Axle failure ?

[unklian]

Anyone know of other aftermarket I-beam axles failing ?





This was a 5" Magnum from Speedway.

More pics: http://s294.photobucket.com/albums/mm108/marklh/
Original thread: http://www.volksrods.com/forum/showthread.php?t=30628

[moose]

Hard to tell from the pics. Is that axle chromed?

Tim

[unklian]

Yes it is Chromed.
I don't know if "Ductile Iron", or "Cast Iron"
are susceptible to Hydrogen embrittlement.

According to this page:
http://www.speedwaymotors.com/1928-36-Ford-I-Beam-and-Tube-Axles,1139.html

"Magnum's dropped I-beam axles feature a one-piece design of annealed ductile iron. Available for 1928-48 Ford in plain or chrome."

That one doesn't look very ductile.

[Charlie Chops 1940]

Did it "just" break going down the road, at rest, or upon impact with an immovable object? I believe Magnum and P&J both make cast i-beam axles, and as far as I know the material is some sort of high grade iron. Needs to be addressed by a metalurgist probably, otherwise most of us would be guessing.

I've heard of breakage before but really haven't seen much in the way of investigative results. Mostly sky is falling threads over on the HAMB.

Charlie

[unklian]

The car was driving, witnesses said the car
dropped down on the right front right before it took off.
The driver reported a loss of steering control.

Of course, more damage occurred when it hit the tree.



Notice the axle also broke inboard of the perch bolt.

[zzebby]

It is still cast iron....misapplication ie wrong material for that application just as it saves $$$ in manufacturing.  Henry's axles and all other OEM's are forgings  which will bend but not "snap".
When these cast aftermarket axles came out I was shocked,,,,,,,,surprised that there aren't more fractures of these.
Someone does make a forged I beam for hot rods....don't recall who.

[wayne petty]

in my personal opinion... that won't get a cheep burger..

that axle end was too thin and of the wrong material for that weight of car.. with wide, low profile tires that don't absorb impacts from todays pot holes..

it also looked like the tooling used to machine the various bores was dull... and scraped and folded metal instead of cutting it smoothly.. leaving a nice surface finish that won't produce places for stress fractures  to start...

but the problems the hydrogen embrittlement persist...

i guess when cleaning chromed cast axles... one is going to need to turn the wheel and inspect with a small mirror the end of the axle every six months or after hitting a pot hole or curb..


i wonder if cryogenic treatments would stop the problems with the hydrogen embrittlement from chromed parts???

i seem to recall that stressed parts to be chromed need to be heated in a oven to 900F for 23 hours depending on thickness just prior to chroming.. this bakes the hydrogen from the cast iron and steel..

chrome moly requires 1100F over its entire length in a heat treating oven after welding.. or similar problems can happen.. cracks away from the welds where the chrome moly was not properly stress relieved and brought to an even hardness throughout the entire piece..


again... these words are just my personal opinion.. not worth the salt that gets spilled on the floor when tables are wiped after a small serving of french fries..

they are just to let you do further research ...  from experts with degrees... not just grease under their fingernails and plumbers crack showing..



ps... i wonder if the chrome will cover the cracks in the base metal and not be visible until it's too late...

wayne...    usually standing around with his foot in his mouth..

[chimp koose]

My thoughts were that there might be a lot of scrub radius causing load on the pin ,but a VW is pretty light on the front anyway. Maybe the pin bushings were not reamed concentric causing excess load on the pin bore, but the pin bushings would likely suffer most from that. Solid mounted rack with straight axle would add to pin loading as well .From the looks of the king pin bore failure it seems that the break was fresh as in a complete failure at once ,not a crack that worked its way along over time. Hydrogen embrittlement is a likely contributor if not the main one.

[UGLY OLDS]

Someone does make a forged I beam for hot rods....don't recall who.

[/quote]

Chassis Engineering , ( West Branch Iowa), makes a forged axle ....They are "thick" & HEAVY......It weighs LOTS more than the stock "A" axle I used to have...( I know ..I got one ...Painted...)...

Bob....

[GPster]

Someone does make a forged I beam for hot rods....don't recall who.

Chassis Engineering , ( West Branch Iowa), makes a forged axle ....They are "thick" & HEAVY......It weighs LOTS more than the stock "A" axle I used to have...( I know ..I got one ...Painted...)... Bob.... [/quote]                                      Going back through years of questionable memory, there was talk at the start of dropped, forged front axel that someone had gone back to a company in Canada that had made the original axels for Ford and had them to build them. I assumed at that time that all of the forged drop axels came from that supplier to that one place and then were sold to other places for them to private brand them. I have wondered what the life would be on anything but a forged axel with hairpins because of the twisting (which would not be the problem suffered by the axel of this topic). GPster

[chimp koose]

GPster you may be right about the axle failing due to hairpins with a CAST axle . I had assumed it was forged but a casting will only take so much torsional twist. Check out the break just inboard of the spring perch. that may have been the initial failure.

[butch27]

I'm afraid of most anything"CAST".

[enjenjo]

I'm afraid of most anything"CAST".

you shouldn't be, most every truck you pass has cast spring hangers holding the axles to the frame.

That said, the material that axle is made of appears to be cast iron, and not cast steel. Cast steel typically bends some before it breaks. I don't see much bending there.

[kb426]

I used the CE forging after doing research 3 years ago. I didn't want to find out if the castings were weak or not.

[unklian]

That said, the material that axle is made of appears to be cast iron, and not cast steel. Cast steel typically bends some before it breaks. I don't see much bending there.

Depending on where it was made, the people doing
the pouring might not know or care about the difference.