MGB rear hubs and tightening torques?

[Ian F]

I've just had the half shaft and bearing out of one side of my '72 BGT to check if the bearing was OK. It was OK, so I have to look elsewhere for the faint thumping noise I get on the motorway at 70mph.
Putting it all back together went very well, but after tightening the castellated nut to 150 lb ft (as specified in the official manual for the Salisbury axle) I found I was just past the hole for the split pin (it was half covered by the nut). I had to torque to around 185 lb ft to get to the next hole and get the split pin in.
I did wonder whether this was excessive and could cause me any problems?
An alternative I think would be to put a slim washer under the nut to change the place where I hit the 150 lb ft torque.

Any suggestions please? Is 185 lb ft too much? How does everyone else get on with this job?

Thanks in advance,

IanF
Inverkeithing
Fife

[Dave Linkson]

Haynes manual says, axleshaft nut (semi floating axle) 150*lbf ft
* further tighten to align split pin hole
So looks like it's OK to tighten further..

[Ian F]

Yes, thanks Dave, that footnote was why I did tighten further, but using a torque wrench to check just how tight resulted in that reading of 185/190 lbft so That surprised me a little! Interestingly the American MG Forum members have suggested both alternative actions - some saying it was fine to torque that much, others saying it's way too tight and I should back it off and leave it at less than 150lbft if that's what it takes to get the hole lined up for the split pin. Quite a few respondents claimed that using a torque wrench was completely unnecessary!

So, still a bit of uncertainty here, but as you suggest, if you simply follow the Manual that should be OK. Anyone else ever measured the extra torque applied to align the pin hole??

IanF.

[Peter Cresswell]

Another alternative is to put a shim/washer behind the nut that allows a the split pin hole to line up at 150lb torque.

[Dave Linkson]

I would only go by what's documented in a recognised workshop manual, Internet forums and websites are not always correct, as I've found out a number of times to my cost.

I'll try and get some feedback from some friends of mine who have over 40 years maintenance & restoration experience with MGs.