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Wheel failure

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aeronca65t

aeronca65t

Great Pumpkin
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This link came in through the VRG e-mail list (so I'll guess that Dave and Michael and maybe others have already seen it).

It's a recent incident with a Turner at Lime Rock that lost a rim through failure of the wheel spider.
I lost a wheel at BeaveRun two years ago due to stud failure, so I know how this feels.

This shows an example of using very old parts that may have been fatigued with time and use (and there are many other variables such as rust, improper torques, modern, sticky tires and so forth).

Always good to inspect our cars, especially since they are often full of parts that are 40+ years old!
(of course, then again, many of *us* are full of parts that are even older /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/jester.gif )

~~LINK~~
https://www.cwnicholls.net/limerock/2007LRPJuly/target287.html


img_6806.jpg
 
aeronca65t said:
Always good to inspect our cars, especially since they are often full of parts that are 40+ years old!
Click to expand...

The scary thing is that with steel wheels, unless they already show cracks, you can't tell anything without stripping all the paint off and magnafluxing the rim - ever know anyone that went that far?

Alloy wheels are so much stronger. MGA steel wheels even brand new are known to collapse under the stresses modern rubber puts on them.

What a shame - nice Turner!
 
Do you have photos of the wheel & one that didn't give?
 
Tony:

The link above will show all of the wheels, damage,etc.

Meanwhile, here is a picture of the broken wheel with a "good" wheel next to it

img_6805.jpg



And here is the brake drum post crash with part of the spider still attached

img_6818.jpg
 
Wow:

And my fear was always the rivets as a stress point.

Pat
 
DITTO!! WOW! I never would've expected a wheel to separate like that!

Its as if he locked the brakes at high speed & the momentum twisted the spider apart!
 
Its amazing what can fail.

Im in the habit of checking the major stress poinits after every event. Over the years I have had cracks show up in wheels(Alloy), A Arms at the swaybar attachment points, Spindles, and other strange places you wouldnt expect.
 
There might be more to this that meets the eye.....the pictures show what might be the problem.

Is that 7/16" studs or the 3/8" wheel studs ?

And a picture of the profile of the lug nut will tell all.
 
JerryB said:
There might be more to this that meets the eye.....the pictures show what might be the problem.

Is that 7/16" studs or the 3/8" wheel studs ?

And a picture of the profile of the lug nut will tell all.
Click to expand...

I see what you mean.
 
Who in the heck would race a nice car like that on 40 year old steel wheels anyway. Why we're talking about this, this is why you would never want to powder coat wheels, as powder coating hides cracks, that why you won't find any wheel companies powder coating wheels.
 
Hap.......

I agree.......but I feel there is another problem of using the wrong hardware with that wheel ....or not torqued before going out. Those wheels are heavy heavy and will support a tank let alone an 1200# Turner. Still they need to be inspected as usual after every race when the car is washed-down. I THINK that they were fine when he went out.....and it all happened in one session. But I dont have all the info....but have seen this before.
 
WOW! sheered the drum! never seen that before!
 
I'm nowhere an expert (heck, I'm less than a novice) - however, to me that looks like too much brake at high speed.....Hap?
 
Wow...
The first one happened using those puny vintage tires.
(Dunlap 450L)

And the second one happened with drum brakes.
(not disks on the front)

*thinking*
cantilevered slicks & calipers would be even harder on the old parts.
 
When I was running my Cobra out at Autobahn I had a similar thing happen to my rotor. Luckily the track was already under yellow and I wasn't going that fast as I went straight off the corner.

IMG_4869.jpg
 
Stresses and materials failures are part and parcel of racing. Best thing I've seen so-far in this thread is Hap's admonishment against powder-coating wheels.

Nobody can predict the future, but if you race you MAY want to hedge yer bets and do regular inspections of EVERY piece of the car.

"It ain't just a JOB... It's yer BUTT!" /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/devilgrin.gif
 
"""""against powder-coating wheels. """"""

or any suspension pieces...or for that matter anything on a race car that holds something.


"""""Nobody can predict the future""""

and your right Doc....but this car looks like from the pictures that it might not get good car prep and that not very often.

Picture 1; the wheel has the original rivets only. Frequent checking might show any working of the rim on the spider but best case would be to weld the two with a bead on each foot.

Picture 2; the upper trunnion bushing looks goofy....whats that all about? From the grease and mung around the spindle nut and cotter key it looks like the drum has not been off in a while. And from the picture it looks like the drum was working the crack for quite a while.

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.
 
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