Knock-Off Spinners

[twas_brillig]

Friend Jeff has built a tool to fit the knock-ons and to use with a 1/2" drive breaker bar (and a snipe). He machined the rollers out of Delrin and counter sank the allen headed bolts. The BJ7 is tucked away for the winter so we won' t be really testing it out until Spring.

 

[Legal Bill]

What is the snipe for?

 

[twas_brillig]

Based on the struggles we've had, the regular breaker bar won't be long enough. Next spring, I'll measure the maximum length for a piece of pipe that will slide over the breaker bar and still fit into the 'boot'. Plus see if it'll be a two person operation (one keeping the tool centred on the knock-on, while the other person pushes down on the snipe.

 

[DerekJ]

If you need to do that then there is something wrong with your hubs and/or spinners.

 

[Legal Bill]

I agree with Derek.

 

[Healey Nut]

I have one of the wooden spanner tools , think it came from Autofarm via AH Spares .
Hand tight on clean splines with some anti seize and a few sharp raps with a hide hammer on the wooden tool .
Remember you have left and right hand threads for a reason …..when you are driving forward the wheels are turning in the “tightening direction” of the spinners .
I doubt many of us drive in reverse at 60mph long enough for them to loosen off

 

[Gundog61]

 

[Gundog61]

Plastic Dead Blow hammer works great

 

[twas_brillig]

We used Jeff's tool a month ago - and it took the two of us to break a couple of the knock-ons loose. Hopefully the photos are self explanatory. The 'ratchet' is a busted 1/2" drive torque wrench, and the rachet mechanism still works - which is great! One real advantage of the failed torque wrench is that the connection to the tool is rigid - a regular breaker bar will allow the handle to pivot away from the tool, and it would be worthwhile tack welding/gluing the 'pivot' in place. I still want to pick up a 3 ft chunk of steel pipe, but expect to have to go to a metal yard to get one that will fit over the handle. Drop me a note if you want the full sized photos. And if I don't get back to you in a week or so, it's because I can't figure out how to open/respond/whatever, so add a note to this thread.

 

[Healey Nut]

A trip to your local Home Depot will get you a length of black iron pipe , various lengths up to 12ft , not sure how you would get that in the glove box though

 

[twas_brillig]

Oh, the usual way: cut it into short lengths.... I need something maybe 1 1/2 inch inside diameter to fit over the end of the handle and hit a hardware store and three Home Depot equivalents with no luck, so need to hit more an industrial location. And I think about 3 ft fits across the rear firewall behind the seats, in the trunk. The humour is definitely appreciated! Doug

 

[twas_brillig]

Attached are a series of photos of the tool that Jeff built, and that I'm pretty dang happy with. (I feel like I've already posted these comments but didn't find them, so apologies if I'm being redundant. A couple of notes:
- I'm using a busted 1/2" drive torque wrench that still works as a large ratchet. I still haven't picked up a piece of pipe to use as a snipe. If you dedicate a breaker bar to something like this, you might want to glue/tack weld the thing into a solid 90 degree bend so there's no flopping around
- the rollers are machined out of delrin (and they don't actually rotate)
- drop me a note if you'd like more detail. And if I don't reply, throw a comment in here please as I am sometimes digitally challenged.
Doug

 

[twas_brillig]

Apologies - I am being redundant. Somehow couldn't find page 2. Doug

 

[BigGreen]

The rollers look like motorbike "Bobbins".

 

[twas_brillig]

Dang! that might make building a duplicate a lot simpler!

 

[John Turney]

The rollers look like motorbike "Bobbins".

Thanks for the hint: Amazon motorbike bobbins.

 

[AUSMHLY]

I use a dead blow hammer and a wood laminate tool which is available on the web.
I found the laminate would start splitting at the contact points of the ears the more I used it.
I used some leather at the contact points which solved the problem.
No issue of damaging or marring the chrome ears.

 

[twas_brillig]

Regards the flat: I think that we finally got the knock-on off by jacking the rear end up, rotating the wheel so that the knock-off flat side ear was parallel to the ground, putting the car in gear, then putting a vertical piece of wood under the ear, and lowering the car such that the weight of the car applied enough torque to move the knock-on. Doug

 

[Michael Oritt]

I've never had an issue with wheels loosening, etc. and get by with a standard copper/rawhide combination hammer.
I've often thought about drilling a hole in one of the ears and safety-wiring the knockoff to a spoke, but never have gotten around to doing it.

 

[pan]

We had a flat on our wire-wheeled BJ7 last summer, and had a bugbear of a time getting the spinner off. I want to remove and reinstall all the wheels this fall, but was unable to find any of the previous notes on this site as to how to properly lubricate and tighten the splines and spinners. Please advise. Thanks, Doug.

G'day, those of you who have been following the happenings in Norway during the EHM may have heard of the misfortune that befell one of the Queenslanders. On a 3000 Mark III the splines on the left rear hub stripped and this led to the knock-on unwinding, falling off and the wheel departing. Fortunately, with the help of others, a potentially disastrous situation was avoided.

I was mystified as to why the knock-on should unwind in defiance of the Rudge-Whitworth "not self loosening" principle. But Wayne (the owner of the car in question and a fellow member of the AHOCQ) has since told me that the incident occurred when he had to reverse up a steep gradient to allow a tourist coach room to negotiate one of the many hair-pin bends on that road. So the principle holds! If you want to have your wire wheels loosen, drive everywhere in reverse!