TR6 TR6 Axle Shaft Failure Revisited

[LBCs_since_1988]

Just today I was rummaging through an old box of broken British car bits and found the stubby end of the axle shaft from my 1976 TR6 (sold in 1992)....

It was the summer of 1990 and me and a (then) high school friend were cruising around in my TR6 when, as approaching a traffic light I heard a rumbling coming from the rear of the car. My friend, Mike looked out his side of the car and noticed that the right rear wheel was wobbling slightly. Luckily I wasn't driving more than 5mph when we noticed it. I pulled over and to sum it up the tow tuck came.

This could have been tragic if we were traveling at high speed. I love TR6s but it comforts me that I have a solid axle TR4A. -never heard of a wheel fallin' off one of them!

 

[TR4nut]

Well, if you raced your 4A, you might want to worry a little more, take a look at what happens when a solid axle fails:
Old Blue's Demise

Randy

 

[TR3driver]

Aaron, not to impugn your memory, but that sure looks like the end of a front axle to me.

The IRS cars (even IRS 4A) used Nylocs instead of castellated on the rear; and the axle had a locking taper into the hub (so not likely to come apart even without the nut).

Could be the front axle from a TR6 of course; but they are the same as your 4A.

 

[LBCs_since_1988]

Randall, nyloc was used from the TR4A IRS until TR6 CF12500 then the factory changed to castle nuts with split pins (It was the right rear. My memory isn't THAT bad :cz)

https://www.zeni.net/trf/TR6bluebook/107.php?s_wt=1024&s_ht=768

 

[LBCs_since_1988]

TR4nut, that's some graphic stuff! I definitely won't be racing

 

[TR3driver]

Hokay; my mistake. Still seems like a really odd place to break, unless the hub was already loose on the axle.

 

[LBCs_since_1988]

Yeah, there probably was play in the hub but unfortunately it wasn't something I paid attention to when I was 18 years-old -to my detriment of course.

 

[BobbyD]

After reading about two separate rear hub failures last year I opted to go the Goodparts CVJ route which includes his upgraded hub. As you can see in the two pictures below, the new one is quite substantial and the power transfer with a CVJ instead of a u-joint is noticeable.