Spinner Safety Wiring - Straight In

[Terry Stapley]

A friend that knows a lot about Cobras told me that he was told by a wheel manufacturer to safety wire the spinners straight in toward the wheel, not at an angle toward the tightening side.
Has anybody heard of this?
I do not see an advantage in wiring the spinner this way because it seems it would be more difficult to see if one had any spinner movement with the safety wire going straight at the wheel!!

[wtm442]

Here is procedure I use. 3 spokes away from straight.

http://performanceunlimited.com/cobr...tructions.html

[Silverback51]

Straight in is kind of like pushing a rope. Doesn't work.

[DougD]

I agree with wtm442's post with the following exception. I feel that a 1/2" or so "sag" is needed rather than wiring it tightly. Should the spinner start to loosen, the sag would go away and the wire would appear tight. This gives a visual indication that the spinner is starting to loosen, and can be checked quickly by just glancing at each wheel while walking around the car.

[Power Surge]

Originally Posted by DougD

I agree with wtm442's post with the following exception. I feel that a 1/2" or so "sag" is needed rather than wiring it tightly. Should the spinner start to loosen, the sag would go away and the wire would appear tight. This gives a visual indication that the spinner is starting to loosen, and can be checked quickly by just glancing at each wheel while walking around the car.

You can also use a 3/8" socket extension to create a "loop" in the middle of the winding that makes for a great visual indicator.

[Jamo]

Originally Posted by Silverback51

Straight in is kind of like pushing a rope. Doesn't work.

Well said.

The one protocol everyone seems to forget is that the wire needs to be twisted clockwise on the driver's side, and counter-clockwise on the passenger side.

[Blas]

Originally Posted by Jamo

Well said.

The one protocol everyone seems to forget is that the wire needs to be twisted clockwise on the driver's side, and counter-clockwise on the passenger side.

Unless you live South of the equator...then it just the opposite...

[HI Cobra]

You will need the special order reversible safety wire pliers for this application.

[jwd]

OR you can just wire them tight so that the wire will allow no movement without breaking (that's what safety wires are for anyway). A broken wire would be your "visual indicator". I've never seen, in any type of construction, where you are supposed to put in a loop or leave a saftey wire loose. That defeats its purpose.

Jim

[Power Surge]

Originally Posted by jwd

OR you can just wire them tight so that the wire will allow no movement without breaking (that's what safety wires are for anyway). A broken wire would be your "visual indicator". I've never seen, in any type of construction, where you are supposed to put in a loop or leave a saftey wire loose. That defeats its purpose.

Jim

From what I have been told, the wire is supposed to be an indicator first, and a limiter second. You are supposed to check your wire's tightness everytime before you drive your car. A wire that's tightened up means the spinner needs to be tightened.

[Chaplain]

I have to agree with Jim. Safety wire is supposed to inhibit the loosening of a fastener. I have safety wired fasteners I can't readily see for the purpose of ensuring that parts, especially in critical applications, stay fastened. If the wire is moving that means the fastener is loose and loose parts have an inertia that can exceed their design strength and you have a failure. An example is a brake rotor fastened to a rotor hat. Does any body want to climb under their car to check all their rotor hat safety wire to see if it's moving? Wire it right and fugedaboudit.

[Power Surge]

Originally Posted by Chaplain

I have to agree with Jim. Safety wire is supposed to inhibit the loosening of a fastener. I have safety wired fasteners I can't readily see for the purpose of ensuring that parts, especially in critical applications, stay fastened. If the wire is moving that means the fastener is loose and loose parts have an inertia that can exceed their design strength and you have a failure. An example is a brake rotor fastened to a rotor hat. Does any body want to climb under their car to check all their rotor hat safety wire to see if it's moving? Wire it right and fugedaboudit.

Just because it's called safety wire, doesn't mean it has to hold something tight. There are plenty of applications where safety wire is just there to hold things from coming off, not hold them from loosening up.

The problem with using safety wire to SOLEY stop a spinner from loosening, is that you can NEVER get it tight enough, no matter what you do. Both loops at the ends will tighten past what you can do with a tool. And if you go too tight with a tool, you wind the wire past it's stress point.

So no matter how "tight" you think you've got your wire done, it's not tight enough to prevent movement.

Now don't get me wrong.... I use my safety wire in the fashion of making it as tight as I can when I install it. But I ALSO check how taught it is when I drive the car. If the wire has become like a guitar string, the knock offs get a few whacks with the lead hammer and then new safety wire.

[Jamo]

Really?

Does your plier have a counter?

[Maurice Johnson]

Jamo,

For those of us who are "safety wire challenged", is a plier one side of a set of pliers?

