I think I may have one or two under the bench. And, if I dig deep enough, I may even be able to come up with a hub, should anyone have an interest..

Location: Cambridge

This is timely thread for all owners, as this is presumably one spare to make sure one has!
Are there 2 or 3 variants of halfshafts all together.. and when were the changeover dates?

My present axle is dated mid 1937 and I had been wondering whether it was a "final" one or not before embarking on a search.

Anyone had experience of answer to question 3?

Location: Sheffield

I was taught to always replace a half shaft on its original side as they develop a torsional twist with use and are more likely to break when reversed, carrying a spare will of course get you home but if you fit the wrong side be prepared for the same thing to happen again in the future.

Location: Pembrokeshire

Thanks for the input received on this subject. A good second hand it will have to be.
Thanks

Location: Oakley hants

The conventional wisdom is that welding weakens. I don’t know where unmolested cranks most commonly fail, but the examples I have tested and where the rear journal had been heated, showed generous cracks adjacent. Axle material similar. Many welds introduce a detectable crack at the edge of the weld.

For most other cars which twist axle splines, the same refitting is important. But Seven ones usually initiated by the key hammering. Many used axles have detectable cracks at the keyway when tested but provided the taper very tight and making heavy contact inboard there is little bending or twisting at the crack and life can be little affected. For those with the Seven spirit of old and reusing such axles, probably better reversed!

As a matter of interest are the long tapers relieved in the middle as the later flywheels and as the tapers on most other makes? Provided the diameters at end of taper on axle and in hub much as original reduction of any bedraggled centre would replicate the setup with many other makes. If the taper really tight the fit of the key not too important.

I appreciate every car is different depending on the cw adj but is there a recognised safe minimum length from tight hub flange to axle gear?

Location: Auckland, NZ

Derek,

To my knowledge there are at least two types of the late (long keyway) half shafts/hubs.

I bring this up as it would be irritating to find you have the wrong one when you really need it!

Perhaps some research on the Index cards would help here.

http://archive.a7ca.org/wp-content/uploads/IC_A7_BO-REARAXLE.pdf

Sheet BO 2 shows axle shafts as 1A 7181 though I'm not sure when these date from - they may relate to the introduction of Big 7 type axle case in August '37 from chassis no. 276998 as shown on the first card in the set. Sheet BO 8 definitely shows a change of axle shaft in July '38 to 1A 7300

Really, this isn't my strong point at all but maybe someone with a better knowledge and understanding of this area might be able to do some more detailed study?

hth...

Location: Cambridge

It might be a good idea to take an already-fitted hub outer as well as the hakfshaft. Then, if needed, you know it will fit.

Location: Richmond, Texas

Hi Dave

When decent new half shafts were not available as they are now, I have repaired the keyways by tig welding the keyway and re machining.

Never had a failure with them.

Location: The Centre of the Universe

Well today I have been getting what I thought was one back axel out of the garage roof, turned out to be three, the first two had knackered half shafts so no good but the third which on first inspection looked like it was going to be a no hoper came up trumps. Now Ruairidh says that he knows of two different types with the long taper and Vince tells me that there is a meatier version also. Can anybody point out the differences ?. Also what does the meatier version measure different to the earlier ones.
I believe that I have what I want but would like to know the differences. Vince also recommends having the hub outer ready s well

Location: Oakley hants

I have also come across two different long taper halfshaft, one is far smaller in the diameter of the taper. I assumed, possibly incorrectly, that the heavier one was from a big seven axle, and the smaller was made to allow a slightly shorter hub outer for the fitment of normal seven wire wheels?

PS I have an ARR Ruby axle from 2869** waiting for a rebuild, I could probably remove the hub outers and measure if that will help anyone

Location: Auckland NZ

Ian, if it is not too much trouble ,I would be interested. My APE is 283900 May 1938 the donor axel is from Oct 1937

Location: Oakley hants

Got to join in here! My APE Opal registered in June 1938 chassis No. 286.... has it's original semi Girling rear axle (with cable brakes) and that is fitted with what I would call standard half shafts. They are not the type with the long taper and key or the larger ones as in the very late 'heavy' axle. I get the impression that Austin used whatever they had towards the end and the Opal was a cheap car. If that is the case then very late cars could have any type of axle and still be correct. You can easily identify type with the long shafts by looking at the outer hub, it's increased length is immediately apparent.
Good night
Vince Leek

Location: Moonraker country

Adding to Vince's information; my '38 APE Opal 287*** has the later 'heavy' axle with the pegged wheels and rod brakes. The very last A7's, aligned with the similar axle in the Big 7, didn't have the pegs. Another nuance on these 'heavies' is that the bigger hub needed a bored out drum - thay are different to the earlier Girling ones, I believe they're on the fronts as well. The first Girling axles had shafts the same as the earlier 'normal' 6' 9" axle. What's confusing here is there is a long taper version of these 'normal' shafts. I think these were a Remax manufactured replacement and have recently been remanufactured by one of our esteemed suppliers.

Back on topic; welding alloy steels is possible but has to be done in a very controlled way managing heat input and subsequent treatment, and as said above you can end up with a banana shaped shaft. It can be done but why go to the trouble and take the chance if new good quality shafts are available?

Dave

This may be of interest taken from Clifford's catalogue from the 1950's.
Regent replacement axle shafts.
Austin Seven 1937/38 bearing dia. 0.890" 23 3/8" long.
Austin Seven 1938/39 Ch. No. 287000 up. Bearing dia. 1.015" 24 1/8" long.
If anyone is interested I have a new old stock Regent 1938/39 that is of no use to me.

Location: Deepest darkest Kent

Having identified the correct half shaft and stripped it out of the axle that I had in the garage roof I cleaned it up and made sure that the hub outer was correctly fitted. I then greased them both up and wrapped them in cling film, followed by Denso tape to make sure that they would not suffer from being stored under the car ( see picture). Hopefully that is where they will stay for ever more.

Location: Oakley hants

This were well hidden but I found them today.

Light and heavy type long keyway hubs:



Right hand one one is the light type.

Those photos will definitly come in useful if I ever get round to sorting through my big box of Gnarly and/or greasy hubs -Thanks Ruairidh.

Location: N W Kent