I am trying to figure out the logic of the spinner design that
holds the road wheels in place. I have the three eared spinners
on my 1971 E-type. On the right (passenger) side the lettering
says "right(off)side" with the direction of the undo arrow in
the direction of forward tire rotation. The driver side lettering
says "left(near)side" and the undo arrow is also in the direction of forward tire rotation. What is the meaning of the OFF and NEAR on the spinners and why tighten in the reverse of wheel rotation. Also, to
remove the spinner you turn in the undo direction. To install, instead
of undo, is it dodo?

Submitted by dale@ls.net on Fri, 06/04/2010 - 20:29

George and Alan. Thanks for your responce, both of your explanations sound logical.
So, neither one of you picked up on my dodo joke?

Submitted by alan.barc@veri… on Fri, 06/04/2010 - 15:53

George is correct. The near side to Brits is the curb or passenger side of the car (left) and the off side is the center of the road or the drivers side (right). I assume that the spinners for export did not reverse the near and off designations for left hand drive export models but hey its a Jaguar.

Submitted by SE98-32482CJ on Fri, 06/04/2010 - 14:55

Dale by your description you have the "federal" hub not--if you have a brass adaptor to remove them then that is what they were. You have the driections correct and the reason they rotate as they do is so they will not fall off---ask for stories of restorations where they were put on in reverse. As far as the "near" and "off" I would have to be English to correctly describe it but suffice it for our purposes that the English still drive on the left and the terms seem to refer to the curb. There are other exp. but they do not matter-right is right and left is left regardless of the steering. Dale for fun there was a clip somewhere of a "D" type leaving the pits at LeMans after a full service including all 4 tires (or tyres) --the car accellerates out and then hammers toe stop pedal--you can hear the 4 spinners tighten up..