Re: rear brake drum removal '50 deluxe 8 Final story!

Posted by Ross On 2013/11/14 12:49:12

Any complete failures I have seen have always been near the spline at the inner end of the axle and had nothing to do with whether the axle was taper or flanged. As far as I know even the racing Hudsons only broke axles at the diff.

Damaged axles and drums I have seen many times as a result of poor servicing and inadequate tightening. The drums then worry out to a taper that no longer matches the axle.

Tapered axles use the same principle of the self locking taper that is used to hold collets in machine tools. There is no problem with galling as there is no relative motion, plus the shafts are fairly hard. Lubrication can prevent the self locking from taking place. Then power transmission is only through the key.

I've only ever had a couple of cars that didn't have tapered axles in 40 years of spirited driving. As soon as I have a problem I will let you know.