Hub sheared!

[Rabbit07]

Bill,

Don't trust the stub shaft on the existing Halfshaft anymore. I would replace it. Try to get a NOS OEM shaft if possible or a remaned OEM. The cheap aftermarket ones from Autozone ect are trouble as I have found out.

What I do is keep a set of axles and a spare set of front Kuckles already built up in the trailer with me.

Cheers

[RacerBill]

Cool! Thanks, boss. I'll send you the video sometime. Only time the camera got to work all weekend, and all I got was 5 laps.

It was interesting with about 5 or 6 guys starting behind me. My wife missed my first lap because she was so used to seeing me at the end of the pack!!!!!!!

[DaveBrooks]

What are the green bearings??? please send me some info on them.

[RacerBill]

What are the green bearings??? please send me some info on them.

Dave: That's Green Bearings, not green bearings! Green is the brand name. I got one when I bought the car. I'll need to dig and find the name of a distributor, I think there is one up near Toledo. The bearing/hub does not need to be pressed into the spindle - therefore you don't have to take the spindle off to change it. So it can be done at the track.

When I find the info, I will send it to you.

[Darryl Pritchett]

Dave: That's Green Bearings, not green bearings! Green is the brand name. I got one when I bought the car. I'll need to dig and find the name of a distributor, I think there is one up near Toledo. The bearing/hub does not need to be pressed into the spindle - therefore you don't have to take the spindle off to change it. So it can be done at the track.

When I find the info, I will send it to you.

I would be interested in this also.

[RacerBill]

Getting closer. I need to dig out the hub and the box I've got buried in the spares bins.

[joeg]

A good rule of thumb is that a hub failure is caused by something getting loose--the nut holding the bearing pack 95% of the time.

Unfortunately, that is always a "thrilling failure". At least now you may know it's coming if you felt anything strange just before it happened.

[Matt Rowe]

Bill,

Where did the hub break? Bearing? spindle? Can you grab some pictures of the failure?

That is the first l-body hub failure that I can remember hearing about. I would be very interested in any other information you have. Where these new bearings/spindles or did they come with the car? Any idea how many track miles you have on them?

As Chris already said, get a new halfshaft and obviously I would inspect the other side as well.

I hope everything else is okay and easily repairable.

[Streetwise guy]

I busted a stock Neon hub after a season of circle tracking, followed by a season of ice racing on bolts. It never came all the way apart, I thought I'd killed a clutch or CV at first. The (*searching for proper terms now) flat portion of the hub that has the bolt circle cracked away from the center of the hub. It is still in place, but will rotate quite easily. I kept it as a souvenier of an odd failure. Or maybe a lucky failure- I quit driving before the wheel exited the chassis in an ever so exciting manner.

IIRC, Mopar performance catalogue says you are to change the ACR hubs and bearings every 12 track hours.

[dlg208]

I was 2 cars behind you when it happened...

Sure was interesting back where I was so I expect it was really exciting for you.

BTW...I have great video of the whole thing...
Except I just got a ChaseCam and can't figure out how to post it yet.

You coming to WOR games or the 24 at Nelson?

Edit: No wrong person...It was the left REAR at turn 15 Mid-O
(a yellow car that said Bishop something? on the side)

[RacerBill]

I was 2 cars behind you when it happened...

Sure was interesting back where I was so I expect it was really exciting for you.

BTW...I have great video of the whole thing...
Except I just got a ChaseCam and can't figure out how to post it yet.

You coming to WOR games or the 24 at Nelson?

Dave: Would love to see the video! Yes, it was exciting! I am watching my video right now. I am surprised that it snapped in a left hander as it was the left hub that failed - maybe when it unweighted.... I really thought that I had bought the wall that time for sure.

I may be up to Nelson to instruct at the PDX. If not, I'll find someone who's coming my way.

BTW, T&S got your home state wrong. They saw Grove City, and put OH instead of PA!

Thanks for the note.

[RacerBill]

I was 2 cars behind you when it happened...

Sure was interesting back where I was so I expect it was really exciting for you.

BTW...I have great video of the whole thing...
Except I just got a ChaseCam and can't figure out how to post it yet.

You coming to WOR games or the 24 at Nelson?

Edit: No wrong person...It was the left REAR at turn 15 Mid-O
(a yellow car that said Bishop something? on the side)

Dang! Would have liked to see what that looked like from the outside.

The spin that you cought was Dave Gran in the Sunday morning qualifying race! Yeah, his off was probably exciting, too!

[Weasel Keeper]

IIRC, Mopar performance catalogue says you are to change the ACR hubs and bearings every 12 track hours.

I was informed of this about 20 hours into the Longest Day at Nelson 24 hour race last weekend. Lucky for me as soon as I hit the track for my final stint I forgot about that and pressed on...and luckily it didn't fail!

Around 1,800 miles in 24 hours non stop, plus drove it to the track and back home (about 10 hours or 500 miles extra) with no hub failure on our 95 ACR ITA Neon.

The Neon did have a hub failure a couple years ago for a 10 hour race at Gingerman, but somehow it worked just fine for 24 hours at the Ledges.

[RacerBill]

Left front back together. Hell trying to find a new axle but finally managed to get one at 4pm Saturday. I have spare steering knuckles and they are both going to get new hubs asap as spares for the rest of the year, and as new ones for next year.

