On 19 Jul 1995, George Fisher wrote:
> I recently purchased a '72 Spit for my 16-year-old. The left rear was
> making a 4-times-per-wheel-revolution thump....
>
> When I went to press the last cup into the axle yoke, I realized that
> the cup couldn't be properly aligned because the yoke is bent!
>
> Can the yoke be bent back without significantly weakening it? A welder
> friend says that he can get it correctly aligned through repeated heating
> and cooling. Would that process weaken the yoke? I'd rather not have to
> buy a new rear axle...
If the yoke is bent, I'd also be VERY suspicious of the axle shaft
itself! I'd check that carefully.
IMHO, it would not be worth the effort (and perhaps the risk?) to
straighten out something that shouldn't be all that difficult to
replace. New axles aren't really all that expensive ($100 or so?).
Used units are not that hard to find, and basically any Herald or
Spitfire axle assembly through 1972 will bolt right up. Be careful in
buying a used unit: a. obviously you want to make sure the used one is
straight; and b. make sure it's not from a 1973 or later Spitfire, as
these are 1" longer. The longer ones are easily identified (if still a
complete unit) by the fact that the rubber brake hose threads into a pipe
and bracket on the backing plate, where the earlier cars had rubber brake
hoses fitting directly into the wheel cylinder.
It is also possible (I can't stress possible enough) to press off a good
yoke from an otherwise bad axle and put it on your (hopefully) straight
axle with bad yoke. That, however, is strictly last-resort, multi-ton
press and lots of heat and sworking, kind of stuff.
Andy Mace
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