Near Disaster

[jmimac351]

Originally Posted by Murphy

Looks like possibly the casting that is the spinner has enough of a raised radius to force the push pin in as it rotates?

Mike, I see what you mean and I agree. One way or another it got depressed and that seems to make sense. I never would have thought that could happen though given how high that button sticks up. I have Vintage wheels with billet spinners and they don't appear to have as much bevel. I'd definitely opt for the billet ones. Glad nothing happened. And, glad to hear you are solo approved.

[Slither]

Originally Posted by JBo

safety wire as a failsafe?

Agree 100%!

[stephen low]

Reading this one with interest.

Why don't you swap spinner sides and see if it recurs on the other wheel, then you know its the spinner not the safety latch??

Know sort of what it feels like, swapped a dirty spare on a 4WD once and as the mud on the backside of the whell fell out this allowed the tyre to then move. It was the missus that called me to say tyre has nearly fallen off with only 2 of 6 wheel nuts still just in place.

Fortunately not your average missus driver and she can pick up on these things!

Good luck.

[FatBoy]

Originally Posted by stephen low

Why don't you swap spinner sides and see if it recurs on the other wheel, then you know its the spinner not the safety latch??

Stating the obvious, but the spinners can't be swapped side to side as the left side of the car has right-hand threads and the right side has left-hand threads.

I would be inclined to take up David's offer of some billet spinners. I'm pretty sure that mine wouldn't be able to override the safety button.

Paul

[Buzz]

Originally Posted by Murphy

[/IMG]

OK, here is a pic. Looks like possibly the casting that is the spinner has enough of a raised radius to force the push pin in as it rotates? It appears the pin jumped the threads at the highest section of the spinner??? OK NASA guys tell me what really happened..

Looking closely at the picture, The ears on the spinner bulge outward from the face with a nice radiused curve. The markings on the face indicate that it might be possible that the curving bulge of the knockoff ear, which is close to the level of the retaining pin, caught the pin and forced it down enough for the spinner to slide over it.

Blow up the pic and look at the mark thet spirals inward from the bulge of the knockoff ear at 12:00 o'clock. It starts at the height of the top of the pin and it works its way down to the edge of the center hole beneath the ear at 5:00 o'clock. If this mark was made by the pin rubbing against the turning spinner, that may be a telling clue.

Barring a failure of the spring pin itself or the spinner starting off on top of the pin (which Murphy has assured us it didn't), that is the only way I see the pin depressing enough to allow the spinner to pass.

EDIT: The more I study the pic the more convinced I am that that spinner design is not safe with the spring pin arrangement. Look at the spinner in the other picture on page 1. The pin rides on the flat of the raised bevel around the center hole. The bulge of the ears on Murphy's spinner can definitely contact the pin and force it downward.

If I am reading the picture correctly, this will happen again with that type of spinner.

[Jamo]

Big Boss is spot on...if it's on tight/correct and fits correctly, it shouldn't come loose.

Just compared the two pics, as Buzz did...good eyes mi amigo.

Murph...turn the damn spinner slowly against the pin to duplicate what Buzz is describing you should see contact against the top of the pin. Might take harder force (hammer or centrifugal) to make it happen, but there is definitly a difference in the ears.

[Slither]

Just safety wire the dang thing and forget about it. At this point, I would always be second guessing the validity of the button holding that wheel back. If you can't trust it 100%, don't use it. If it happened once, it can happen again! The button is a great idea, but apparently it isn't fool proof. Remember, this is a SAFETY concern!!!

[Doug I]

I'm with Buzz - the flare at the toe of the spinner ear appears to have a large enough radius that it's able to force the safety pin down by wedge action. Doing it by hand may not replicate the result as all the vibration etc from road conditions are missing.

I'd still put it down as 'freaky' that it happens. So many variables have to be 'just so' for it to happen.

Safety wire is a misnomer. It will not prevent a nut/bolt/spinner from working loose - wired properly it will however show evidence that something has moved. Installing safety wire correctly is an art.

