Cracked Hubs

[Chakka]

I was in the process of cleaning and rebuilding a front hub for my Harescrambler and started to notice cracks running parallel to the axle between the webs behind the brake liners. careful inspection reveled cracks between spoke holes as well. Needless to say I scrapped it and took one off the storage rack to use in place. Is this common? I have never noticed it before but now I feel I should remove and inspect the hubs on my rebuilt bikes. Seems dangerous not to at least inspect.

Chris

[Lew Mayer]

Yes, I've seen and heard of the hubs cracking. I believe the magnesium ones were more prone to cracking than the aluminum.

Lew Mayer

[Mick Milakovic]

Chris and Lew, many of the early model mag hubs were prone to cracking.  You can identify them by looking at the outside center of the hub, and they will have 6 finned ribs.  Later model mag hubs also had 6 ribs, but 2 of them were smaller in diameter.  These had larger, reinforced axle shaft areas and didn't crack as much.  Hope this helps in your search!