BJ8 hub coincidence or not?

[DGHall915]

I have a BJ8 made in 1966 (a later s/n after 26704), a few years ago when I bought new wire wheels for it, I decided the old knock offs were just too beat up and didn't look good enough for the new wheels. So I ordered an new set of knock off from Moss. Being the later BJ8, I ordered the 8 TPI versions. While installing them, I noticed that my left rear hub had 12 TPI threads. I assumed that the hub had been changed along the way prior to my ownership. So after some consideration as to just have Moss exchange the new 8 TPI left rear knock with a 12 TPI one, I decided to buy a whole new hub with the 8 TPI, for consistency.

My friend Jim was over last night with his BJ8 ( also after 26704), we were cleaning up his wheels and when I was replacing his left rear I noticed that his left rear also had a 12 TPI hub, with the rest being 8TPI. My first thought was, " Huh, what a strange coincidence, both of these cars had a damaged left rear hub in the past and the only replacement hub was an older style 12 TPI version?". Or is there something else going on here?

So, which is it;

• Were the left rear hubs in the 8 TPI cars purposely made to be a 12 TPI hub?
• Did the factory run short of 8TPi left rear hubs and just installed what they had lying around?
• Is the left rear hub more prone to damage/problems causing their replacement more often? And the 12TPI versions were more plentiful as replacements?
• Just coincidence?

 

[AH100M]

Homo Sapiens is prone to try to fit everything into a pattern to reduce the apparent randomness in the world. It allows us to anticipate things, or at least we think we can. I vote for a random coincidence.

 

[Randy Forbes]

It had always been my experience, begining with working at a shop called Austin-Healey West, San Francisco, circa 1978, that the right rear was prone to being stripped. But also, it was quite common to find stripped front hubs too; while terribly unsafe, it was amusing to observe a Healey with the brakes applied, still rolling, but with a front spinner stationary! The noise (which was the usual symptom for the car being brought in) quickly zeroed you in as to where to look...

 

[HealeyRick]

It had always been my experience, begining with working at a shop called Austin-Healey West, San Francisco, circa 1978, that the right rear was prone to being stripped. But also, it was quite common to find stripped front hubs too; while terribly unsafe, it was amusing to observe a Healey with the brakes applied, still rolling, but with a front spinner stationary! The noise (which was the usual symptom for the car being brought in) quickly zeroed you in as to where to look...

With every open-diffed car I owned, the right rear wheel was the one that would lay rubber. This would fit with Randy's experience. So here's the question. Was the 8 TPI stronger than the 12 TPI and therefore was installed on the right side. OR ... did they just run out of the 8 TPIs and the guy in charge of the left rear throw on some leftover 12 TPIs? I remember a quote from Geoff Healey about original engine colors. At the end of the day when the paint would run out, they'd throw in some white or black to extend it. Who knows what the boffins in Abingdon would do when all the 8 TPIs were gone?

 

[steveg]

It had always been my experience, begining with working at a shop called Austin-Healey West, San Francisco, circa 1978, that the right rear was prone to being stripped. But also, it was quite common to find stripped front hubs too; while terribly unsafe, it was amusing to observe a Healey with the brakes applied, still rolling, but with a front spinner stationary! The noise (which was the usual symptom for the car being brought in) quickly zeroed you in as to where to look...

In your experience, were the splines stripped or were the spinner threads stripped?

Maybe Dunlop went to the coarser threads because they were harder to strip? They're not as strong but maybe that's not an issue. Also coarser would take less time to assemble.

 

[Patrick67BJ8]

With every open-diffed car I owned, the right rear wheel was the one that would lay rubber. This would fit with Randy's experience. So here's the question. Was the 8 TPI stronger than the 12 TPI and therefore was installed on the right side. OR ... did they just run out of the 8 TPIs and the guy in charge of the left rear throw on some leftover 12 TPIs? I remember a quote from Geoff Healey about original engine colors. At the end of the day when the paint would run out, they'd throw in some white or black to extend it. Who knows what the boffins in Abingdon would do when all the 8 TPIs were gone?

I've been into Healeys since 1970 and I'd like to say this. When the hubs were stripped owners usually used the cars for transortation and had to get parts asap which the Dealers didn't always have in stock and they ended up buying used parts from someone who knew someone who had some spare parts at their house and would sell them a hub. We really didn't know how to tell if a hub was really bad and couldn't care less about what kind we put on. Thoughts of the day included "a hub from a newer Healey was better". One thing everyone seemed to agree on and that was to grease them once a year with wheel bearing grease. Those who didn't grease them had to usually cut the wheel off with a torch. When you saw another Healey on the road the drivers usually waved at each other then the drivers start looking at the other drivers Healey for parts.

 

[John Turney]

The 8 TPI hubs are stronger than the 12 TPI hubs. Healey went to them because the earlier hubs kept breaking on the rally cars.

My guess is with Patrick. A PO needed to replace a hub and only a 12 TPI was available.

