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TR2/3/3A TR3A wire wheel hub splines question.

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K

karls59tr

Obi Wan
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Is it correct that if the top of the splines are flat that the hub is in good condition and if the spline tops are pointed the hubs are worn?
 
Flat to me means its worn, I think you want the splines still pointed. But I could have that wrong, so hopefully someone else will chime in.
 
Check out this article and chart from Hendrix Wire Wheel. It shows what the splines look like in various conditions. It looks to me that new splines do have a flattened appearance at the top.

Edit: If need be, I can pull a wheel from my TR3 which has new hubs and take a picture.
 
When new, the splines do have flat tops. But they also die that way; at least my spun hub didn't look like the final Hendrix illustration.
 
I didn't have any issues with the hubs or wheels on my TR4A but we did acquire some worn ones before we ended up with a good set of hubs and wheels on my wife's Spitfire. We had worn ones that were very pointy similar to the worn picture in Art's link and we had ones that were flat as well when they spun.

We were too poor to own new ones at that time so I couldn't tell you what one of those looks like. :smile:

Scott
 
In '68 I lost a front wire on my GT6 because the splines spun out. Luckily I was only going about 30mph and making a right turn to leave the town I was in.

The car was a '67 and only had about 50,000 miles at the time. Was court'n Shirley at the time. She lived in a town about 20 miles away and I worked about that same distance from home in the other direction. About 1,000 miles a week at the time. To be fair, I drove like a "bat out of h**l" nearly all the time so it was not a quality issue.

The point I am trying to make is to make certain they are OK.
 
The chart was informative. I was enquiring about the splines because I have a set of TR3 splined hubs that I was going to post on Ebay for sale and wanted to know the condition. It seems from the responces that a hub can be "spun" and still have flat topped splines! I'll try and post some pics next week for more opinions.
 
When you spin a hub, the very act of spinning flattens the splines. Takes the tops right off 'em.
 
Just an observation here - seems to me you could put a caliper on a good hub, get the dimension and compare it to a hub you're unsure about. I am guessing the height of the spline is as important as the shape, tall flat spline being the best. 2 cents for a Monday morning.....
 
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