TC Hubs Switched?

[jvpeters]

My left rear wheel's knock-off decided it no longer wanted to remain an active part of my 1949 MG TC and removed itself as I was driving down the road. Fortunately I was not going very fast and the wheel managed to stay on for the most part. When I looked at the knock-off as I put the wheel back in place I noticed that it said Right (Off).

I inherited the TC from my father, who had it partially restored by one of the old mechanics at Harrah's back in the day. I never even imagined that the knock offs would be on the wrong side. But having owned MG's with wire wheels in the past I know having them on the wrong side was not healthy.

I was a bit confused though, since they are marked Left (Near) and Right (off). What is near? What is off? I learned here that near means, 'near' curb, which then made sense (thanks for that btw) as the curbs, in jolly England would be on the left side of the car to the driver.

I mistakenly thought that I would just be able to switch them, putting the one from the right side of the MG marked (left/near) onto the left side of the car, but that does not seem to work. And the one from the left (marked right/off) will not go on the right side.

Could the mechanic have actually flipped the hubs when they were working on this??

Harrah's made the cars look nice, but I am finding that there were a lot of little things they did to cut corners as I sort the car out.

[Steve Simmons]

It does sound like the hubs are on the wrong sides, and it's an easy mistake to make if you've never dealt with wire wheels before. You will need to switch those around before you drive the car again.

[Martin Johnson]

Maybe easier to remember this way:

Near and Off Side

The horse's left is his near side, the right his off side. We lead horses, do up their tack, and mount from the near side. Believe it or not, this all goes back to the days of wearing swords on horseback. Since a sword is usually hung from the left hip, mounting from the left means the scabbarded sword does not have to cross the horse's back as the rider swings his leg over. Also, if you are mounting with sword in hand, your left hand is able to control the reins, and the right hand your sword, as you mount.

Cool, huh?
Martin Johnson, alas, born too late.
TC6219
Long Beach, CA

[Ray White]

What if you were left handed?

[Bob Schapel]

Sounds like you will need to switch the hubs too. The left hubs and left knock-offs have right-hand-threads while the right hubs and right knock-offs have left-hand-threads. Check that fronts and rears are all correct. Being the wrong way round is very dangerous as you have witnessed.

Some might wonder why some vehicles (trucks in particular) appear to have the opposite. They have right-hand-threads on the right, and left-hand-threads on the left. That is because wheel nuts have male tapers, while knock-offs have female tapers. The orbital action which tends to make the nuts turn, works the opposite way.

Most cars just have right hand threads on all wheels. That works well when several nuts are all tight. However, if you have ever lost a "bolt on" wheel due to the nuts coming loose, it was probably a left-hand wheel.

Bob

[Duncan M]

When the spindles and the hubs are on the correct sides, the spindle nut tightens in the opposite direction of the knockoff. It all makes sense.