FoT
I recently purchased from British Frame and Engine a set of uprated front
axles and spacer kit to fit to my TR6 race car to cure very bad pad knock and
pedal drop with standard axles . The kit comes with a pair of new heavy duty
axles, spacer and shims for final adjustment of bearing play to 2 thou. The
kit solved the pedal drop problem but after one meeting I noticed the bearing
play had increased well beyond the 2 thou set up. When I stripped the hubs I
found that the thin shims had collapsed under the load and I was lucky that
the resulting metal particles had not got into the bearing and caused a
catastrophic failure.
The problem relates to the design of the spacer . The outboard bearing face of
the spacer is too narrow where it bears on the shims which are between it and
the outer bearing. The inner diameter of the spacer has been machined too
large . The outer end of the axle is .650 where as the inner dia of the spacer
is .750 . This leaves too narrow a bearing surface on the spacer . The shims
are then crushed under the load. Shims thicker than 10 thou seem OK
I'm using Aluminum hubs from Racetorations with standard brakes with EBC
yellow pads.
If you have this axle kit I suggest checking shims and not use any thinner
than 10 thou . Machine the back of the spacer.
I would hope BFE will redesign the spacer to correct this fault as I have
advised them of the problem
Geoff Byrne
Sydney Australia
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