On Nov 9, 5:50*pm, "Spamlet" wrote:

Well split pins kept wheels on for centuries that way,

I have _never_ seen a split pin holding a wheel on (and believe me,
I've looked) on any person-carrying vehicle.

Taper gibs once held wheels on, and these gibs were locked with a
split pin.

Nuts now hold wheels (or usually bearing races) in place, and these
nuts are locked with a split pin.

In both cases though, the split pin isn't the thing holding the wheel
in place. Biggest thing I've seen where it was (on its own) were
railway station luggage trolleys. For anything bigger, a split pin
isn't the intended retainer, even if TNP does pop up in a minute to
tell us about his old Mini.

The reason is most likely that split pins don't allow adjustment of
end-float and even in Georgian times, this was recognised as a
necessity. I've been looking for bare split pins as retainers for a
few years now (I have an exciting life) and still can't find an
example.