I bought a BMW 3 series jack to use on travels because it is smaller, fits in the spare wheel well and is easy to use. So I had to try it out before going to the Spa Classic races next weekend.
It lifted the car easily and I just happened to lean on the rear wheel and it turned a little with a clunk - handbrake on. That's odd. Looked underneath at the drive shaft as I rocked the wheel and this did not move 1 iota. What I failed to do was see if it was true rotation or rocking on the splines or was there rotation between the wheel and the spinner. So I called my restorer to be advised that sometimes the cone inside the wheel hub does not sit properly on the cone on the splined hub and it needs tightening.
The spinner was tight as far as I know, the wheels not been off since I took the car - some 3000 miles previous.
So I took the wheel off (spinner tight) for a look see and after cleaning found this:
Clearly the cones have not mated and have chafed. The spinner has not self tightened in those miles to mate the cones properly. Is this a question of not fitting wheel and tightening the spinner properly??
Or is it maybe one of those repro spinners which is not machined properly and won't tighten adequately?




