the drive shaft universal joints, greased all the bearings and tightened them up snug. Also checked all balljoints and tired ends, all OK. In searching the forum I found some complaints about the spinners, hubs and wheels, but It wasn’t clear what the real problems were. How can I definitively learn what to change out with out buying all new hubs and Wheels?
Craig I had this problem on both my ots and coupe. It had been going on in the ots for years. New wheels (Dayton) new hubs, u joints - on several occasions all to no effect. Drove me crazy. Sounded like loose splines for the wheel hub. It wasn’t those splines - it was the splines on the half shaft. Some blue threadlocker cured the problem completely. I jacked up one of the wheels, parking brake on. I have a tool that allows me to grab the spinner and torque the wheel. On watching from under the car I had a friend torque the wheel, and was able to see that the wheel and the water thrower on the hub moved together, but the half shaft didn’t, and it made the clunking sound I’d become (not) used to. Hence was the internal splines. I should say that I was not able to get enough torque on the wheel without the tool.
IME you will typically get some movement in the bearing when you move the top and bottom of the tire, even with slight preload. I also preload the rear wheel brgs.
When replacing the rear hub bearings, a lot of people make the mistake of re using the same hub spacer. pn/ CAC3818.
Depending on the manufacturer/brand of bearing, or wear of existing bearing, there can be a lot of variance in the thickness of spacer required. For this reason, there are 20 or so different thicknesses available.
Merely tightening the hub bearings will not take out the play. I had one guy who had tightened the castle nut so much, it sheared the nut and threaded section from the shaft which fell out when the spinner was removed. The weight of the car was the only thing holding the hub assembly to the half shaft.
Jack up the rear of the car, grab the top and bottom of the tyre, and see how much play you have, or if it is clunking. To change the spacer take out the cotter pin, remove the castle nut, rotate the hub assembly downwards. this will seperate the hub assy from the half shaft. You can now slide off the spacer and measure it to decide what spacer you need.
It is worth checking this out. You will normally hear a clunking noise when the suspension loads and unloads when travelling over bumps and cornering.
Sorry, this reply was intended for Craig245.
If indeed you do have a problem with the spacing of the hub, be forewarned they are expensive. $25 to $30 each and there are 20+ different one to choose from. You may be able to use your existing spacer, and add shims purchased from Mcmaster carr. , which is what I do.
The amount of rear wheel play, is not equal to the size of spacer required.
Sorry I haven’t been back for awhile. The issue isn’t solved but I was able to minimize it. The problem is primarily in the front. When I grab the top and bottom of the tire, while the car is on the lift, the tire wheel could move when wiggling the unit. The movement seemed to be completely between the hub and the wheel. The hub didn’t move perceptibly. I felt like it was not seating on the cone on the inboard side of the hub splines. I greased the splines, hub and wheel, as well as the seating surfaces on the hub, wheel and spinner. I tightened the spinner by hand slowly as I rocked the wheel. As the spinner was tightened the movement seemed to stop. I then finished tightening with a lead hammer. I was unable to perceive any wobble and the noise while rolling is gone. Thanks for all the suggestions.
Craig, Some new ideas… There was a discussion a while ago about the angle used to seat the wheel against the hub. If your new wheels or new hubs did not use the same angle when they were made, you’ll never get them tight enough to prevent movement. Also search for the discussion on wheel nuts (spinners) where one member posted photos of new ones that weren’t threaded deep enough, leaving the wheel slightly loose even when the nut was fully tight.