Anybody running one? Has any issues? Is it chrome? I have one that I had chromed, seen a thread about one that has supposed to have broke at the King pin area. Just a liitle parnoid now. Bright metals did the work just worried about Hydrogen embrittlement now. The plater new nothing of it. This is my axel.This is a pick of the one that was supposed to have been the cause of the wreck.
If you're worried about the axle, you might as well be worried about the spindles and caliper brackets too! SPindles hold you up and calipers are part of the stop system.
Yea I sure dont want to turn back after that far. You see a ton of people running chrome front ends and not alot of problems. You think its just a freak accident with the axel? Hell Magnum american made.
Any plater that's unaware of hydrogen embrittlement shouldn't be in the business. That would have been a red flag to me. Bob
I never asked him about it because I knew nothing of it. I called him back again to ask him, hes kind of heard to understand has a bad spanish draw, Hes said hes did plenty axels and have never had a problem. Kinda of tossed on the sitituation now. Anybody makeing a forged dropped beam?
Unfortunately Jim at Chassis Engineering recently told me that his forged axles won't be available for six months to a year because the stamper broke the dies and it will take that long to get new ones made and get back into production. Bummer! And I have been running a chrome Magnum 4" drop for over 10 years and over 50,000 miles with no problems on my roadster.
I think this has been extremely overplayed. There are a huge number of Magnum axles out there which have been run safely for many years and miles with no problems. Myself personally due to my background in metallurgy, welding and welding engineering design would never and will never chrome any suspension components for street use. A lot of guys will say poo - poo to the idea that hydrogen embrittlement is an issue, my education and experience tells me otherwise. And there are quite a few documented cases of chromed suspension components failing. I say save the chrome for the trailer queen show cars. As an example, my 26 Roadster pickup project will have no chrome except for chromed body shocks. The rest of the components , wishbones etc., etc., will be powder coated. A lot of them will get the brightest silver powder coat I can get and will be durable and easy to clean as well as look great on my fenderless ride which will be a dark blue in color. Larry
Here is some more pics? I guess I am just wondering percentages. If one axel is presumed to fail, what is the likely hood of mine, out of 30000 out there one goes bad? Not dad unless your the 1%
I called magnum and they said they have never heard of an isssue with breaking axels. There axels are made with ductile iron which is suppose to flex so.They said maybe the chromeing process must have screwed this one up. It looks like it snapped like a twig.
Copy/paste from Blue One ... Myself personally due to my background in metallurgy, welding and welding engineering design would never and will never chrome any suspension components for street use. I totally agree with Blue One on this. Apparently there are ways to deal with hydrogen embrittlement (caused by the chroming) but I would rather avoid any possible issues with this and simply not chrome any suspension parts EVER. That is a HUGE red flag if your chromer doesn't even know what you are talking about.
No way I'd go chrome unless I was doin' the chroming. If I'd use it'd be only on non- stressed parts. The process only came in as a cheaper, flashier, trashier replacement for nickel plating, around the late twenties/ early thirties. I'll play the percentages and go with sly paint tricks to purty up the pieces. Ceramic? Powder coat? 2 pac? Even lacquer or enamel.
The hydrogen embrittelment can be researched very easily using Google. Although, chrome is not the only cause of hydrogen embrittelment. Any electroplating process will cause it. As far as I know, Rusting is also an electrolytic process, and causes steel to become brittle. Chromium plating is an additional step, not a replacement, appearing on automotive decorative plating in the late 20's. There is nothing cheaper or trashier about it; it is superior to exposed nickel plating and is applied over a finished nickel plating. It is a bit flashier though, but that's a good thing.
Yes !! good chrome plating is Copper, Nickle then chrome, the copper and nickle could be reversed as far as the step goes i really don'e know . Its called triple plating. Myself I use Mexican Chrome plating (read Silver spray paint)
Not only common, but virtually universal. Copper, if used, is only a tool for the polisher to get the part prepped properly, and is not even necessary on many parts. The majority of the durability of the plating is in the nickel, and the chromium is a flash plate over the finished nickel plating. We usually put 20-40 min. of nickel plating on, the chromium plating is usually 2 minutes. Heavy build acid copper is measured in hours, and takes as much as it needs, and is then sanded/buffed down to prepare for the nickel. It would be foolish to put copper over the nickel and then chromium over the copper.I have never seen this done. I have seen chrome over copper, but it was also clearcoated for protection. I have seen this process on many original pieces from 50's Mopars. As I understand it, it was to avoid using the high-priced nickel. A chromium plating over bare steel is an industrial anti-wear/anti-friction coating called hard chrome. It is still the same chromium, only the plating is MUCH longer and therefore thicker and not necessarily shiny.
After Chrome plating components can be baked to relieve the hydrogen embrittlement. The other option is to have these stress parts electroless nickel plated and then clear coated since nickel is not as durable as chrome when it comes to corrosion resistance. Jimmy
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