Wheel failure

[Twosheds]

I am going to guess Joe Boruch.

 

[DrEntropy]

Unfortunately there is a lot of this in vintage racing...where the car gets put on the trailer after a race and doest come off the trailer till the next race. This stuff should be reported to the VMC for their list for just such incidents by the sanctioning club for that race...but seldom is.

yup. Seen it too often.

And the agreement that the hub/bearing there look as if it hadn't been TOUCHED in ages. That kind of stuff endangers everyone on the track along with him... bad ju-ju.

When I said no-one can predict the future, I was suggesting it'd be good to "hedge yer bets" and due diligence would dictate some proper tear-down/inspection before 'n after each event. I've found some pretty scary stuff happened which would lead to component failure in a matter of laps if not corrected. Not always the forty year old bits, either. /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/wink.gif

 

[Bugeye58]

It's not only vintage racing, either.
My game plan after a race weekend has always been to get the wheels off, do a very thorough nut and bolt inspection on all components, and check or change all the fluids. A few years ago, a buddy grenaded a rear end while driving my car. As we were changing it, people were actually taking pictures, because they had never seen me work on my car at the track!
Preparation, preparation, preparation!!
Jef

 

[aeronca65t]

.....people were actually taking pictures, because they had never seen me work on my car at the track!
Preparation, preparation, preparation!!
Jef

Ditto here!

I *hate* working on my car at the track. It's much easier and more fruitful to do that work ahead of time. So yeah, after each event: power wash the entire car, then up on the stands, fluids changed, wheels off, bearings checked, suspension and brakes examined, etc.

I will say that even with this, my car often looks filthy after an enduro (especially a 3 or 4 hour).

 

[kcbugeye1275]

Although part failure is a part of racing, vintage racing is a little different in that a racer is supposed to race clean and the end result of the race is not to win, but enjoy these old cars in a clean noncontact way. It seems to me racing these old wheels, and not maintaining the cars is a pretty big violation of this spirit.

 

[DrEntropy]

It seems to me racing these old wheels, and not maintaining the cars is a pretty big violation of this spirit.

/bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/iagree.gif


I keep going back to the pix and I think Roger hit it. The nuts are wrong for the wheels. Stress risers introduced with the nuts look to have started the failure (impossible to tell for certain, I know). It ~is~ kinda silly to run wheels that old, they flex a bunch and fatigue is a factor. But it now looks to me as if those (improper) nuts exascerbated said failure.

 

[Twosheds]

I keep going back to the pix and I think Roger hit it. The nuts are wrong for the wheels. Stress risers introduced with the nuts look to have started the failure (impossible to tell for certain, I know). It ~is~ kinda silly to run wheels that old, they flex a bunch and fatigue is a factor. But it now looks to me as if those (improper) nuts exascerbated said failure.

That's what I thought. The studs look too small for the holes in the wheels and the nuts do not seem to be chamfered to fit in the recesses in the wheels.

No amount of crack inspections would have helped if the hardware is wrong.

By the way, I know that paint must be removed prior to dye penetrant inspection, but would eddy current or magnetic particle inspection detect cracks under powder coat? They detect sub-surface flaws. Or X-ray?

 

[Michael Oritt]

My Elva has front uprights out of a drum-braked Triumph Herald. There is really no way of effectively crack-testing the spindles without removing them from the uprights so recently I dissassembled the front suspension so I could have them pressed out--I had already decided that it would be a good thing to have some new ones made at a local machine shop. I had two new sets made--with reversed thread for the left-hand side.

Anyway in taking things apart I noticed that both uprights were handed the same way and both trunnions were marked "right". I can only assume that someone in the car's past found it expedient to replace a damaged left upright with a right one! As luck would have it I bought a very nice pair of uprights and trunnions off of Ebay about two months ago for such a rainy day and so was able to put in a proper left upright and trunnion. I now have two spare right uprights.

 

[Hap Waldrop]

Michael, you can get a dye penatrant crack checking kit form places like Goodson Tool, it's a handy thing to have around, and gives you a good way to crack check at the track if you have a big off, and are worried about anyhting like a spindle. The SCCA guys run so darn fast at Road Atlanta, almost all of use let our cars slam over the curbing on the exit of T5, it one of those things you rather not do, but if everyone is doing it and you want to keep up, you're force to do it as well, I don't see many vintage guys do this there, but I have to admit it's good for a full second around the place and since I have the art of it down, I'll probably introduce it to my vintage buddies when I strat racing vintage there. I always pay close attention to my right side spindle after a race at Raod Atlanta.