Hey thanks a ton for all the positive feed back hambers, it feel good to be accepted by some realy cool people! I will keep in mind the deal with cooling the axle in sand, for the next batch we do. Again thanks TITUS
This is a graphic depiction of what can be done at home if you have an open mind, some basic tools and a sense of adventure. I love it. Thanks, Titus. And to think, I gave away a couple 40 axles just because I couldn't afford to have 'em dropped for resale..
in responde for all the concerns about heat treating...it is my understanding that the Supebell I-beam is heat treated,but they are cast. the magnum and CE i-beam axles are forged and are not heat treated. i don't think not doing it to titus's axles should be a problem,as long as you cool them slowely,i don't think Mor-Drop ever did heat treat their's.....besides,we heat and bend forged ford steering arsm all the time without any problems,after cooling slowly...just my opinion
titus for president! bitchin post man.On the heat treatin deal.I talked to my dad and he said you don't need to have em heat treated.By the way hes been bending,weldin and cuttin steel since the early 50s,Iron worker by trade.We have heated and bent our Old Time Stockcar axles for decades and never had a problem at all.The sand deal would be good though,just like the other guys have said. Again,Titus great post.I think you and PakRat 32 have shown everyone on this board what you/we can do at home to transform our dreams into reality without phonin some 1-800 number and recitin VISA(tm) numbers.Weld done........Shiny
What a great post, shows what a couple guys in a good shop can do. I'm impressed, alsways thought a big drop forging press was the only way to do it. As far as preventing distortion and overheatin of the holes in the axle, welding supply companies sell this stuff like modeling clay that you can cover an area with. It's used in weldin tubular structures to control which area gets hottest. Maybe that would be useful?
Very impressive, Titus! I'm going to try this. I would like to know about the spindle bushings, though. Being softer metal like copper alloy, if the spindle bushings get hot, don't they melt out, leaving some slop in the alignment of the jig? Do you just ignore that, or don't they melt, or do you have some other work-around??? Cool Post!
great homegrown job. i was thinking what about 1 more person and 2 more torches? 2 of the people heat both ends at once. with fixed stops for height the 3rd person jacks the i-beam (and narrates "more heat left less heat right") up in the center until it hits the stops? this way there is no seesaw work involved. maybe some one else covered this, i was reading this post so fast i didn't go to deep. seems this would also let you use the least amount of heat overall. now i have to make one too, i've got 4 front ibeams, one's a 32 (thicker i think) can't wait to see what happens. it's funny, i've been goin' over this in my head for some time and it was just what i thought. now we'll see how cheap they become, with every one making them it will be hard to find a stock one soon. thank you, stevo
[ QUOTE ] I would like to know about the spindle bushings, [/ QUOTE ] The bushings are in the spindles,not in the axle.There are no bushings in the axle. The kingpins do not turn in the axle.
luckily the brass bushings dont budge a bit or melt.And the problem with doing both ends at once is that the axle has to narrow a bit else it would stretch it to much if you drop it to much. Thanks everybody for the great compliments!!
Excellent work Titus! A very straight-foreward method and a great job on the tooling. Congrats on successfully taking on a job that most would think is impossible to do without high-buck tools. ----- Bart -----
Excellent post!! Sometimes we just try to make things too complicated. True to life homegrown hot rod engineering! Now, show us how to chrome plate em at home on the cheap!! I think we have the winna!
I think you uys are on to something... But I still don't understand how you keep the Camber of the kingpin dead nuts... in order to do that. the stop on the other end with that bolt that the spring perch bopss goes into would have to adjustable too and not set at stock height... I'm just thinking about making your good idea better... so why not have a set of holes for a the stops on each end so you can adjust them to the different drops you might do... pull a pin, adjust it... and then go! Also, if you guys are going to be doing this for people... and charging for it... I'd get the shiznit about the metal-urgee figured out... if I went to you and asked you to drop an axle for me... and you didn't have an answer to every question I had... I'd look for someone else to drop my axle... I'm also curious to hear what av8 and 38Chevy454 have to say about this... Enough bs... this is a neat-ass post... Sam.
we dont have to keep it dead nuts because as long as they are the same its ok Ford originaly designed the negative chamber in the axle because the roads were so poor and it helped the cars handle better on em. the jig does have stop on the other end to keep the travel the same as the amout of drop(we use a differnt length spacer fo the diff amount drop) weve already discussed about the hardening of the axle and everyone agrees (like i originaly said) to let it cool off like normal (probably what mor-drop did), plus buy the way the axle is only ever just gonna bend itll never snap off its very soft metal for being what it is. if you look at some of the old ford books they tested the strenght of a stock model A axle by twisting it like a twizzler a whole buncha times the pic is cool
i'm concerned about geting the king pin inclanation right. old fords were 9 degrees. i've sent two axles out to Mor-drop and both of them came back wrong,i haed to build a jig(not as elaborate as titus's) and straighten them out myself. are any of the finished axles on the road now?
