some months ago we discussed cracks in the rear hub carriers.
Now a friend of mine tells me that his Spitfire started to pull right just after leaving the garage. After 300 m the right front wheel was totally blocked. While he initially thought the brake caliper had bound, the entire front hub just fell down when in the course of closer inspection the road wheel was removed. The stub axle had broken through completely with the wheel held in place only by the rotor stuck in the brake caliper. This is what it looks like:
What do you say? Is that way of breaking - basically just like cutting a boiled egg in the middle - and in particular the metal structure at the break line typical or does it reveal anything?
Knock on wood our metal is in better shape - good luck to all of us!
That loos to be severely blued in the picture? Seized wheel bearing causing heat perhaps. The crack looks to be an old wound with only a small area of fresh clean break, perhaps from an earlier contact with a pot hole or some such event.
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Well, Jochen - except for metal failure, it is totally unrelated to āourā rear hub carriersā¦
My initial guess, like others, would be that the wheel bearing started to seize, initially causing the pulling. Then the bearing either locked up completely and the stub axle snapped - or some weakness/flaw in the axle could not stand the increased bearing friction, and snappedā¦
Microscopic examination may reveal an initial flaw - and the pulling may have been caused by the stub axle starting to fail/bend, then failing due to increased rolling resistance
We mayl know more when the bearing is extractedā¦
As an aside, some cars are just nice they fail conveniently close to home - allowing you to work at home. Like mine; it got a flat tyre in the garageā¦
It looks like fatigue failure to me. An initial flaw or crack or a sharp transition from machined to unmachined surface would gradually propagate across the section with every road bump until it reached a point of rapid propagation.
It looks like there is an unmachined portion on the axle.
Do we know the orientation of the break line relative to the ground, location of the break relative to the stub axle carrier, and the mileage on the car?
In 1969 my first year with the Mark V it had an outer front bearing failure due to lack of grease and the inner race seized on the stub axle. I wrecked it trying to get the race off with a gear puller (I was 17), so I replaced it with one from a Mark VII which is the same. We do not have an unmachined portion on our stub axles.
From far from a metalurgist, I see clues. The definite difference i8n metal texture ot th top hemisphere and the lower one.
Decades ago, a lot of them., I worked at a full service station. One of our customers was an eccentric guy that delivered āspecial deliveryā for the USPS. He did his in a classic 37 LaSalle phaeton. Lottsa patina nd raggedy top that was usually down. One day, a front wheel just collapsed. We rescued him from the center of a busy intersection with our big wheeled jack. Yup, busted axle. Sadly, the car was never seen againā¦ We probably could have replace the part, if foundā¦ Used, of courseā¦
But, at the time, the LaSalle was just another old gas guzzlerā¦
Yup, at times we get lucky. A couple of months ago My Jeep had a flat left front. In the driveway. seen early one AM. Iād used it for errands the preceeding day. Got me home. Son dropped by. We pumped it up and looked or a nail or something, and a possible fix with a plug. A very small screw in a tread. to short to get into the air chamber. But, we did agree, not worth more effort. Fair tread, yes, too old, also yes.
so, I went shopping and bought 4 new ones,
Splurged a bit on Goodyear Wrangles, as originly shod. and to match the never on the ground spare!!!
And, on the AM of my appointment at the tire shop, had to fire up my small compressor and pump it up. A very slow leak as it was aired the
day before and was almost but not quite completely flat. Great, bead still seated.
