As, unfortunatly half expected, doing the hub nut up after spending many hours rebuilding the rear axle it locked up solid......

The hub is worn, but the half shaft re-conditioned. The hub is sliding a long way onto the shaft, which is allowing it to pull on the side of the differential (I think).

Any suggestions? My thoughts are:

1. Get another hub. Still need to strip the axle again to lap the two together.

2. Put the half shaft in a lathe and take a couple of millimetres off the teeth of the half shaft to stop it pulling on the diff casing.

Any views, even if they are "you should not cut the teeth back - they are the weak point", or "If you take off the third thing on the left and turn it around it will be OK", or " Sorry for you mate - no chance"

It is of course after being up all night making sure every joint is sealed, all pieces meshing nicely, and all threads with Loctite on them........

Thanks!

Peter,
I would find another hub. You don't have to strip the axle completely to lap the hub onto the half shaft, you can, with care, do it in situ I have found - twice!
Of course, it's quite tedious and painful, but less so than dismounting the axle again.

Regards, Stuart

How did you stop the shaft slipping down into the Differential when you were lapping it on?

Did you go for new or second hand hubs?

Tahnks

Peter

The answer to your last question is, by being very carefull!!

You will find you don't have to lap the thing to a massive degree if the half shaft taper is reasonable if using a new hub. The traditional problem is that A7 people have always wanted to do things the cheapest way possible even if that means doing it all again a year or two later. Now new hubs are available (and new half shafts) spend the money, do it once, properly, and forget about it for the foreseeable future.

STEVE

This works and you don't have to do anything serious, like stripping down the axle again(I've done it that way before 3-4 times).
Make sure the taper is clean with no high spots(if there is,dress them down) and make sure that the hub is not too 'baggy'.If it doesn't rock when offered onto the taper,its probably ok.
Buy the wife a tin of Cadburys Celebrations,tip them onto her lap and run out to the garage with the tin.
The tin is about 10 thou thick and if you shim the taper/hub,you will find it will move/shim the hub out by ~3mm(about 1/16th).Try it with an old hub and halfshaft,you'll see what I mean.
The rough shape to start with is about 2" broad and cut it out in a semi circular shape.Stick it into the hub and then shove the shaft in forcing the tin onto the shape of the inner hub,trim around and there you have your shim(make allowances for the woodruff key).
With the shim in place,spend more time as previous on the woodruff key,get the oversized ones and buy a good file.Make sure you can see daylight or get a thin strand of wire between the hub and woodruff key after you have given it a 'dunk' on with the shim as this will be taken up when you whump it up good and tight.
Do one side and if you feel the axle is still a bit tight,do the other side as well.
I ruined a NOS 4.9/1 crownwheel+pinion 3 year ago because I thought I could get away with it,'just a bit tight,It'll do'.
In the words of Amy Winehouse,No,No,No.
Slip some loctite over everything,and use the big halfshaft nuts you can get, as it spreads the load more evenly over the hub,washers+small nuts don't really cut the mustard in my opinion.
Whump the nuts up good and tight,recheck after 100 miles and I promise you will have a pretty reliable back axle as nothing will be pulling the carrier one way or another and the tin,being soft takes up all the little low spots on your halfshafts.
I bust a halfshaft trialling last year,the taper never shattered,it twisted itself apart about 4" from the end of the halfshaft.It's a bodge,but it's a good cheap alternative to new hubs,halfshafts.It's a hobby,Why remortgage to buy the proper bits when you can do it for a couple of quid.
Oh! and the wife will be happy too!

Peter, How to stop the shaft from turning as you lap the hub on;

I found a nice long bit of wire which just fitted the split pin hole, insert wire in hole then bend both ends forward so you can grip it and hold everything fairly still. As Steve J. says you don't need a lot of force, just patience.

I happened to have a few good hubs but these are thin on the ground. I think new hubs a good investment.

Regards, Stuart