What are the advantages of the old collar type cones used on old wheel hubs?

Question

You know, the ones that don't have locknuts and are kept tight by the axel nuts. I can't think of any advantage of them - why were they used for so long? Also, can they be replaced with an ordinary axel with locknuts and cones?

Answer 1

Last thing first... yes, they can be replaced with locknut/cone assemblies as long as the spacing is maintained.

They were used for a long time because locknuts were difficult to make in narrow widths and would have required a specialized tool which, in the old days, got to be very expensive.

The only advantage- if you can call it that- is that you could loosen an axle nut and adjust cones without having to play with the locknut.

Answer 2

no advantges....