Axel, hubs & brakes - Refresh or replace?

[philby]

Hi All,

I'm well into the refresh of my '59 Supalight and I'm keen to see what your thoughts are on the safety side of the axel, hubs and brakes.

Pictured below is the setup after a very quick run-over with the wire brush. It looks solid and no evidence of serious rust. I've soaked all the nuts/bolts with WD40 and will pull them off tomorrow.

My plan is to get new hubs, bearings and brakes (springs if I need to) but keep the rest as is. Any thoughts or recommendations?

Cheers,

Phil

[JBJ]

Hi

That all looks in pretty good condition.
My thoughts would be that nothing major would be wrong with the braking capacity of the system, given that any modern day vehicle would have a towing/braking capacity well in excess of that of a 1960,s car, so there isn't as much need for increased braking on part of the van.

I would definitely replace wheel bearings & seals, & get the brake linings re bonded & brake drums radius ground to suit. Generally not a big job.

I cant see any reason to replace hubs, as any wear occurring on bearings is inside the inner bearing race The hubs cannot wear unless the bearing shell comes loose in the hub & wears the hub that way, & that is extremely unlikely & uncommon.
I see your hubs are 5 stud, so the van should have readily available wheels, so you should not need to change wheels/tyres.

I would make sure the front & rear spring shackles & pins aren't worn, but if they are you should be able to find a spring works/blacksmith in most larger towns to replace them. Don't put them back in if they are worn, because they can fail with wear, & the van spring will drop onto ground, especially if the front fails.

So I would stick with what you have, & just put it back into the best condition you can

JBJ

[philby]

Thanks JBJ,

I spent a few hours on it this morning and I think you're on the money.

I took the bearings out and took all the parts to the local auto shop. The guys there agreed about the condition so I've come home with new parts which will go on tomorrow. Shackle parts were not available but I'll replace the bushes.

Cheers,

Phil

[tooleyau]

Just my two bobs worth.
In restoring my 57 bondwood van I replaced everything except the springs. New heavier axle, new electric brakes, hubs, bushes , wheels and tyres, basically everything from bearing cap to bearing cap. etc. The reasoning behind this is that we plan to travel far and wide and if something does happen then I can get replacements from the nearest caravan supplier.
I upgraded the axle to a 45m axle from a 39mm. The 39mm axle is rated at 1000kg, the van weighs 890 unladen. Add fridge, gas bottle, spare tyre,and bits and bobs, food, clothing etc it adds up. I realise that the van is not going to collapse at 1001kg but to be on the safe side, and with the intention of long and safe travelling, I upgraded and modernised.
As I said, just my two bobs worth.
Michael.

[philby]

Good thinking Michael,

I was originally going down a similar path, however, time and money are not in my favor at the moment. Once through rego and getting to a scheduled event, I may revisit the tip-to-tip replacement.

I did get a quote for everything including leaf springs but it was Around $1200 supply only.

Cheers.

[King Fisher]

Personally I would keep the leaf springs and only replace them if they are damaged in some way. There is normally not too much that can go wrong with a leaf spring and a new axle can usually still bolt up to them anyway. If you replace them then the rego might/can ask for specks on the load capabilities of the new springs. Whereas they usually don't care about the load capacity of original springs. From the picture they look in excellent condition so if it was me and you have rims/wheels to suit the stud pattern then I would simply take it down to the local break mechanic and get the breaks/seals/barings and hubs reco'd. Then its a simple case of bolting it back on, and you know it will fit well, whereas with new springs you may find you have to makeup mounts and brackets to accommodate a new size spring, or the leaver may not fit in the right place etc... In our case we used the original axle and got some extremely heavy duty welding done to attatch some new stumps only. We had to replace the stumps in Bessie as one baring was an impossible size to obtain anymore and we could not find a replacement. We also used the opportunity to change the rim size and stud pattern and "fit brakes!" to our 14ft bondy. Have a look in Fisher's Resto

Good luck with what ever you choose to do