[Slither]

If a wheel becomes loose, it may be able to break the safety wire without a problem. There is a lot of back and forth force on a loose wheel. Unless the safety wire is a large enough gauge, it could break. Is there a chance that the wheel is not correct? I assume that the wheel is a Trigo. If so, they are not all perfect, to say the least. After all, a correctly installed wheel and spinner shouldn't come loose. Just my .02!

[Murphy]

Yes to Buzz, Jamo & Slither the picture shows the mark where the pin touched the spinner face. I should have blown up that part of the pic and called it out.

David K came to the rescue and is sending some new spinners. My purpose in this post was to point out the fact a "pre flight" inspection is the prudent thing to do. Know Kirkham know fun, No Kirkham no fun.

[David Kirkham]

Mike,

We should have your new knock offs out to you in a couple of days. I didn't realize we were completely out of them. I'll ship them the minute they come off the machine!

David

[TButtrick]

I agree the safety latch is a concern but more of concern is that the spinner is coming loose. I know I'm gonna catch holy $h!t for this but here is a pic of my passenger side front Vintage Wheel after about 100 miles. This is with right handed threads on the right side and tightens toward the front. As you can see from the picture, the safety wire indicates that the spinner has tightened more after driving. I have a loop in the safety wire that I monitor before each drive.

[jmimac351]

Wow Todd, your spinner looks like it sits way out at the end of the hub. My Vintage wheels don't look like that. Are yours unique in some way? Oh, and you have a knick in your rim.

[TButtrick]

Originally Posted by jmimac351

Wow Todd, your spinner looks like it sits way out at the end of the hub. My Vintage wheels don't look like that. Are yours unique in some way? Oh, and you have a knick in your rim.

Yup. Don't have a stiff Martini and then mess with your spinners. Both fronts have the same material of the hub sticking out. The rears have a bit more. Your car is gorgeous. Not many cars I've seen that look good in 17s but yours is sharp. Been thinking of getting some spares like yours.

[jmimac351]

Thanks Todd. Those are Complete Custom Wheel (CCW) but of course I had to get rid of them when I went to the Vintage KO's. If the cobra was going to see any more track time I would probably get a set of 17" Vintage knock offs. But since I got the Panoz the cobra has been relegated to wax duty and official 4-wheel Harley duty...

[Murphy]

Originally Posted by David Kirkham

Murphy,

If you think the knock off is any sort of a problem, I will send you out a new set of our billet knock offs today (burr, too big of bevel, whatever). Just let me know. Let's get to the bottom of this.

David

Should I be watching my mailbox?

[FatBoy]

Originally Posted by TButtrick

I agree the safety latch is a concern but more of concern is that the spinner is coming loose. I know I'm gonna catch holy $h!t for this but here is a pic of my passenger side front Vintage Wheel after about 100 miles. This is with right handed threads on the right side and tightens toward the front. As you can see from the picture, the safety wire indicates that the spinner has tightened more after driving. I have a loop in the safety wire that I monitor before each drive.

Unless I'm having a complete brain failure, that doesn't sound right. On the passenger (right) side, you should have a left-hand thread that tightens anti-clockwise, surely i.e. they tighten against the normal wheel rotation.

[TButtrick]

And that's where the controversy lies. These are right handed threads on the passenger side which would tighten with normal wheel rotation. The wire indicates that the spinner has done just that... tightened. The conventional method is opposite from what I have but nobody seems to understand why it should be any particular way other than its just the way its been done over the years. I'm starting to think the spinners where tightened towards the rear so they didn't tighten so much that they couldn't get them off in the pits during racing?

[David Kirkham]

Murphy,

We are out of wing nuts and immediately scheduled them back into production when I found out about this. We are just getting them finished today. I should have called and told you. My apologies. They will ship today or tomorrow at the latest! Thanks for your patience and being a great customer!

David

[Murphy]

David, I will say it again. Buying your car was the best high ticket item I have ever purchased. Would do it again for sure.