Left or right.

[Stormin 4,458]

 Today I've been up my farmer friends place. One of the jobs was to get a wheel off a single axle trailer. The wheel hadn't been off since who knows. They'd been trying to get the nuts off, but to no avail.

 So today we got it in the workshop and I got the oxy/acet out and heated up the nuts. Still no movement. I could just see the thread on the studs and after a wire brushing could determine they were LH treaded. It's the LH wheel. We've managed to get four loose, but two are proving difficult. Tightening up after just a little movement. They are now going to get a good soaking in penetrating fluid for a couple of days, the hopefully will be able to be removed.

 The interesting thing about this trailer, built by the local smithy many years ago, is that the axle and wheels came off a Scammel Iron Horse. The three wheeler tractor units used in railway goods yards many years ago.

[Wristpin 400]

I can remember the Iron Horse and its more streamlined successor, the Scarab. One of the more interesting versions of the Scarab had a recovery crane built onto the unit where the trailer coupling would be for recovery duties in the original Dartford (under Thames ) Tunnel which was a single bore with two way traffic. There was one positioned at each end of the tunnel and in the case of a breakdown one could drive down the clear side and on reaching the obstruction spin round with in the width of the carriageway to hook onto whatever was causing the obstruction. I believe that there is one in preservation somewhere.

Left hand threaded near side wheel studs and nuts were once quite common, particularly on military vehicles but as far as I know are out of favour now.

[nigel 1,876]

A couple of years ago I saw three of these at a small show in Sussex they were all in A1 condition

[bankman 17]

Most commercials had LH thread studs on the nearside until spigot mounted wheels became the 'norm' in the late eighties.  My LDV van still has them.

 

Pete.