Frank,
Just curious, was the axle old (1960's) or reasonable new? It was pretty
common to twist off axles in the 50's and early 60's. I think we lost three
or so. Was told that it had to do with the way the splines were ground plus
the metalurgy. The claim was that the splines were ground with the bottoms
being too square. So the forces rather than going around the splines went
radially to the center of the axle. The axle end piece would have fracture
lines from the edge of the splines to the center of the axle. The second
claim was that the steel would “crystallize” where the splines ended and the
smooth part of the axle started. The broken end of the axle would have large
"crystal" structures in a spiral pattern. We have seen both of these but do
not know if this is a correct evaluation. It also was common in that time
period for MG TD's, TF's, maybe A's and Sprites to break crankshafts just
behind the front main. This was also credited to crystallizing. Do we have
anyone on the list in metalurgy that can shed some light on these types of
failures?
Bob and Annice
1960 Sprite (Mk IV in disguise)
1966 Sprite Mk III (in boxes)
Judson Supercharger (in boxes)
In a message dated 8/17/99 3:27:45 AM, spritenut@Exit109.com writes:
<< Well about 6 hours later I finally finishedmy 10 minute axle repair.
It took 5 hours of BF hammers and crow bars to pry the *%^&$^% twisted
axle out of the diff.
This time I got my *ss kicked, I guess I have been lucky in the past,
especially at Encounter a few years back when I snapped one on the auto
cross course and fixed it in time for the show in the parking lot.
So I'm sorry if I ever told any listers that they come out fairly easy,
I used 2 big crow bars and a 12 lb sledge hammer with a long handle to
beat the ever livin out of it.
I won! (and I didn't take the sledge to the body work) >>
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