Locking of wheels
- Thread starter Keith Baker
- Start date
Get the left/right hand threads on the correct sides of the car and you won't have an issue of the spinners coming loose. Haven't on my car in 20 plus years inlcuding 15 in competition. If that is unacceptable then use large R clips that go on the outside or omega clips that go inside the spindle.
Malc, you only drive to the bank to cash all those cheques and when racing , Well, you only drove like a pussy.
No wonder your wheels never got loose !
Your still on the same tank of fuel from new.
GJ wheels are plain Image BRM's suplied through SGT
JOKING MALC....Only about the Pussy & fuel though
No wonder your wheels never got loose !
Your still on the same tank of fuel from new.
GJ wheels are plain Image BRM's suplied through SGT
JOKING MALC....Only about the Pussy & fuel though
Keith
had the same issue and did not find another way than have special R or Omega clips custom made, which i finaly did not.
Why not. As the others say i have no issue that the spinners come loose.
All my Spinners are directed to be open to the front and closed towards the rear of the car. I initially closed them with 450 Nm of torque, but after driving them hard had difficulties to get them open again. It needed a bar of 1,20m lenght. my full weight on this plus additional hammer strokes on the spinner via a wooden block. So i gess opening torque is at least 800 - 900 Nm. My trheads and spinner seats are both greased with anitseize. ON the rear it takes slightly less effort ( opening torque more like 700 - 800 NM).
I reduced the fastening torque step by step to 420 NM and still it takes three people to open them. One for braking, me on the long lever and my son on the hammer with the wooden block. Next step is to reduce to 400 NM. The reduction in fastening torgue has more effect on the opening torque on the rear wheels than on the front. It seems that braking and acceleration torques balancing out each other on the rear wheel, whereas on the front only braking torques are applied and thus torque the spinner to a final value which is not proportional to the fastening torque.
Saying all of this i still would feel better with a safety lock of any kind, so what i will do is to drill holes for a 3,5 mm straight pin. this straight pin has 2 holes (1,2mm) on each side outside of the thread of the central lock. I will run a safety wire trough one holesaround the tread towards the other hole. This is quickly done and looks racy, is cheap to make and is lightweight too.
TOM
had the same issue and did not find another way than have special R or Omega clips custom made, which i finaly did not.
Why not. As the others say i have no issue that the spinners come loose.
All my Spinners are directed to be open to the front and closed towards the rear of the car. I initially closed them with 450 Nm of torque, but after driving them hard had difficulties to get them open again. It needed a bar of 1,20m lenght. my full weight on this plus additional hammer strokes on the spinner via a wooden block. So i gess opening torque is at least 800 - 900 Nm. My trheads and spinner seats are both greased with anitseize. ON the rear it takes slightly less effort ( opening torque more like 700 - 800 NM).
I reduced the fastening torque step by step to 420 NM and still it takes three people to open them. One for braking, me on the long lever and my son on the hammer with the wooden block. Next step is to reduce to 400 NM. The reduction in fastening torgue has more effect on the opening torque on the rear wheels than on the front. It seems that braking and acceleration torques balancing out each other on the rear wheel, whereas on the front only braking torques are applied and thus torque the spinner to a final value which is not proportional to the fastening torque.
Saying all of this i still would feel better with a safety lock of any kind, so what i will do is to drill holes for a 3,5 mm straight pin. this straight pin has 2 holes (1,2mm) on each side outside of the thread of the central lock. I will run a safety wire trough one holesaround the tread towards the other hole. This is quickly done and looks racy, is cheap to make and is lightweight too.
TOM
Paul Thompson 'Hooligan'
Admin
Correctly located, with threads that tighten clockwise on nearside (UK) and anti-clockwise on off-side, Roy Smart's knock-on's have never come loose in all years of track / competition use and with no other locking devices.
Actually, we have had the nearside front come loose twice BUT on each occasion, it is believed that in haste, the wheel was not located onto the pins, rather against their flat end face, between the aligning holes. As soon as some hard braking was tried, the wheel turned against the pin faces and immediately came loose but not off, thankfully.
SO - correctly located and with a few knocks from a mallet, they have never come loose. In fact they can be a sod to undo on occasions.
Using a correctly fitting tool to torque them up would be my preferred method, as per EGLITOM.
Actually, we have had the nearside front come loose twice BUT on each occasion, it is believed that in haste, the wheel was not located onto the pins, rather against their flat end face, between the aligning holes. As soon as some hard braking was tried, the wheel turned against the pin faces and immediately came loose but not off, thankfully.
SO - correctly located and with a few knocks from a mallet, they have never come loose. In fact they can be a sod to undo on occasions.
Using a correctly fitting tool to torque them up would be my preferred method, as per EGLITOM.
Lol
Michael Holmes
Lifetime Supporter
Even with the best attempt at securing them, they do come off. Since my three-wheeled adventure I now have set screws as a safety precaution as wire is only there to look good.
I've never had my SPF spinners come loose even doing 7 track days with slicks. Usually it takes several very hard wacks to loosen the nuts. Initially I had to bleed the brakes a lot trying to find the correct pad, bias, etc. and didn't want to have to rewire them numerous times. I may be wrong, but I don't think Olthoff safety wires his wheels either. That being said all of the formula cars I raced did have locking pins.
Seymour Snerd
Lifetime Supporter
Michael -- could you describe further? I don't think I've heard of that solution.
Michael Holmes
Lifetime Supporter
Sure, there are two holes in the hubs where the pin would go in, but the spinners cover the holes so i treaded them and put allen head set screws in as extra insurance to keep the spinners on. will take some photos this weekend.
BTW Alan, will you be making the Cobra, GT40 celebration and track event in Pomona this coming April?
Seymour Snerd
Lifetime Supporter
I would love to see a picture. SPFs have the problem that no threads are exposed when the spinner is fully tightened so there's no obvious way to put a clip on.
I didn't know about the Pomona event, but I'll sure try! Sounds like a "can't miss".
