Rear Axle bearing Race
 

Has anyone tried to anneal the rear axle housing inner bearing race to allow machining for hardened repair sleeves? I can not bring myself to using a tool post grinder on my lathe due to the abrasive dust from the wheel damaging the carriage and ways.

The repair sleeves a said to be RC45 which is comparable to the hardness of a quality knife blade, and could be machined with carbide C2 tooling. I do not have access to a hardness tester so I do not know how hard Henry made his. Experiences gotten here by others would be appreciated. Thank You....

Re: Rear Axle bearing Race
 

First, let me welcome you to Fordbarn as it appears this is your first posting.

I have installed quite a few of these 'outer' axle housing repair sleeves. I have never found this area to be all that hard, ...especially when they are worn at the bottom. A carbide CNMG43 insert is all I use to machine through the hardened area. The first pass will see blue chips but after the first 0.020" or so, it machines fine with normal colored chips.

Re: Rear Axle bearing Race
 

Thanks Brent, this was just what I was wanting to know.....saves me a lot of time and trouble. Have a nice day.

Re: Rear Axle bearing Race
 

On a related note (not being a machinist), how do you go about mounting the housing in a lathe to perform this job?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Re: Rear Axle bearing Race
 

I responded with the procedure I was using (fairly detailed) as a "quick reply",don't have the time to retype all, perhaps that was not the correct means to do so, new to this forum. If there is a way to recover this message, please advise......

Brent,
what interference clearance do you machine on your housing races? The instructions that came with mine indicate .0015" and suggest the use of loctite.

Thank You

Re: Rear Axle bearing Race
 

If you go to your profile page and look under "statistics" you should be able to pull up all your posts (I think).

Re: Rear Axle bearing Race
 

Hi, I did go there and look in "find all posts", "Find all threads", and "Show all statistics"....no luck.

I will try to re write with pictures later if time allows, if this can not be recovered......Thank You

Re: Rear Axle bearing Race
 

Re: Rear Axle bearing Race
 

Well, there are two or three ways. I first started doing them by machining a large center that I indexed off of the Differential Bearing Race in the housing and jury-rigged a dog to rotate it. I have also used the jaws of a 3-jaw chuck to grab the inside of the bearing race counterbore. Finally, about 10 years ago I made a fixture that I clamp into a 4-jaw chuck on my big lathe (Howa 17x59) that I machined a relief to mimick the Differential (Banjo) Housing. After I have indicated in the fixture, then it is basically plug & play on that end. That puts the Hub Bearing Race end of the axle housing towards the tailstock. I use a bullnose live center on that end. I typically indicate that end from the step in the housing that pilots the Brake Housing (Backing) Plate. If I need to adjust it to centerline, I generally use aluminum foil folded to act as a shim on the low side. If I am still struggling getting it to zero, I will adjust the tailstock to center it.

The one thing I do is straighten the housing prior to doing any machine work. Most housings we see are bent some. We use a torch with the housing between centers to shrink it back into alignment. Next, I machine the flange end to true it where there will be a good gasket surface to seal. Then the race end is machined.

One final trick that I do (-if I am re-using original axles is I machine the area that the Brake Housing Plate attaches to by about 0.015". By machining this, it allows the plate to position further inboard which generally keeps the Brake Drum from rubbing the plate. I do this because I hate using axle shims with a passion, and this eliminates the need for shims in the event of a worn hub.

As far a race interference, I think that really depends more on your installation method. I try to hit between 1½-2 thousandths, and depending on my final size, I have been known to stick housing into the shop 'fridge overnight and warm the race sleeves to enlarge them. Generally they fall right on. On the other hand, most bearing retainer compounds I have used release when heated, so I not sure how well these fluids will work when they have been heated during the race installation. Over the years I have had a few times where I missed my measurement and found myself machining to 0.0005", -or even less than that. In those instances, I typically will do a light knurl and make a small clean-up pass to true the surface. At that point, I am still less than 0.001" interference fit, and that is when I use Loctite Bearing Retainer and use a hydraulic press to push it on. Those work (-and last) just as well as those with two thou. of interference.

.

.

Re: Rear Axle bearing Race
 

I wanted to respond to macdonage, but found that Y-Blockhead's advice to be well advised. I will take photos as I go and post them when done. What I am doing is very similar to what BRENT in 10-uh-C describes. However my lathe is not as large as his. I am using a 12x36 tool room (Gunsmith's) lathe, and this job is just about all it can do considering the swing over bed and the lenght of the part being machined.

More to follow......