Morris Minor Owners Club

Hi, about to refit, of course, only now do I think about 'handedness'.

Not having kept track I have a 50% chance of getting it right. Will the 'right' one feel different to the 'wrong' one?

Not a good idea to interchange, sometimes the direction of rotation can be discovered by observing the wear pattern on the splines but this can’t always be conclusive.

The only indicator I can give you is look for wear on the drive splines. The wear will take place on the rear drive face of the spline. The wear takes place there as most driving is in the forward direction.
Look at the splines and if you can see wear on the spline that wear must be to the rear of the axle. The opposite axle shaft will have wear on the other drive face of the spline and that wear again must be to the rear of the axle.
If in any doubt post some photos of the splines on here.
To mark O/S & N/S I always attach a RED (for N/S (port)) and GREEN (for O/S (starboard)) cable tie.

When you are examining the wear surfaces of the splines, look for uneven wear, specifically a more pronounced wear at the end of the engagement with the differential. If it's there it will be an inch to an inch and a half in from the end. It could be an indication of a possible half shaft failure in the future. However, if these are the original half shafts in the original axle with the original differential, they will most likely last your lifetime since they already lasted over fifty years.

Thank you. I then found some kind more thoughtful individual had painted a big 'R' and a big 'L' on the end of the half shaft, but thought the answers would be useful to someone, if not me in future.

I fitted a pair of reconditioned/hardened half shafts a while ago. I had no way of telling which side they came from so I just fitted them blind. Either I got it right or it did not make any difference, but that was nearly twenty years ago and they are still fine. I know that wont help you in determining which way to fit yours, but there you go. Good luck..

If you had the half-shafts heat treated the process would have 'normalised' the molecular make up of the metal and helped removed any rotational stresses that had built up over the years. So it would not be a problem for the hardened half-shaft which ever side it was fitted to.