Hub spinner direction

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James Baxter
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Hub spinner direction

Post by James Baxter »

Most of the cars I drive are Rudge whitworth hubs, so my rule of thumb, FFFForward = oFFFF, works well. (Forward is the direction of the wheel rotation)

I drove a Lotus Elan the other day, but its spinners went the other way. (Forward = on)
After a misleading conversation about spinner inertia, braking forces and other crap, both me and the Lotus owner learned that wheels with a male taper, adjacent to the nut go FFForward OFF, (Rudge) and wheels with a female taper next the nut, go t'other way. Its to do with the wheel centre rolling in its nut, then the nut rolls the opposite way.

Why then are the peg drive halibrand wheels on my (brothers) Cobra, FForward OFFF when the nut is male, and the wheel is female?
The front one you might get wrong, but the rear axle was supplied by Ward Engineering C/O Hawk Motors.

Just a moment of thought as I ground off the ".com", where they are stamped Cobra Racing.com

(6 peg drive wheels Roger, before you ask.... :wink: )

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Also intersted in all AC's, Frazer Nash, Pre-war cars
Paul Blore
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Re: Hub spinner direction

Post by Paul Blore »

In reality, the thread direction is of little or no consequence. Once the spinner/nut /whatever, is tightened up, the wheel, hub and aforementioned spinner/nut/whatever, are as one and there is no relative movement.
I think I'm right in saying that F1 cars all have right-hand threads on all wheels. I'll need to check that one to confirm though. :)
The left-hand/right-hand thread thing has just become accepted convention with little or no quantifiable merit.

Discuss. :wink: :mrgreen:

Paul
Paul Blore
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Re: Hub spinner direction

Post by Paul Blore »

Incidentally, you are right that Halibrand male spinners are FFFForward=oFFFF. :wink:
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Roger King
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Re: Hub spinner direction

Post by Roger King »

I don't buy that. For one thing - F1 hubs are an entirely different animal, with locking pins etc.

If it doesn't matter, why go to the huge expense of two sets of LH threads?
The main reason I don't buy it is that I was once taking a TR4 along for its MOT following a full restoration. One of the other, junior, lads had rebuilt the suspension, and got the hubs on the wrong sides. They were tight, I saw (and heard) him whacking them on with the copper hammer, but just two miles down the road a rear spinner flew off, closely followed by the wheel. Plenty of damage, but none to me, luckily. We found the wheel, but the spinner's still out there somewhere...
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Migge
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Re: Hub spinner direction

Post by Migge »

To get more confusion: on my rear cosworth/TVR hubs the right locking/nyloc nut (41 mm) has a RH thread and the left one a LH thread! They have a green and a white nyloc insert to let you know what's LH and RH. I doubble checked that and that's correct!! Of course I can change the stub axles. By the way, they have to tighten up with 320 Nm.

Cheers
Migge
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kaiserbilly1
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Re: Hub spinner direction

Post by kaiserbilly1 »

Everyone of you deserves an "anorak", well done :? :roll:
James Baxter
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Re: Hub spinner direction

Post by James Baxter »

Those with their spinners on the wrong side of the car will need more than an anorak when their wheels fall off.

Are Ward Engineering putting on the wrong way round?
Does everyones tri-spinners go FFForward OFFFF? (those with a make taper on the nut)
Is my theory right?
Also intersted in all AC's, Frazer Nash, Pre-war cars
Paul Blore
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Re: Hub spinner direction

Post by Paul Blore »

The Halibrand style spinners go FFFForward=oFFFF.

I still stand by my earlier claim, but I can see that I'm going to have to work harder to convince some of you. :wink: :)
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Roger King
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Re: Hub spinner direction

Post by Roger King »

PaulB wrote:The Halibrand style spinners go FFFForward=oFFFF.

I still stand by my earlier claim, but I can see that I'm going to have to work harder to convince some of you. :wink: :)
Well, me, for one - and the insurance company who were NOT amused and did NOT cough up for the damage. Just thank God no-one was injured, considering.
Karl
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Re: Hub spinner direction

Post by Karl »

James, with the thread shown on the picture (front right wheel) my tri-wing spinners go off forward.
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