Customs Chipped a rear axle in my 41 ford

I believe I've located one, and it will be on the way soon.

 

And it could always be worse!

 

Thanks to 1oldtimer, I finally got the correct axle. Hopefully, I can get the job done Saturday morning.

 

Well, I got all my parts together. Including a new good drum That I got turned ,new bearings and a seal Plus new Carrier bearings and races If I need them and new inner axle seals And a gasket kit. . But for some reason, I cannot find the new key ways that I bought. Gonna have to dig through my pile of parts in the spare room and see what I can come up with. Or else I'm screwed for the weekend.

 

1/4" tool steel is what I use

 

Hmm That sounds better than the stuff that they sell you through the Ford places. But I don't think anywhere local sells it.

 

Bearing shops down here, possibly hardware stores?

 

Actually went to the good hardware store the other day looking for key ways because I knew that i'd seen them before. And they did have some, but only like about an inch long. There is another place about 15 miles away, I'll call them tomorrow.

 

McMaster Carr delivers pretty quickly.

https://www.mcmaster.com/products/machine-keys/

 

Soonest is Saturday but by the time it gets there I'll have to leave for an event

 

If you can find a square punch or chisel with 1/4" shank it'll make a nice key.

 

Dale Earnhardt used square shank screwdrivers and cut them up.

 

Some good ideas fellas

 

NAPA should have 2 foot lengths in the store. Call ahead, see what they have for key stock.

 

In 1971 I cut up a good Craftsman regular screw driver for the square shank to use as a key on the axle of my '40 Ford pickup. Never sheared a key again.

Dave

 

The Home Depot up the street states that they have 4 in stock so I'll go down there in a little while and see if they have a 12 inch section. Otherwise, I have this really nice old screwdriver That's probably better steel than The Home Depot stuff.

 

Well, after taking the handle off the screwdriver. It seems that I have more than enough of the keyway to use. So I'm gonna use this piece. It fits nice and snug.

 

It's the tapered part that does most of the load of holding, the key is a backup and the engineered breaking point. If the key material is too strong and the tapered fit is to weak it will break the axle like your other one. The screwdriver should be ok, just make sure you lap your mating surfaces together (axle and hub) before you finish up. I think there was a post on here about the process of tightening up the axle nut AFTER lapping. Something about tightening up, then driving around the block, tightening again, then driving again and finally using a torque wrench to get the final 200 or so foot lbs.

I can't find it, but here's another one:
https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/ford-banjo-axle-hub-torque-value.876811/

I like the quote by Bruce.
"A rule of thumb...if you are not in mortal fear of tearing the threaded part off of the axle it is too loose, and if you are not expecting your puller to explode and kill you by the time the damn thing pops loose it was too loose."

 

Lap the hub and axle, clean it well, then install the key and torque the nut to 220 lb./ft.
And then check it a few times...

 

When you lap the hub and drum. Are you using valve lapping compound or some other compound?

 

Yes, just some good old Clover or other brand of valve lapping compound. Slather some on the axle, slap the hub on and work it just like lapping a valve. Back and forth for a bit, then shift the position of the hub a quarter turn or so and repeat until you get as much contact between the axle and hub as possible. Afterward clean things well 'specially the keyway...

 

Couldn't get the job done this weekend as I was out of town for a show Saturday night and didn't get back to the house till one sunday. But I've got a plan to get it done Saturday. And I'll get the axle lapped today at work onto the hub.

 

I lapped the axle to the hub this morning. And it didn't take too long and it came out pretty nice.

 

Got the car in today, and on the rack and all apart. Everything came apart easy enough. And I got that new axle swapped in pretty quickly onto the ring gear assembly , the driver side axle doesn't look so greats so I'm gonna lap that to the drum while it's apart. I got both inner seals removed as well, and Welded a piece of Dom pipe to the driver to put new seals in. The only problem I see is where the pinion gear sits in the housing itself as there is a retainer that is loose and bent And looks like it's held in by 2 rivets. I assume I can just drill and tap this and put a couple of quarter 20 bolts in to hold this.

 

Drilled and tapped the housing and put in a couple 1/4 20 bolts for the plate.the front radius rod bolt was a 5/16 bolt,so I replaced it with a proper 1/2" bolt.replaced the rock hard bump stops with new ones.i lapped the passenger side drum to the axle just because and it came out good. I torqued the nuts to a 150 foot-pounds. And then I'm going to drive it around and sneak up on the 200.