Would You Replace This Hub For Safety?

Some previous owner has ground off about 10 or 12 splines from my front left hub, presumably because they were damaged by dropping something on them, etc. The rest are in good condition in my own opinion (judging from the pictures and diagrams of spline wear) and in the opinion of a local MG place. They were also of the opinion that since the rest are in good shape that I don't need to replace the hub for safety reasons. Given that they are pricey, I liked the sound of that. Now that I'm planning a suspension rebuild in the next month or so I'm wondering if this is a part I need to replace.

Do you see a serious safety issue here if I leave this hub in place? I don't race but I do use the car as a daily driver (trying to anyway) in a major metropolitan area and am fond of being able to stop reliably. What do you think?

How long have you been driving on that hub? The remaining splines closest to the "smooth" section don't look any the worse for wear. Are they?

I'm the LAST one to give advice on something like this, but I'd drive as-is if you already have been.

When I was a kid, my Father and (his friend Harry) had a TR3. One of the hubs (or wheels) must have been in a similar condition to yours, because the hub of the wire wheel and splined stub had a trailer pin through it to keep things from moving about. With the wheel in place and the two bar knock off pounded on and the pin through the hub and splined stub and locked with the clip, things seems to be OK, or he didn't car much about himself or me, since he took me all over the place in that silly car.

Luck,

TC

with some splines missing - the other splines take the load. I would be worried that you will ruin the splines on either the hub or wheel faster than you should.

JIM

...when you step on the brake in a panic stop and the wheel keeps spinning, then you will know the answer to your questions...the other answer is how much you will fill your pants.

Some areas you can cut corners some you can't. 1/2 inch bondo and ugly paint wont kill you. This could. It is a known weak point with an obvious flaw. You would not have ask had you thought it was safe. Right? Besides leaving it till later could damage the wheel and increase your costs.

I took the wire wheels off my car and put on steel wheels because of the hubs. I did not want to ruin new chrome wire wheels by running them on worn out hubs. Since I had a steel wheel parts car I made the switch until I can afford new hubs, wheels and knock offs. I figured that's about $2200.

I would replace it asap.

My question is... how would that have happened? How could you have such a worn area beside such a prestine (in appearances) area? Any theories?

Take care,
Taylor

I certainly wouldn't have it on my car for one moment after I saw it. They are not THAT expensive!

OK, fair points all. Guess I'll replace it.

Randy - while I certainly had enough doubt to ask the question, I'm actually surprised by the near-unanimous agreement that this is so dangerous, especially after a shop with lots of LBC history thought differently. Is there a history of sudden catastrophic failure of a set of splines? In any case, I have no desire to push my luck on this.

Taylor - my theory is that the hub was dropped on the ground, something was dropped on it, the weight of the car rested on the hub, or some other kind of local trauma happened to ruin a few splines. At that point, some thrifty previous owner decided this was a safe and expedient option.

Russ - I don't know exactly when that bolt came out of the propshaft, but it couldn't have been long before I noticed it. Probably a few miles at worst. I didn't drive it at all after that until I replaced it. No fair incriminating me based on old blog posts! :)

Failure of wheel splines is always sudden and catastrophic. They wear slowly over a long period of time. Then one day you hit the brakes hard for a panic stop, the brake locks up, the wheel keeps turning with a nasty grinding noise, and the knock-of nut unscrews itself. Then you have a little drop and thump, and you wonder who's wheel that is passing you up.

The other form of failure is, you drop it into 1st or reverse and hit the gas, get that nasty grinding noise, and don't go anywhere. If it's in reverse for more than a few seconds, the rear KO nut might unscrew and fall on the ground.

Change it. Now!

If you don't, would you like your survivors to some day read this thread about how and why you decided not to?

Can any competent machine shop r/r the rear hubs or do you need a specialist?

I measured mine and they are within spec but have sharp ridges instead of round at the top.

David, I have seen it take between 15 and 20 tons to break free a hub pressed onto an axle shaft, so I'd find a proper machine shop with a good press. With the right tools it isn't a problem; with amateur home tools it can be dangerous. I once saw a guy doing it himself - he had wound it up as much as he could without stripping something and heated it and it still didn't let go, so he went across the shop to find a bigger hammer, at which point the hub let loose and flew about 10 feet and put a dent in a sheet of plywood. Lucky it wasn't his head!

Just take the axle out of the case and run it in to a machine shop.

Any advice on quality sources for this part (left front spline wire wheel hub for a 1500)? Is Moss' part OK? Any positive or negative impressions out there from people who have used them?

You got lots of replace it now answers.

Gil, I must not have asked my follow up question clearly. I'm convinced I need to replace it. Now I'm wondering where to get the part from? Moss? SF? VB? I know that sometimes the parts from different suppliers are of differing fit and quality and before I default to ordering from Moss, I thought to ask if anyone has had problems with the one I'd get from there.

Rick in MA (olredsel) might have one in his barn that matches.

JIM in NH

Replace them! I got two good (very good) used ones on E-bay when I found my car wouldn't move because the hub was worn out and just spinning inside the wheel. It is a easy job and you will feel a heck of a lot safer!