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Eared knock-offs - how tight?

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Tight enough that they don't come loose . but seriously they cant come off that's why they are threaded the way they are the normal forward rotation of the car is actually tightening them .
I did find a really fancy tool from some engineering whiz in I think Germany that you can attach to a torque wrench if your really fussy .

Google some old Le Man footage and watch them change the wheels on the pits stops .... no torque wrenches not fancy tools just a few whacks with a BFH (Birmingham Screwdriver) . I have the wooden tool that is sold by all the parts places and I give it a few reasonable whacks .
 
SteveHall64Healey said:
Gents, does anyone have a spec for how tightly eared knock-offs are to be set?
thanks
steve
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Years ago, someone here suggested marking your knockoffs with a sharpie after they're tight with the hammer. Drive the car and check out the marks from time to time -- you'll see they auto-tighten. This is part of Rudge Whitworth's patent.

You hit them with the lead hammer until it makes a "solid" sound.

If your splined hubs are on the correct side of the car, you don't have to worry about them coming off.
 
Healey Nut said:
... I did find a really fancy tool from some engineering whiz in I think Germany that you can attach to a torque wrench if your really fussy . ... .
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These have been on the 72 MGB since 2006 and they look like new today. I use nothing but a pure lead hammer. The hammer takes the abuse not the nut or chrome. The wood thing will eventually fall apart if you make the knock offs tight. I destroyed two and they went in the trash. Hendrix Wire Wheel recommends the Pure lead hammer and that's all I'll use. PJ

View attachment 34742
 
I agree with steveg that you hit them until it makes a "solid" sound.

I also go back and give them a few knocks after driving 50 miles or so. I re-check ordinary lug nuts after abut 50 miles too.

My '69 MGB has the original wires but I replaced the "safety" knock-offs with used, eared knock-offs.
I usually use a small, steel sledge hammer hitting against a piece of softwood to tighten them.
And probably not really needed (since they self-tighten) , but my knock-offs are safety wired.
 
Two (2) hammer method for me; I hold a rawhide mallet against my *Borrani-look* 3-eared spinners, and hit that with a solid copper or lead hammer (whichever comes out of the drawer first). I put a whack on each of the three (3) spinner blades, and by the time I'm back around to the first one, I get a solid thud, instead of a clank.

Just did this yesterday, (as well as *flossing* all 5 chrome wires) as the car is getting its annual makeover in prep for the local All British show up in Safety Harbor. Let's hope I make it this year, as my overdrive blew up the day before the show last year! This year, I'm battling foggy hdlts and swollen (rubber) brake hoses; new Cibies and ss/teflon hoses are enroute__fingers crossed...
 
Just as a note, the self tightening only work if the hubs are on the correct sides. The spinners should turn towards the front of the car to loosen and towards the rear to tighten. Whenever replacing hubs or doing work requiring they come off the car alway remember they are handed.
 
I beat them until they don't move anymore. Stock MGB Thor copper hammer, original'65 knock offs looking a little patinaed but no dents.
 
Back when I was twenty years of age, the same rear wheel came off the 100-6 twice in one evening at highway speeds. The car barely bumped as the drum hit the pavement and the wheel passed the slowing car. Fortunately, no other traffic was nearby. The second time it was rather dark, and it took a while to find the wheel in the ditch. The knock off was still stuck to the wheel.

Someone told me that the knock off/wheel was not greased properly, as an explanation for the wheel coming off. Based on what others say above, it sounds as if the hub was installed on the wrong side of the car. Interestingly, I drove this car thousands of miles, before and after that evening, without the wheel coming off.
 
I find it intersting you say that the knockoff was still on the wheel. Since it has to rotate to come loose and at that point the wheel will not rotate on the hub, plus there is nothing to retain the knockoff to the wheel, I can't see how it would do that. Would have been interesting to see how it was all setup.
 
blueskies said:
Back when I was twenty years of age, the same rear wheel came off the 100-6 twice in one evening at highway speeds. The car barely bumped as the drum hit the pavement and the wheel passed the slowing car. Fortunately, no other traffic was nearby. The second time it was rather dark, and it took a while to find the wheel in the ditch. The knock off was still stuck to the wheel.

Someone told me that the knock off/wheel was not greased properly, as an explanation for the wheel coming off. Based on what others say above, it sounds as if the hub was installed on the wrong side of the car. Interestingly, I drove this car thousands of miles, before and after that evening, without the wheel coming off.
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Impossible , cant happen . The wheel hub is splined to match the stub axle , unless the splines were completely torn off the hub and it was installed on the wrong side and it got so hot the knock off welded to the wheel ?
 
Healey Nut said:
Impossible , cant happen . The wheel hub is splined to match the stub axle , unless the splines were completely torn off the hub and it was installed on the wrong side and it got so hot the knock off welded to the wheel ?
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Well, it did happen; I recall it vividly. The knock off stayed on the wheel. After retrieving the wheel from the ditch in the near darkness, I spent time combing the road and ditch for the knock off. Finally, I thought to look on the wheel and there it was. It wasn't welded to the wheel, but obviously there was not much space between the wheel and knock off. Possibly someone, before I owned the car, installed right hand side parts on the left rear of the car. Who knows.
 
When I was on active duty at Pearl Harbor, our Corpsmen had the Exchange put new tires on his TR4. They must have worked on the brakes or wheel bearings and managed to get the splined hubs on the wrong side. He drove up to the boat and one wheel kept going right off the pier into the water.
 
Blueskies, I think the only way that could have happened is that the first time you replaced the wheel, you did not fully engage it on the splines, and certainly not to the inside taper. The knock-off was never screwed onto the thread, but somehow you managed to knock it tight onto the wheel.
If you look at a sectioned diagram of a Rudge-Whitworth hub, there's no way it could have happened if the knock-off were screwed onto the thread.

https://www.tr-register.com.au/Files/technical/wirewheels.htm
 
Mine has enough wear in the splines so there is play between hub and spline. If the knock offs aren't really snug, my wheels clunk occasionally when I step on the brakes or reverse direction. I use a soft lead hammer and beat those ears unmercifully and that stops the clunking.


I have lost a wheel, but not from the knock off unwinding. Rather, the four wimpy Whitworth studs on the BN1 hub stripped out, another story there.
 
Healey 100 said:
Mine has enough wear in the splines so there is play between hub and spline. If the knock offs aren't really snug, my wheels clunk occasionally when I step on the brakes or reverse direction. I use a soft lead hammer and beat those ears unmercifully and that stops the clunking.


I have lost a wheel, but not from the knock off unwinding. Rather, the four wimpy Whitworth studs on the BN1 hub stripped out, another story there.[/QUOTEOne of these days you may have hit the brakes and the wheel(s) will keep turning on the spine and you won't be able to stop the car with the brakes. I know people that say they have seen it happen.
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