For those who were looking for information about 'Green Bearings', they are still being manufactured (actually they supply a lot of hubs for NAPA and other parts dealers), but they need to be pressed in, they don't slide in. But they are one unit rather than seperate hub and bearings. And look more substantial than the hub that broke.

Entry sent off for the OVR Autumn Classic at Mid-Ohio this weekend.

[RacerBill]

Well, the new hub held together for the weekend. All in all - the Autumn Classic was a success. Got to qualify Saturday with a VERY damp track, and Sunday in the rain. That put me in the middle of the grid, so both Saturday and Sunday, I was able to see the starter throw the green. Ahha the little victories. Saturday's race saw my first pass for position, Sunday yielded three passes, and even some dicing with a Sprite. And a new personal best lap time.

Of course there were some low's (if it was alway easy, it wouldn't be fun). Saturday afternoon saw the demise of the shift linkage where the shift tube connects to the shift lever (c clip, fixed that in 10 minutes). That didn't stop me since the car was in third when it disconnected. Who needs to shift? I was still catching a couple of cars in front of me! But then the temp started to climb so we came in. Actually, the bolt that holds the alternator on the bracket backed out, and I had lost the belt and one of the bushing. A trip to every parts store in Mansfield yielded nothing. So we headed back to the track to have dinner, pack and leave. At dinner, I decided to check out the boneyard where the Safety trucks drop off the parts that fall of race cars. I could not believe it, but there was the belt! So, back to the paddock and fab up a bushing. While that was going on, I noticed that the plastic cover for the main terminal on the alternator was loose - the piece that attaches to the alternator had broken off. But I was able to push on a crimp terminal. Sunday morning, everything was up and running.

Sunday - race time. Everything is looking good. Start goes ok, of course the track is dry, so everybody behind me goes flying by, we go two (or was it three) wide into 1. but we're staying up with the pack. Pass an orange Mustang - pass for position in class!!!!. Then we take on the Sprite. This is really cool! Get by him, but he hides in traffic and passes me back. OK, work him over a little, then take him on the front straight!. OK, things are going good. brake for the carousel, just a little too hard, lock up the fronts, here comes the grass, here comes THE WALL!!!! NO, the back end just comes around a little more, and we end up 90 degrees to the track about 50 feet off. I remembered to put in the clutch, so the engine's running, so grab first, check traffic and get back out there. Didn't notice, by the Sprite gets back around me. :-(

But we finish the race!!!!!!! But, oh, no! The temperature is climbing again. So, pull off at 8 and get towed back in. Sure enough, the belt has decided to depart the vehicle again. And we still had the handicap race to go. Someone said it came off at three, but the next race had started, so we could not get out there to ask, so I went down to station 5 and they said that Safety 1 had picked it up. Back to the bone yard, and sure enough, there it was. What kind of luck is that, loosing a belt twice and recovering it.

Here comes the handicap race, of course I'm on the pole with the slowest qualifying lap of those entered. Well, we got to lead about three laps but actually it was the best practice session ever, since everyone went by me at the same time. And set a new personal best time.

Can't have a better weekend than that.

Best of all, Sharon says on the way home "When we come back in October......." That's about as good as the time she said "The next race car we buy........"

Hope everyone else had a great time at the Autumn Classic.

[RacerBill]

Bill,

Where did the hub break? Bearing? spindle? Can you grab some pictures of the failure?

That is the first l-body hub failure that I can remember hearing about. I would be very interested in any other information you have. Where these new bearings/spindles or did they come with the car? Any idea how many track miles you have on them?

As Chris already said, get a new halfshaft and obviously I would inspect the other side as well.

I hope everything else is okay and easily repairable.

Matt: As Streetwise said, the flat that holds the wheel bolts sheared away from the hub. Hub still turns, and there was enough rough areas that I could press it back together and winch the car back on the trailer. May have to lift the front off the trailer to get the car into the garage again.

I will take some picks for you as soon as i get it into the garage.

I had replaced both hubs and bearings when I bought the car - back in 02. But I did not get any track time until 2006. Best guess is that there was about 10 track hours on them.

[RacerBill]

Here are a couple of pics.

[RacerBill]

Now the fun begins. I have a brand new hub assembly, in the box, ready to go. But wait! The bolts that hold the hub in the knuckle don't look right! On measusuring the bolts to the bolt holes, the holes on the knuckle are 3.75" on center, and the bolts appear to the 3.25" on center.

Oh, well - I don't know if the hub in the box is the real deal, so I order an new hub from NAPA and take the knuckle down to the machine shop to get the broken one pressed out and a new one pressed in. But guess what!! Same deal. the bolts and the bolt holes don't match up. Strange - there are part numbers cast into the knuckle, and they agree with the part numbers listed in the Chrysler parts manual for that year.

So, NAPA is going to order a different hub and see if those bolts line up. As I said, fun and games.

[JLawton]

Bill,

You need to get rid of that piece of shit American made car........


(how many other people can say that to you and you not take offense!!! )


Yeah, that funky stuff with parts drives me crazy!

[RacerBill]

Jeff: LOL.....

Well, the thing is, I have about a thousand miles to go developing the car. I was thinking about it during the IT Fest, watching Kip drive past. Actually, if I put the seats back in, the car could run Showroom Stock (except for the age). The car is BONE STOCK! Have to see if Santa brings a fresh engine, camber plates, coil overs and shocks, fresh tires....... and the list goes on!!!!!!!!! The one good thing that racing has brought my family is an endless list of ideas for birthday, Christmas, Father's Day, Mother's Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day.................