Hudson Axle breakage in Nascar?

50C8DAN
50C8DAN Senior Contributor
edited November -1 in HUDSON
Saw this over at the off topic Studebaker forum:

http://forum.studebakerdriversclub.com/showthread.php?45008-Hudson-problem-explained-by-the-Legendary-Cotton-Owens:woohoo:

Comments

  • Ol racer
    Ol racer Senior Contributor
    edited October 2010
    FYI
    Regarding this Post on Hudson having dissasterous accidents while true were actually rare occurrences in the very early NASCAR Days before the Fabulous Hudson Hornet Era when Hudson Engineers had designed a 'Severe Useage' Axle Shaft, among other suspension parts.


    Before the 'Severe Useage Axle', the right rear shaft would break in the turn lodging the wheel up in the quarter panel causing a violent rollover in a period without lap belts........

    I heard Smokey Yunick told a Hudson race car builder in the Ninety's that NASCAR later permitted a 'truck floater hub' on the rear for Safety, but not sure if completely accurate...

    Keep in mind NASCAR raced 2 or 3 times a week in those early days often on bumpy Fair Ground horse Tracks and primitive Dirt speedways then drove the Car to the next Town without the preventive maintenance like todays Race Cars, posting many Wins and setting Records that stood for decades......
  • hudsontech
    hudsontech Senior Contributor
    That was one problem Hudson had - along with tearing the centers out of the wheel hubs until they were allowed to go to reinforced wheels. Tho I didn't race in NASCAR (pretty much local Saturday/Sunday shoot-outs) I saw wheels with the centers ripped out of them - and not only on Hudsons. Remember, we were running on 1/3rd, 1/4 or 3/4 (or anything in between) dirt tracks - this was back in the mid- to -late 50's.

    I've read somewhere that one fix for the axle problem was turning down Cadillac axles to fit.

    Hudsonly,
    Alex Burr
    Memphis, TN
  • Park_W
    Park_W Senior Contributor
    Tim Flock told us of the Hornet axle breaking and trapped wheel problem at one of Ray Pschirer's meets years ago. Said there'd been at least two fatalities in such violent rollover incidents.
  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User]
    This problem was not isolated to Hudson a lot of other car manufacturers had the same problem. If you watch some of the old races you can see this happening to lots of other brands.
  • bellbigdawg
    bellbigdawg Expert Adviser
    should I worry about my 41 hudson breaking centers out of the stock wheels on a street car? got 500 horsepower, automatic, and 4 wheel disc brakes. was going to have stockton wheel weld my original centers to new rims. any feedback on this?
  • Ol racer
    Ol racer Senior Contributor
    FYI

    I would think if the centers are in good shape( not rusted or holes enlarged), they should hold up fine on todays highways, unless you plan on cornering at high speeds through bumps and ruts. The Hudson steel wheel is as strong (maybe stronger) then todays steel from offshore.
  • Lee ODell
    Lee ODell Senior Contributor
    I'm curious, why weld a 60 year old wheel center to a new wheel?

    Lee O'Dell
  • TwinH
    TwinH Senior Contributor
    edited October 2010
    Lee ODell wrote:
    I'm curious, why weld a 60 year old wheel center to a new wheel?

    Lee O'Dell

    Quite common actually. I've had Chevy rally wheels re-rimmed for custom
    offsets and my 49 Commodore came to me with new 15x6 hoops on stock centers.
    I get great service from these guys. www.rallyamerica.com
  • SuperDave
    SuperDave Senior Contributor
    Another advantage, is being able to use the original wheel covers and still get a wider rim.
  • bellbigdawg
    bellbigdawg Expert Adviser
    changing my 16 by 4 stock wheels to 16 by 6 so I can acually buy good tires for it. (want to run 225/75R16 WWW radials)
  • Unknown
    Unknown
    This was a problem Hudson had that I had long forgotten about. Not just in NASCAR. In the late sixties my sister drove a '51 Hornet and I had a'53 Hornet. She had more than one axle break for her, I can't remember if it was two or three. I had one break on mine, on the left side. Other Hudson Club members at the time pointed out that this was a fairly common problem with Hornets and if you wanted to correct it you had to go with "Severe Useage Axles".

    Lee
  • 54SuperWasp
    54SuperWasp Expert Adviser
    Well, this is the way we lost our father's car. Back in 64, my older brother who had bought my father's 51 Hudson Hornet convertible was in the army and going back to his base about 900 km from Montreal. My brother was a little rough with his cars... And at about 500 km from home he broke an axle. Sold the car for about a hundred dollar and continue is trip hitch-hiking... I returned in the same area in 1974 to check if the car would be around cause it was too nice at the time to finish in a scrap yard, but with no success.:(
  • Kdancy
    Kdancy Senior Contributor
    This problem wasn't just a "Hudson" issue but also others that used the tapered axles like the Dana 44 rear ends that Studebaker used. Several vendors came up with flanged axle conversions for the Stude Dana 44 just because of the tapered axle issue.
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