Axle status:
Strange Engineering has asked for a drawing and seems open to the project.
Irv has a local machine shop (whose owner is a TR buff) that also appears
to be willing to look at it.
I have a very good shop local to me.
Dana-Spicer has said no.
I have heard some bad things about Mouser.
>From the feedback I've received from all of you I'd suggest three changes
to the stock axle design.
1) Eliminate the punch mark at the keyway.
2) Reduce the shaft diameter to the minor spline diameter (or maybe
slightly less) for the full length of the shaft then provide a generous
radius to increase the section to the bearing ID. I had a long conversation
with Chuck Botwright and Bill Thumel last weekend at Connelsville. (They
have Nissan support and are running SCCA nationals in some beautifully
prepped 300ZX's.) They took Ken Gillanders suggestions and claim to have
eliminated their axle breakage problem. The idea is to allow the axle to
"wind-up" a bit with the torsional loads thus reducing the (instantaneous)
load forces seen by the spline and hub areas. Seems to make sense to me.
3) Carroll Smith in "Engineer to Win" has a beautiful detail for bearing
stops that directly applies to us. The intent is to provide a radius from
the face of the axle's vertical race stop back to the shaft proper. To
accomplish this we would need to move the stop further outboard and provide
a separate, pressed on shouldered ring that clears the radiused transition.
The inboard edge of the ring would be in the same position as the original
vertical stop.
Have I missed anything here?
Now, any suggestions for alloys and heat treat specs? I think we do not
want to heat treat the entire shaft. My thought is that the harder outer
layer would react differently that the softer inner core and may cause
problems. Maybe just polish? Polish and peen? Any other secondary
operations that may be useful? I once had a crankshaft and a rod set
treated with a ultrasound (?) process that is supposed to help stress
relieve. This shop was in Indiana and recommended by Jack Wheeler. Can
anyone elaborate on this process?
Well that's it for now. If we agree that the three design changes suggested
above are all that is needed, I'll proceed with the drawings. Strange can
probably make a recommendation for alloy and heat treat spec. We will have
to provide this information to any other shop.
Later,
Chip
Current list:
Mike Jackson
John Lye
Irv Korey
George Wright
Joe Alexander
Jack Drews
Chip Bond
Jeff Snook
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