Well some people asked and here you go, we went and redesigned that jig again, this time for an overhead press. It just got very tiring jacking the bottle jack, and i was thinking about using some kind of hydrolics, to mount it on the jig that already existed it would hang below and have to be on a slide, no big deal, well then i though, how about a overhead press? I told my dad about the idea and he went with it, he stayed after work a few night and planned it out and built one, then called me up and i went over and looked at it and then we took it for a spin (he had already tried one with success. Ill try and explain this whole prosses, ill do it in about 3 posts. first post 2 pics of the jig, started with a piece of c channel, and a c channel upright on the to be dropped and with a pair of axle ends welded to it, so no space no spacers, much tighter much better. on the other end are two uprights made from 2x3 thickwall tubing. ( if your gonna build one wait till you have the other end made and can place them in the correct spot, if they are to far away youll stretch you axle to much, youll see the set up pictures about where to place yours) and everything braced accordingly. stay tuned
ok set up, ill try my best at explaing..... put the axle in the jig, we use kingpins, solid ones, not hollow early ones. youll notice you may have a different gap at both perch bolt pads, thats ok, you need to make spacers to make the amount of drop equal, so say you have a 5" gap and you want to drop your axle 2" more then you put 3" of spacers below that, then if the other end measures 4-1/2" you want to put a 2-1/2" on that end. we made a deal that bolts to the far perch bolt hole with a shaft that 2 rollers slide on to, that makes it slide down the uprights alot easier, we found that sometimes a c clamp is required to help it get down that last little bit and hold it there. there are also shim required between the roller and the uprights, if you only are gonna drop an a axle you can make it the same, but like us we drop 28-48 so if its got a larger gap than needed it easier to put a spacer in there, there is also a small shim for side to side movement due to the jig being made to fit 32 heavy axles. then you have to position the perch bolt end that is going to be dropped under that presses ram, also notice we put a bolt in the perch to take the stress of pressing on it. hopefully you were able to follow me on that part of it, ill post some more pics, then ill do one more of the process.
ok, more typing, ill try my best, so, the obvious, heating the end, i wont go into how you do that, you just have to know how to do it, it obvious when it is too cold or hopefully not too hot when you do heat it you have to remember not to get to close to the perch hole of the kingpin hole, i always stay about 1/4 away form where the inset fades into the face of the axle (that make sense?) then you press, slowly, you notice the far end drops fisrt, we c clamp it to make sure it doest try and pull back up, the slowly press until the axle touches your spaces, you have to make sure it touches the perch boss area and not the axle, it get close. we let it set for a few seconds than release the press, then pull the c clamp of. then remove the roller assembley, then the shims etc etc, then nock out the kingpin. then repeat for the other end. remember its HOT!!! so there you go. TITUS
Right on, I JUST finished reading all the old posts about the other jig. This is perfect. One question; the guide for the rollers is 90 degrees to the base? This meaning the axle in not allowed any movement lengthways? This would mean the kingpin holes are the same distance apart both before and after the drop, correct? Great tech, thanks for taking time to post it up. The drops look REALLY good.
they are 90 dagrees to the base but we do leave a little bit of gap between the rollers, it all depends on the amount of drop and type of axle. it usually turns out to be a 1/4 to 3/8 of a gap, so the axle does narrow a bit but not to much. you can really stretch it a little more or even a little less if you like, we done it all sorts of ways and found the ways it work best for our setup. jeff
dropping axles is cool!......thanks! edit: i just bought a bottle jack and now you've gone and changed it! that does look to be pretty slick with the press....is your press air over hydraulic or electric pump?
Great tech: Good heavy-weight construction. Does it require a lot of force from the press? Depends on the heat, I expect, when the temp is just right, does it require a lot of force? Thanks for posting the pics. I expect a few copies will spring up here and there. Mart.
Wow. Thanks again. I used your first setup to put a few inches of drop on my 'A' axle and it worked beautifully. This new setup is even better. I'm so glad your parents taught you to share.
electric over hydraulic. straitening an axle is really not that hard to do, you just have to press on it in the right spot, usually where the pain was inflicted origianlly. it doesnt strain the press to bad, but its a hydraulic press so its hard to say, but it doesnt seem to bad. jeff
I really enjoyed this post. When I get some money- I'm gonna make this jig. No hot rodder should be without one. Mikey
Damn that is slick. Unfortunately, I'll never own another rod that requires a dropped axle, and to do a drop on my 55 isn't gonna happen. I really enjoyed the article. Thanks for sharing it with us. Bob
What is the degree of the angle where you welded the axle ends on to? The end of the press jig where you have the triangle gussets or is it the photo making it look like its at a angle. Great tech.
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