Finding play after hearing a `clonk' sounds to me like the first stage
of spline failure. The `clonk' is the sound of the splines skipping
a tooth or two, and if the knockoff rotates with the wheel relative
to the spindle, it will end up loosening. Voila: play.
As for triangular splines indicating wear: I've used the `as tight as
it goes' philosophy for ten years. My splines have been pretty triangular
that whole time. I looked up spline shapes in Shigley's `Mechanical
Engineering Design', and found a range of shapes from almost square to
triangular with a small flat on top.
When the top of the triangle starts to lean over, or becomes asymmetric,
that's when failure
is imminent, as I recall. I've only had one failure, manifested as
a hideous noise and vibration during braking.
The splines looked pretty pushed over.
The stretching at the inner cone as a result of overtightening
may be true, but I think the compressive
load on the rest of the hub should make it grip the splines harder.
-Jean H
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