We are having problems with the hub on a disc brake conversion on a type 1 IRS rear. It is a commonly availiable conversion kit and we have already messed up 2 hubs.
The first hub had the wheel come loose and the wheel studs flogged out the hub. This was probably due to the wheel nuts not being tightened enough, or incorrectly. However, the guy who tightened them swears it was tightened enough.
The second cracked when the new studs were being installed, however, I think the holes were drilled too small for the stud.
The concern I have is that the hub appears to be made of low carbon steel, almost cast iron, and seems to be very brittle.
Has anyone had any issues like this with these products?
Are there other options for this part?
Thanks,
Phil.

You could use the type 3 irs hubs. That is if the hubs are seperate to the discs, pictures would be good.

Hi

Sounds like they could be Chinese hubs, you don't want to have happen what happened to Greg Mackie when his rear brake drum shattered.

I had some billet one made by LMS, not cheap but they would never break.

Sometimes a build up of paint on wheels and hubs can make the nuts come loose even after being tightened properly.

Steve

Thanks for the reply Brent.
I will try to get pictures tonight.
Yes, the hubs are seperate from the discs.
Type 3 has been mentioned but these have been drilled for a Ford 5 stud pattern.
That's why aftermarket is preferable.

Thanks Steve,
I would bet a weeks pay that these are chinese hubs.
I have heard of drums shattering before and a brittle metal would do just that rather than bend on impact.

This is on a show car so it will never go racing, but the owner still wants to drive it on the road occasionally.
I, for one, would not like to drive a car with these hubs on. As Robbie Williams said "I aint afraid of dyin', I just don't want to".

There was no paint at all on the hubs etc. One possibility of the nuts coming loose due to the alloy wheels having large wheel stud holes and very small tapers.
The end of the wheelnuts may have gripped the face of the wheel rather than locating in the taper (installer error)and then tightened fully up.
The car did a coupla hundred km's before getting wobbly.

This is the only other option I know of.

http://www.vwispwest.com/GA-501581P.html 

Unfortunatly only in Porsche or VW patterns.

Look on the samba for cro molly type 3 drive flanges. There are blank ones available to drill as you need

I have a set and they are sweet as they are advertised to be

I will look for a link tomorrow if you can't find them


http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=1242170 

Thanks guys. Will have a look on samba later

The ones mentioned by hellbugged on the samba site are also ISP west but undrilled.
At US$145.00 each plus shipping they are dear, but so is a crash!
Here is a picture of the offenders.
up first is a picture of the original hub with the studs welded in just to get it mobile.
The second is the replacement hub which split like a dropped watermelon. To be fair, a press was used (!) to do this, but apparently very little effort was put in.

I wonder how we would go turning one up out of an old brake drum?

Unfortunately we are in the hands of the manufacturers of these components. As Steve mentioned, the repro. [Zimmermann] drums that I used to replace the original VW rear drums on my Beetle, turned into a disaster.

The material used, heat-treatment, and all other processes must be strictly controlled, and up to very high standards. Go for the best available.

Because of my 'loss of confidence' in after-market stuff, I decided to use 50 year old Porsche drum brakes on the Beetle........I KNOW they are strong.

Thanks for the input, Greg.
Your name, and little moment, has already popped up in the past week.
This is why I like these forums.
We are mugs if we don't take the opportunity to learn from others mistakes.

I accept that about 10%-15% of all the parts I bought for the KG resto would be only good for the bin.
This is the cost of doing business, and I usually buy the dearest part when given a choice.

However, choosing the wrong part, such as a brittle hub, can result in a nasty accident .

looking at the centre of the hub, it looks to be a casting which has then been machined.

Is it a casting? cause if it is, then that definately shoudn't be used for the role it's being used for considering the forces that would be applied to it...

yep thanx Greg, it was your "inspirastional moment" that led me to the molly ones.

X2 on a crash is more costly Phil

chinese junk

get some good S/Hand ones

Yep the freight charge was reasonable and transaction smooth

Good to hear,Daimo.
Currently, I am being labelled "the boy who cried wolf", so I am pulling my wooly head in.

What surprised me was, I found out that the "cheap chinese part" cost about $150.00 shipped from Queensland.
More than what it costs to buy the chrome moly hub in good ole USA!

Is it me, or is there something wrong here?

Wolf! Wolf! Wolf!!!

Oh cr#p.
Did I just Misspell Woolf?

Quote:

Originally posted by HappyDaze Quote: Originally posted by Lucky Phil Oh cr#p. Did I just Misspell Woolf? Not then, but you have now.

If the hub does this what is the rest of the brakes like.