Re: [AMC-list] 77 Hornet questions

[tom jennings <tomj@xxxxxxx>]

On Tue, Jun 1, 2010 at 8:04 AM, Frank Swygert <farna@xxxxxxx> wrote:


> -- if you torque the axle nuts every 15-20 years to 250-300 ft/lbs the hub
> will never spin under normal use, or even hard use with street tires. I



>
> Tom Jennings hasn't been driving his 64 wagon really hard, but has put
> quite a load in it and doesn't "baby" it either. He does what I do -- uses
> the car! He spun a hub a month or so ago, but I don't think the hub had ever
> been off or retorqued in 46 years. AMC never specified a retorque interval,



In fact I think it's the OPPOSITE -- if a hub has ever been pulled -- for
axle bearings for example -- then it's far more likely to slip than the
factory original press-on. The axles on my 63 Classic had been apart at
least once; I changed the bearings in 1988 or 1989, I don't think since, but
I had a pinion shaft fail (it was a freak bad casting) so they were out
again in 1997 but the shop that setup the axle said "bearings looked good so
we didn't change them".

So last I torqued them was 1989! The passenger side (torque side,
non-limited-slip) failed, but the drivers side was loose when I checked it.
That axle came from a 1965 Classic, since 1988 I've put 250K miles on the
car, so it took that long to fail, so it's not something to freak out over.

I immediately checked the 72 Hornet; it has under 90K miles, no sign of
having been apart). Rock solid tight. I checked the 63 American -- 90K also,
no sign of ever apart, absolutely tight.


So again we come to, 30, 40, 50 year old cars, where it's not possible to
know the repair history, things "failing" at 2, 5, 10 times design life.
Maybe a pulled hub to change axle bearings weakens the axle::hub bond. That
would be well outside reasonable factory design life (we know wheel bearings
last "life of the car" generally.)

Frank's retorquing fixes even *that*. It's not something I'll ever worry
about, though I will check them once in a while... :-)



And don't even bother to pull the cotter pin -- if you can get the socket on
over it, just go for it. That's what I did on the driver's side of my
Classic. It's either (A) tight, and jumping on the breaker bar won't budge
it, cotter pin remains OK. (B) nut turns, pin shears, you needed to tighten
it! Every 5 years a new cotter pin is no big deal...
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://list.amc-list.com/pipermail/amc-list-amc-list.com/attachments/20100601/93f30972/attachment.htm>
_______________________________________________
AMC-list mailing list
AMC-list@xxxxxxxxxxxx
http://list.amc-list.com/listinfo.cgi/amc-list-amc-list.com