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My first date with a flatbed/Burlingame Specialist

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B

BN1L_156424

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I see this being a long term relationship.

Sadly I broke a rear hub stud the other day, I have the early 4 bolt pattern, so losing one is a real problem, fortunately sharp ears quickly picked it up before I had lost the wheel. The tow truck driver took really good care of me (I wish I could remember the company, the driver was named Raoul and restores 40's/50's american saloons. He told me that he had towed 4 Austin Healeys in the past 3 months in the San Francisco Bay Area. Also that he often brings Healeys to a garage in Burlingame, California. I haven't been able to identify what that garage is (nor have I seen info on the Golden Gate Healey webpage. If anyone can clue me in on the name of that place and any experiences that you have had. Please email me.

jwinsor@gmail.com

Thanks

joshua winsor
 
Sadly the stud broke due to over torquing, because I WAS to cheap to buy a torque wrench. Two questions
A) What is the proper torque for the hub nuts/studs on a spiral bevel axel?
B) Still looking for the name of the Burlingame Garage, or some other place withing 50 miles of San Francisco that I may be able to get a few parts on something like a saturday afternoon?
Thanks
-j
 
Re: My first date with a flatbed/Burlingame Specia

Hi Josh,
To quote from your earlier post:
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B) Each of the bearing housings in the rear wheels have at least one stripped threading for the extension studs(there looked to be a failed weld holding some and I couldn't see if more were welded). This car has the early type 4 bolt hubs. One of the many people who admired the car as I laboring with it, claimed to have a 3000, and managed a volvo garage said that I can Heli-coil the stripped out threads. What is the proper threading for that heli-coil?

The big questions that I have is about the stud threads (and cheaper nut source, front and rear as there is a hodge podge and I would like a single size)
-------------------
And your most recent post:
Sadly the stud broke due to over torquing, because I WAS to cheap to buy a torque wrench. Two questions
A) What is the proper torque for the hub nuts/studs on a spiral bevel axel?
B) Still looking for the name of the Burlingame Garage, or some other place withing 50 miles of San Francisco that I may be able to get a few parts on something like a saturday afternoon?
-------------------
A couple of comments:
To sound like a broken record, the studs are very highly stressed & everything must be perfect. The studs are heat treated & any welding will weaken them. Heli-Coils will not hold the tremendous stresses placed on the parts when cornering. The special taper faced nuts are also heat treated & self locking. Cheaper nuts are not a solution. If any welding was done, & you said there had been, the existing parts are weakened & just waiting to strip or break. Hubs that have been welded should be put in the junk.

Yes, a proper repair is going to require some new & expensive parts. It could run $500 plus for parts & labor. My BN2 has five 7/16" studs which are torqued to 55 ft/lb. I don't know what size your studs are so can't suggest a torque setting.

I strongly recommend taking the car to a REPUTABLE shop for correct & complete repair of this problem. This is no time to be looking for the cheapest way out. Those four little studs are all that is between you and losing a wheel.

BCS in Stockton has the knowledge & parts to do a proper repair. They are only about 75 miles from you. Why limit it to 50 miles?

You are risking the well being of yourself & others by trying to patch this situation together. I have no more to say on the subject.
D
 
Re: My first date with a flatbed/Burlingame Specia

Thank you for your words of wisdom, and the torque information on your car.

I had already carefully read all of your responses to my queries. I have also spoken to, shown, and received help on this automobile from several REPUTIBLE professional mechanics, as well as no less than 10 current Healey owners (not mutually exclusive groups). I have carefully weighed all of the opinions and options presented to me, and conferred about these opinions and options with as many of the mechanics and Healey experts I have been able to speak to. (britishcardoc@sbcglobal.net was sent an email) The more experienced professionals that responded to me all agreed that a threaded insert will most likely work great. My opinion is that the best course of action is to use threaded inserts in these hubs now. As no could or would tell me the threading on the spiral bevel axel hub extention studs and my calipers only arrived monday, I just today received the correct Recoil kit (7/16 X 18 BSF is the right one, I think) from a British Car Forum advertiser British Tools & Fasteners. I will install it tomorrow, remove the broken stud with an extractor and properly torque all of the nuts. I have purchased new studs and spline nuts from Healey Surgeons who I did speak to about the inserts. I will also check the torque and appearence of the nuts and studs after EVERY drive for the forseeable future, if it doesn't work out I can get new hubs then, I am quite sure that these have been stripped for more than a decade, and another few months isn't likely to be catastrophic. It may very well save $500 that could be spent on shocks, transmission, steering, rust prevention/repair, cockpit insulation, electrical, paint, seats, etc.


As for what I was doing on the road with only three studs holding on each of my rear wheels, well I have been waiting to drive that baby for 20 years and that desire just got the best of me.

I do appreciate and listen to all information I get here, and will keep telling the tale of my experiences, successes and failures.

-j
 
Re: My first date with a flatbed/Burlingame Specia

Hi J,
Glad I'm not one of your "experienced reputible professionals"!
I can't believe that britishcardoc endorsed the proposed fix. Especially if you told them that the hubs have been welded on.

One last item:
Later model hubs had studs with heads & serrated shanks that were pressed through the hub flange from the back. The heads & serrations prevented them from working loose or pulling out. Most of the separating force was taken by the stud head.

The early BN1 four bolt rear hubs had screw in studs as you know. The studs were originally an interference fit in the threads & not intended to be removed. The hub end of the studs was not a standard thread. They were interference fit to make them stronger & to prevent them from unscrewing. It only partially worked. Later BN1's & all following had the much stronger 5 stud hubs with proper press in studs. Actually a different rear axle.

If you just tap the holes & screw in studs there will be nothing to prevent them from working loose & they will not have the strength of an interference fit. As previously mentioned, welding the studs will destroy the heat treat & further weaken the already marginal stud system.

Saving money here will do you no good if a wheel comes off.

Sorry to bother you,
D
 
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