The winner! This is awesome tech and really gives me a LOT of incentive to do my own on my '40 (I've got an extra axle). I've got a question on the "guide side". The angle iron on the outside is obviously the "guide" that keeps the axle from twisting - where is the stop? Can you post another pic of this side dead-on (square to the axle)? Are the stops built into this area or do you just let this end float?
Just going to add to all the other positive comments, this is the most simple yet useful post i've seen, well done. I know there is always talk of losing strength on major parts after serious heating, & we all know this kind of modification has been done for years, but does anyone have stories or pics of any that simply broke & not just bent!
DAMN! Ernie is right...I think! I ASSUMED (NEVER assume!) that the cold side was locked vertically by the cross piece thats tacked to the perch hole bolt...now I'm not so sure. Soooo....what DOES keep the axle locked vertically as force is applied to the hot side? Is there a cross pin set at the same height as the swinging guide you use on the hot side? That way the axle could bend upwards as the drop is created. As the drop forms the camber would come back close to original settings. Checking it, if the spindle is set properly to the jig, would be as simple as measuring vertically from the base of the jig to the perch hole on either side. Both measures should match and the camber becomes a non-issue. Final settings should be done on the completed car anyway... Impressive. Bill
Hmmmm....Idea! A vertical "Screw" mounted into the top of the cold side guide tower to match that sides height to the required drop height. Infinate settings without changing the cold side tower for each different style axle. If width is an issue, put the top mounted screw on your widest setup and simply fab some guide spacers (sheet metal) to swap around for taking up the slack. Could a "Heat stick" be useful to help keep a handle on even heating? Bill
This post and tech week kicks ass!! Titus great job!!Got my vote.. I'm gonna give it a shot. I have a question, your using two torches correct, and that will be enought heat? thanks continental
Guys,Titus is doing this right.For sure.Letting the axle cool down naturally is the way to go.We've proved it up here.Like I said before,we've been racing our old time stockcars for years.We heat up the axles just like titus and set our camber the same way.We've done em on the car too,chained down the axle to the ground,heated and jacked ot till we get our desired degree.Our 32 car we ran for years,its still running today with the same axle in it.Its been crashed as have the other 50 or so cars.And I can't ever remember seeing an axle break.These cars are going alot faster around turns then we can go.Alot of force on em and none have broken. Titus keep buildin em you got nothing to worry about........Shiny
Some interesting questions have been asked about camber and distance between kingpins. I am like the other guys who are baffled how camber could be right in Titus' jig. It seems to me that if an axle was mounted in a jig and heated at both ends and jacked at both ends at the same time, drop, camber and stretch would all be done at one time and all would be correct. What do YOU think?
Here's my take on the cold end stop, although I can't see it in the pics. Imagine you set the guide stop at the hot end for a straight 2" drop. there is a gap between the axle and the guide of 2". At the cold end you set a stop 2" above the axle too. As you heat the axle and start jacking, the first thing that happens is that the cold end raises it's 2" and contacts the stop. The hot end then raises 2" until it comes into contact with the guide stop. The axle is allowed to cool, and the camber is at or near the original angle. Repeat on the other end and Bob's your uncle. Reread Titus' caption to the first pic of the cold end and that's what he says. Mart.
WOW!!! Hi-tech solution to a hi-tech problem. Looks simple. I'm gonna share this with my buddy Terry and see what we can do. I've got an extra axle and he's got seven or eight hundred layin' around. This is very useful info. Everyone should thank Titus for sharing his talent and fab skills with us. THANKS TITUS!!!
man,kool tech titus...ryan, if you read this,there's gotta be more than one shirt for a prize layin around no?ALL these tech's ruled.....i love this bar,er i mean site [scuse me]way to go guys,learned alot of new stuff,thanks....by the way,flatheadpete,seven or eight HUNDRED axles?jesus,now i know were they all went,damn,if he dropped half of em,he'd have a goldmine...hook a brother up!
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