Superbell broken axle

Just a point, Pete & Jakes axles are currently being cast at a foundry in Kansas. Not China!

 

Hmm...I don't know if this is a good thing or bad. Bad if the broken axle was produced domestically. Did they or do they cast in several locations including off-shore? Unless there are distinguishing marks (lot/or serial numbers) a single axle with material properties as do***ented earlier in this thread will cast a doubt (pun intended;-) on the whole production.

 

I feared some one would confirm that. I was hoping the failure could be attributed to the axle being just another piece of "Chinese ****". So, Superbell could buy ****py Chinese castings for $1.00 a pound, or ****py American made castings for $3.50 a pound. Now, you tell me what's the incentive for manufacturers not to source their materials from Asia? WTF has gone wrong with "American made quality" in this country?

Bob

 

That would be EXTREMELY short-sighted. If the person killed happens to be a Mom and kids in a mini van coming the other way, the media will go nuts, and some politician will make a career out of it, and we are ALL toast. I SINCERELY hope that the industry will take a really long hard look at thier cost-cutting measures and quality control, and clean up thier act, before someone is killed and the Government steps in.

 

Too many Americans have forgotten what quality is or looks like. All the majority looks at is initial cost of a product, not how it's made or how long it will last. This has turned into a "throw away" society where people don't know how long a well made product should perform. Look at nearly any industry and they are struggling to supply quality at a reasonable cost but the general population just tends to buy the cheapest thing on the market. One OT area that truly insults my intelligence anymore is the furniture industry. I went to a name brand furniture store to replace some furniture my wife and I purchased when we got married 38 years ago and they were trying to p*** off MDF particle board with a thin wood veneer as "quality" furniture. We p***ed. We, as a society, must stand together and demand better quality before we will ever get better quality. As a result you need to realize that there will be a price to pay for that better quality.

 

Ryan,
You are absolutely correct. They produce a clean and well engineered product.

The OP hasn't posted but as it turns out Jerry is going to replace the axle. All manufacturing firms are allowed a certain percentage of failure, if that percentage goes up too high then there is usually a recall. Either a voluntary recall or a mandated recall. Either way there has not been a recall and we have heard of one bad axle.

I am sorry that the OP was the one to get the bad one but it is going to happen, that is a given. The Slovers cannot make it not happen and more that any one of us can make it not happen. It is just the way that things are.

 

Well if it is superbell its the 5th one ive heard of breaking in the same place....

 

how do you look at an axle and tell if it has been forged or cast? on quality control, when a company has a product made offshore they send the offshore company specs to be used in making that product, that offshore company will send samples or a small run of parts made to those specs, the reciving company will take all those parts and check them against the specs, if the offshore company gets the go ahead then when every shipment is recived a small number of parts will be removed and checked against the specs to make sure nothing has changed, now forget your using an offshore company and useing one in your own country, the same procedure would be followed, even if you make your own parts inhouse the same procedure would be used, i would think that any company selling axles would have this type of procedure, they should be doing a magnaflux on every shipment, maybe they do?

 

my dawg can fly.

Without pics it didn't happen, this is the internet after all.

Jerry doesn't have his axles cast off shore, he can pop in at any moment and check procedure etc. Two reason that his axles are cast in ks, one is that the foundry is a good foundry and the second it that it is close to home and he can keep a closer watch on it.

if you read one of my earlier posts I know Jerry well and wouldn't work for him because he is nit picky. But for the same reason I will buy parts from him if he was what I need or want.

 

I would think it would be like telling the difference in a forged and cast crankshaft. Forged would have a wide parting line on the top and bottom (I know this is true for Ch***is Engineering axles) and a cast axle would have a narrow or single parting line.

The more checking you do to a part, the more expensive it gets. Maybe the buyer should have the axle checked before they install it.

 

The axle in question could have been checked with a simple tap of a hammer. That axle had a pretty big anomaly to start with as is evidenced by the rust in the break. That would have sounded real bad when tapped by a hammer.

 

Benno,
Does cast "ring" like forged?
Larry T

 

i had mine dropped & strecthed in OK. , very happy with it . run almost no suspension & yet no trouble . had it for like 3 yrs now . made in america by henry !