Wacking the spinner...how hard?

[Legal Bill]

I hit them until they don't move.

Are you talking a back swing of 3 inches, 6 inches, 12 inches, 18 inches, 24 inches, more?

Indeed, aside from marring the ears, my question has always been, has anyone ever seen damage from over-tightening?

It would seem unlikely that you'd strip the threads or distort the wheel. And, given how common worn splines are, I would think erring on too tight rather too loose is safer.

Yes, I have seen damage from over tightening. I've seen the knock on split where the hub pushed through the middle of the spinner.

At some point one must apply a bit of common sense. Follow the directions provided by Dayton. Your swing should be relatively short as aim is just as critical as force. You don't want to be swinging so wild that you can miss and hit your spokes or hand. That said, 3 to 6 inches will not generate any real force. While 18 inches sounds about right, I would need to actually measure my swing to give you a precise measure.

 

[Randy Forbes]

At a guess, I'd say it's a 12" swing, but I'm a pint-sized gorilla :wink:

 

[Deleted member 8987]

I do not know that theory. They will fall off if they are not tightened properly. I've seen it happen.

I knew a guy that as a young man and worked for a dealership, used to pickup the Healeys at the unloading docks in Florida and was required to tighten the spinners via using the hammer. He used to say that the hammer marked up the spinners, but he was told to do it.

The hammer is often referred to as a "knock-off" hammer, but never a "knock-on" hammer. Interesting!! Possibly due to the spinners self-tightening properties?

Yet, in the Factory TR2, TR2A, and TR3 shop manual, they are referred to as "knock-on". I guess either Healey or Trumpet was being difficult....and didn't want to be the same.

 

[glemon]

I have seen damage (other than marring of the ears) from overtightening, but have never inflicted it myself, and in the past I have owned cars with worn splines that I have hammered the heck out of to keep them from clunking.

Hard to describe a hammer swing maybe 12" or so, good firm swing, under control, halfway between a tap and a smash, as far as the descriptions of hitting until the spinner stops moving, they always move a little, at least when I hit them.

But they go from moving a lot to a tiny little increment when the are snugged down good. Once they get to that point give them a few whacks for good measure and you should be good.

Check from time to time, and give them a few whacks for good measure, one of the more therapeutic aspects of owning an LBC.

 

[Bob_Spidell]

... And, given how common worn splines are, I would think erring on too tight rather too loose is safer.

I think--disclaimer: I'm not an expert--that is a bit of a misconception. Tightening the knock-off only secures the front and back of the wheel hub and drum/rotor hub to each other (and mostly prevents end-play and some spline wear due to 'wobbling'). Given the tremendous forces applied during acceleration and esp. braking that isn't enough to prevent movement between the two (else, theoretically, you wouldn't need the splines). I'm basing this opinion on my observation that splines seem to wear pretty evenly along their length, not more on either end.

What prevents spline wear is having good splines on both wheel hub and drum/rotor hub, and keeping them clean and greased. Sometimes, owners replace worn hubs but not wheels, and vice versa, and that causes accelerated spline wear.

 

[Bob_Spidell]

Was thinking about my previous reply and wondered why the semi-conical mating surfaces of the inner part of the wheel hub and the 'outer' part of the drum/rotor hub aren't splined. Seems to me that would be relatively easy to machine, eliminate any possible 'ratcheting' motion on the splines and give another real good reason to keep the knock-offs knocked-on.

You'd want to keep the chrome off the splined part of the wheel hub, but that's done already for the existing splines.

 

[Legal Bill]

I do not know that theory. They will fall off if they are not tightened properly. I've seen it happen.

I knew a guy that as a young man and worked for a dealership, used to pickup the Healeys at the unloading docks in Florida and was required to tighten the spinners via using the hammer. He used to say that the hammer marked up the spinners, but he was told to do it.

The hammer is often referred to as a "knock-off" hammer, but never a "knock-on" hammer. Interesting!! Possibly due to the spinners self-tightening properties?

Yet, in the Factory TR2, TR2A, and TR3 shop manual, they are referred to as "knock-on". I guess either Healey or Trumpet was being difficult....and didn't want to be the same.

You might want to read some of the posts between the one you quoted and your own. They both call them knock on.

 

[dougie]

I felt it was time for me to chime in, since I've moved past all the archaic methods described to torque the Healey's "knock-offs". This tool design by a fellow Healey racer in Sweden isn't cheap, but well worth it. https://www.spinnerspanner.se/

 

[Randy Forbes]

I felt it was time for me to chime in, since I've moved past all the archaic methods described to torque the Healey's "knock-offs". This tool design by a fellow Healey racer in Sweden isn't cheap, but well worth it. https://www.spinnerspanner.se/

Pretty slick, but I have one (1) too many ears on my spinners! Credit for a good idea though!

Just out of curiosity, what is the actual torque value for (12TPI/8TPI) knock off caps (winged or octogon); anybody know?

 

[Bob_Spidell]

Nice tool, but it looks like it's too big to fit in the boot with spare tire, spare parts, tools, extra oil, jumper cables, toilet paper, etc. You'd still need a hammer on the road.