 

[Randy Forbes]

It was always the splines that were stripped; I've even taken wheels off cars that had "aluminum foil" wrapped around the hubs, before the wheel was jammed on.

As Patrick relates, these were just old cars then, and yes, common everyday transportation. When I bought mine (1978) it was already 21 years old, and though not even considered a collectible, it was gaining some desirability status__but I still used mine for dates and commuting to the East Bay from San Francisco, alternating between it and a 1967 MGB.

 

[Patrick67BJ8]

It was always the splines that were stripped; I've even taken wheels off cars that had "aluminum foil" wrapped around the hubs, before the wheel was jammed on.

As Patrick relates, these were just old cars then, and yes, common everyday transportation. When I bought mine (1978) it was already 21 years old, and though not even considered a collectible, it was gaining some desirability status__but I still used mine for dates and commuting to the East Bay from San Francisco, alternating between it and a 1967 MGB.

I think in different parts of the country they were considered to be more collectible than others. I bought my '67 in R.I. and it was wrecked and I needed a door. I ended up paying $100 for the door because the guy behind the salvage counter got off the phone and promptly advised me that the Healey's were "classics" and the parts were priced accordingly. Yep, I remember seeing the splines with aluminum foil too. Heck, it worked! We didn't know where to go to get parts and we did not have the Internet at that time. I joined the Pacific Center Healey Club two years before I got my Healey. I apprenticed on a friends '59 100-6 in the parking lot of NAS Cecil Field, FL.

I did try to buy a '67 but it was stolen off the lot the night before I was to pick it up and I ended up with a '67 MGB for about a year and then sold it to get a '67 Healey. Knowledgeable Healey people were few and far between back then. When we formed the St Johns Austin healey Club in Jacksonville, FL in 1974 all of a sudden we had several people who pooled their resources and talents together and we managed to get our cars running decently. We traveled together in a convoy on events so we had several mechanics and parts and we had multiple breakdowns on trips of 200 miles. CB's were the norm for communcation as well as headlights. I recall wire wheels, tires and hubs being high priorities.

 

[Randy Forbes]

Patrick, any chance you knew a gal named Gail Paveza (sp?)? While I was living in Lafayette, Louisiana, she was living in nearby Broussard and I did some work on her Healey. This would've been around 1984, but I remeber seeing a stack of the St John's promotional cards (follow me to a Healey meeting, or something like that ) in her car.

Anyway, in a recent Healey Marque (or the other one...) I saw she celebrated 35 years as a member, so I looked her up on Facebook, and a week or so later, she confirmed she was the same Gail. Small world, eh?

 

[Patrick67BJ8]

Patrick, any chance you knew a gal named Gail Paveza (sp?)? While I was living in Lafayette, Louisiana, she was living in nearby Broussard and I did some work on her Healey. This would've been around 1984, but I remeber seeing a stack of the St John's promotional cards (follow me to a Healey meeting, or something like that ) in her car.

Anyway, in a recent Healey Marque (or the other one...) I saw she celebrated 35 years as a member, so I looked her up on Facebook, and a week or so later, she confirmed she was the same Gail. Small world, eh?

The name's not familiar to me, but we did have a lot of Healeys in the area but not all people wanted to join the club. I got to JAX, FL in mid '74 and left there in late '78 and came back to Dallas. BTW: I used to repair the big Healey's to make extra money and probably did about 2 dozen engines back then and I actually had people waiting their turn to get a spot my double car garage. Because of the backup I started repairing "club members only" cars so I actually got some people to join our club, St Johns Austin Healey Club. There was a lot of Healeys in that area due to the 3 Naval bases. A lot of officers had them but most of the Healey owners were non-military.

 

[Marvin Gruber]

My BJ8 had a right side 12 pt adapter on it when I got is as well. The left side had a chevy steel wheel welded to the adapter. That was fun taking it off. My guess is it was run hard and put up wet.

Marv

 

[HealeyRick]

My BJ8 had a right side 12 pt adapter on it when I got is as well. The left side had a chevy steel wheel welded to the adapter. That was fun taking it off. My guess is it was run hard and put up wet.

Marv

If your Healey has a Chevy wheel welded to the knock-off adapter .... you just might be a redneck.

 

[Patrick67BJ8]

My BJ8 had a right side 12 pt adapter on it when I got is as well. The left side had a chevy steel wheel welded to the adapter. That was fun taking it off. My guess is it was run hard and put up wet.

Marv

Another quick fix was to mount steel wheels from a Buick on the rear. They fit perfectly!

 

[Randy Forbes]

If your Healey has a Chevy wheel welded to the knock-off adapter .... you just might be a redneck.

LOL! Too funny

Another quick fix was to mount steel wheels from a Buick on the rear. They fit perfectly!

I've seen plenty of those too.

Chevy Ralle Sport wheels for a 1/2-ton pickup (5 on 5) might be a modern equivalent...