The 'E' Type Forum

Just thought I would put up a post on this subject as a guy came up to me the other day when i was out in the E and told me he was a fly tipping enforcer for the local council and had picked up a two eared spinner on a lane near Axminster. I asked him if he was sure it was a jag one, so he dropped it round for me. Now I have lost spinners twice in forty years but each time managed to find them, I just wondered if any reader might know of someone with a story to tell about a lost spinner, and the end result, long shot I know, but would be interesting to find the owner, can't be too many of these things lying on grassy verges, or are there???

In theory the spinners should not come off because forward momentum should act to tighten them on the threads. The only time I have heard of this happening is where someone has put the hubs on the wrong way around (L<>R) where the movement of the car would seek to undo them. I tighten mine to 220lb/ft using a spinner tool and torque wrench and make sure there is no grease/oil on the cone of the hub as per Factory instructions and have never had a problem.

What is a "fly tipping enforcer?"

If the theory worked David why tighten it up to 220lb/ft? Just put it on all the way by hand and take the car for a spin!

I have nearly lost one on a Healey, but caught it just in time. It made for strange handling and made a lot of noise as it was coming loose! No matter how tightly I did the bloomin thing up, it still came loose after a couple of hundred miles. I put it down to everything being a bit worn, and a new set of wheels, spinners and hubs in the restoration sorted out the problem.

MarkE wrote:If the theory worked David why tighten it up to 220lb/ft? Just put it on all the way by hand and take the car for a spin!

Because if you do a quick reversing manoeuvre they are going to be exposed to loosening forces! You also want to ensure there is no movement of the wheel on the splines otherwise you will knacker the wheels and the hubs in one go. As you found out on the Healey, wear on any of the parts means all bets are off no matter how hard you bash them with a mallet.

A fly tipping enforcer is a guy who locates rubbish dumped in lay bys, ditches etc and attempts to identify where it came from and who tipped it. Running a spinner up hand tight on my front offside wheel one day, couldn't locate my copper hammer so left the car on the jack for a couple of weeks and completely forgot it was loose when letting it down. Covered about 60 miles and entered the Wyle by pass at 80 when the wheel came off and trapped itself in the wheel arch, with the splined hub running on the inside rim of the eight and a half inch minilite and the bottom ball joint ground two of its bolt heads off. A large bubble of paint rose in front of me from the friction of the wheel against the metal and one bonnet catch popped, but managed to steer the car to the nearside intact. Found the spinner 4 hundred yards back, and even though the hub had several flats on it, managed to thread it back on and continue my journey, The spinner was a JAP three eared as fitted to their Magna wheels of the seventies and interesting to note that even though it came off the right side, it rolled to the left.