[Hal Copple]

for years and many thousands of miles, i never safety wired my tri-wing spinners. I just tapped on them with my dead blow hammer often, to ensure they stayed tight. I have found as i am sure others too, that it you wack on the spinners with a lead hammer, that eventually you may create a problem when the wheel needs to come off. So there is an art, so to speak, of sufficient tightening, so it stays on, yet is not impossible to remove. I use a dead blow urethane hammer to put the spinners on, with antiseize where needed, then drive the car a bit over a bumpy road, then recheck them, and then safety wire them. Safety wire somes in several gages or strengths, i use strong wire, and wire then spin it to twirl the wire, so that if the spinner were to start to turn and loosen, it is a direct pull on the wire. My wire is basically as close to a 90 degree perpendicular to the end of the spinner wing.

I drilled and slightly chamfered holes in each triwing end, so have three choices to get this angle, and keep the wire away from the air fill valve on the rim.

Thus far, in countless on and off's, i have never had significant difficulty in removing a spinner, nor one that came loose, or seemed too loose when i tapped on it to remove the spinner.

I am packed and prepped for a weekend at Kershaw, aka Carolinas Motorsports Park this weekend. Chris and I are running with the Porsche club. Put on the Vintage 17 inch wheels with the Michelin PS2 tires, and road tested the tires, checked them, then wired them as above. I wire then snug, without any "warning" slack.

I would rather have them snug, than risk loosing a tire because it became loose before i could re-check the "slack". I take the spinners off with a lead hammer.

Just my opinion, and wish Chris and I well this weekend.

all the best....

[Larry N Johnson]

Hal Copple, thanks for posting. No safety wire on spinners? Well, well, well... Surprize!

A few years ago I witnessed a Jim Click Racing vintage Cobra in a race in Portland OR. Here is the car vintage racing at Pacific Raceway:



During a tire change in the middle of the race, guess what? No safety wire!

This summer, we enjoyed the 3-day BACC "Cobras to the Coast" run. An original 427 Cobra was on the trip. Guess what? No safey wire!

Anyway, I spoke in detail to Lynn Park 5 years ago on safety wiring Trigos. He said the steps are as follows:

1. Tighten the spinners w a lead hammer, good and tight. Mkae sure the rim is flat against the face of the rotor (or drum).

2. The safety wire is an indicator, so wire it perpendicular to the spoke, not angled.

3. Drill 2 small holes in the spinner and one in the spoke.

4. Take a loop of wire around 12-18" long, fold in half.

5. Thread the wire through both holes in the spinner, loop showing.

6. Use the special tool to twist the wire with length enough to reach the spoke.

7. Thread one wire thru the spoke hole. Loop it back around to join the other wire.

8. Now twist the pair or wires an inch or more.

9. Cut off excess and fold twisted wire behind spoke.

Here is the finished product:


The perpendicular wire is an indicator telling if the spinner has moved from accelleration or braking (hense straight in, not angled). Check the indicators from time to time. Carry the lead hammer with you at all times.

The reality is that tightening w the hammer is the key to safety, not the "safety" wire method one way or another. So they are all "good"; no "right" or "wrong" way to do it. (IMHO)

"Keep your spinners tight."

[Power Surge]

Originally Posted by Larry N Johnson

The perpendicular wire is an indicator telling if the spinner has moved from accelleration or braking (hense straight in, not angled).

Just want to comment on this (as I was going through this post looking for the lead hammer reform tool).

The above statement is impossible. The wheel cannot make the spinner move in any direction from accelleration or braking. The wheel is held in place by the hub pins, so the wheel cannot "spin" in relation to the knock off. A knock off can ONLY come loose from vibration, and usually if the wheel is not fully seated to the hub. This would allow "rocking" of the rim on the hub which in conjunction with vibration would cause the spinner to loosen.

[JBo]

There exists a reversible safety wire plier set, that is equipped with a TPI (turns per inch ) counter. It has as well a tightness indicator fabricated from unobtanium that is accurate to 10 urgs per mm in tighteness. it also has a feature that allows for the proper sized "tell" to be in the properly twisted wire , depending on the side of car, tightening rotation applicable to that applicatiom in constant urgs or cu's. It is stainless steel with near unobtainium jaws ( works with all wire sizes uo to 1 nu (nano urg or mu maxi urg sized wire). It may also be used to twist hemroids before covering with a band-aid.
My god, just safety wire the damn knock-ons...it may save your car and your life as I can personally attest.

[HI Cobra]

Heh heh. Just go back to Warren's reference - good info.

http://performanceunlimited.com/cobr...tructions.html

[Power Surge]

I would like to think Jamo is pulling everyone's leg with the different twist directions as used on Cobra spinners.

But regardless, most of the autotwist safety wire tools have both directions.