He re-checked the axles and the splined area - but did not find any notch in the splines. I have not seen the axles, but he says that they are smaller at the very end - which is the location of the original clips for the auto hubs. If he puts the old clips on, they have a 1/4" gap between the back side of the clip and the part that slides over the splines in the hub (not sure what it is called). Additionally, the original clip is small enough to pull right through and would not keep the axle from coming out. Apparently the auto hubs had some sort of spacer or something that kept it from pulling through. He would need a much larger c-clip and ~1/4" shim for the new hubs! The axle splines are ground off a bit - about 3/16" on one side and 3/8" on the other. He will be working on it again tomorrow. He has always done his own automotive work and this just seems like is should be a no-brainer!