Triumph Repair: Spitfire Rear Axle/Suspension, wheel hub, axle bearings

Question
I have a 1980 Spitfire that I bought last summer.  It needed some TLC when I got it, PO was not terribly knowledgeable.  After putting a few miles on it, I noticed a vibration from the rear end.  I found that the left, rear wheel did not run true.  I checked the runout on the car, swapped the left and right wheels and checked them both again.  The wheel was fine.  Without the wheel on, you could see the wobble in the axle.  I assumed either a bent axle or flange.  I have now bought and installed 2 used axle assemblies, both with the same result.  I simply cannot believe that I have 3 identically bent axles.  With the wheel off, car on jackstands, engine idling in 1st gear, I can see from the back of the car that the vertical suspension link is being moved left and right and back as it rotates, just a fraction of an inch.  The question is - what is bent/not straight?  Any help is appreciated!

Answer
Hi Matt,
The Spitfire axles have a long taper that the wheel hub mounts on and it very difficult to remove because of this long taper in the axle shaft. This results in many hubs getting warped when attempts are made to remove the hub to replace the axle bearings. Even using the factory puller many hubs are damaged. An axle can be bent but it is more likely the hub is warped as it has a thin flange.
If it were mine I would try to remove to hub on the first bad one by applying force with a puller and apply heat to the hub to see if you can get the hub off.  If you can, it is easy to check the axle for trueness and even possible to have a machine shop use a press to straighten it. But I think you will find the hub warped either due to a road hazard or to an attempt to remove it.
You can then either have a machine shop true up the hub with a lathe or check with some of the several Spitfire parts suppliers to see if you can still purchase a new hub.
Howard