Technical shortening a banjo axle

My friend is re assembling an old Lynn Wood dragster and he needs the axles shortened. I have searched and cannot find anyone who does this, except maybe the hot rod works. He does not want to convert to new style axles, hubs, etc. so this is not an option. Is it better to cut the axle and weld it with a sleeve or find somebody with a lathe with a taper attachment. If you know of anyone who would do this we would appreciate your reply. The shortened banjo, drums, etc. are from a 48 ford.

 

If the dragster is not going to be beat on then cut and weld would work but don't know if clearance for sleeve in diff carrier when assembling, another thought would be to shorten at the diff gear for best concentricity....Shortening and re cutting taper, key and retaining nut threads would be the best as long as the axle has enough "meat"...

 

Should be a simple task for any well equipped machine shop, there should be a center drill at each end , I would turn the axle on centers cut the taper and o.d. For the threads then chop off the old end , do the keyway and threads , .. done deal getting the taper right is critical on how the hub seats

My guess though is a ball park time of 4hr give or take

 

BTT

 

I think they were originally shorted inside where the carrier would have been and some sort of spool made. PM Marty Strode here on the hamb or check with the guys at the East Coast Sprint Car museum at Lattimore.

 

btt

 

There are some old Chassis Research articles covering this in the old Fawcett hotrod books...I can probably find them.
They were shortened by turning the ends, with extreme attention to accurate taper. The other way CR handled them was "safety Hub"...not much detail on that, but probably the way circle trackers did it with Ford housing end and hub machined to accept 1 or 2 ball type bearings, end of Ford housing hub threaded for retainer nut, crazy elaborate machining.
Just shortened Ford, though, seems the norm. Dragsters seem to have made it into 180 MPH days with shortened Ford axles in their quickchanges...you can spot them by the protruding ends.

 

Thanks Bruce, Bob is going to turn the ends and lap them to the hubs as you suggest. Any more info you can
provide would be appreciated. Every person we have talked to who either ran this setup or knew of someone
who used it says its going to break. Bob wants to keep it as close to original as possible however. Bob says most
of the later Lyndwoods went to Olds rears.

 

Any job shop should be able to shorten your axles, you have to give them good dimensions to work with. its not rocket science its just simple lathe and mill work.

 

We ran this type of setup back in the 50s,,,YES,they are going to break...and by all means,run some safety hubs..Why do you think lyndwood went to the later Olds read end??? Is this car going to be just a cackle car or actually run in competition?? Old Ford axles OK just for cackleling..Go to Olds if using for competition

 

Bob is the son of the late Pat Bilbow, the designer and builder of the Lyndwood chassis. He knows why
they went to Olds. He is going to run safety hubs. Car is not going to be in competition but may do some
burnouts. Reason for banjo is that's what this car has and he wants to keep it like it was.

 

I'll dig for the olde book...
You might want to search out some of the old Fawcett hot rod books. late '50's--early '60's they seem to have had an in with Chassis Research, so each one has some neat stuff in an article about that shop. Borgeson was writing the stuff, I think.

 

Thanks Bruce.