Projects Soft axle? What's going on here?

Check out the bottom axle in this pic. If I'm not mistaken, it's one of those 1935 Worlds Fair jobs where they would twist them up and remount them to show how they still worked just fine. I don't worry about Henry steel flexing, but I'd be worried about that axle. When it comes to concerns over important components that could kill you if it failed, why spend time and money to confirm crap isn't crap when you can swap it out and sleep at night? Didn't that fireman fellah that almost died here in Burbank last year have his Superbell crack in half in the freeway?

 

That debate (ductile cast iron vs forged steel) can go on forever.

After looking at my Magnum axle and not feeling good about it during my build, I just went and got a forged axle.

Knowing what I do about metallurgy I feel a lot better about it.

 

haven't seen one before , that's awesome.....I bought a forged axle, wouldn't trust one of those cast ones.

 

Ol' Henry got it right with River Rouge Steel.

 

That is a "Super Bell" axle that is flexing too much. You should have got the "Really Super Bell"

Sent from my SM-G900V using H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

The steering arm compounds the problem and the side steering is just all wrong . I have 75,000 miles with that set up and mine flexes when sitting still with a stock 32 axle. You can help the death wobble with a VW steering dampener.

 

Sloppy suspension, compounded by low grade materials. All suspensions will flex and move with loads.
The amount you see may not affect drivability (especially going straight). Potentially, if the suspension was stiffer it might break. Stiffness does not equal strength. It's the materials and loads applied that matter.

BTW: I was told by an old timer that if you watch an axle on any open wheel car while going down the road the axle will twist around like a rubber band.

 

This works fine. Original 32 axle with solid ends.The steering arm matches 32 geometry

 

Hey Andy,
Is that a 32 heavy with filled ends?

I admit that I think to much, and I wonder why Henry though he needed to make a HEAVY axle and I wonder why someone though to fill the ends.

Does anyone else think about things like that?
Maybe I'm the only one.

 

The axle ends are actually solid plate. I bought a axle with the ends messed up at a swap meet. Kept it for years. I had some axle ends from buying some brakes. I made a weld fixture and cut some goosenecks and welded it all up. One surprising thing is the perch bolt holes and the spindle bolt holes are parallel. I could use the holes for reference and it would all slide off.

 

Well, he didn't. The 32 axle is the 32 axle. At the very end of deuces and through 33 and 34 the same axle was used. This axle then became the standard replacement part axle for 32's as a result.

For all intents and purposes, it really only causes confusion and mythology to talk of 'heavy' as opposed to 'normal' 32 axles. The 'heavy' axle was normal.

 

I wasn't around back then, nor have I had the opertunity to dismantle a know original 32. Nor have I messed with Canadian, European, or Southern Hemisphere cars.
So I'm going off of literature printed and picture documentation.
There's the iconic 32 axle, some sources say it's commercial, some nick named it heavy but you know the one I'm talking about. Then there are the 33-36 axles that you're talking about however they are actually 32-36 axles. Claimed to be found under original 32 fords.

Some guys state every 32 ford left with a 32 axle, others have examples that show other wise. Like I said earlier ,I don't know - but the "32 heavy" is what I learned, how to identify it, and that's what I call it. This has been debated over and over as well. So I'm sure that my use of the word heavy added confusion and probably the same extent that pissing in the ocean changes the amount of water.

From what I can gather, 32 fords rolled out with either a 32 axle or a 32 axle.

The "32 axle" is one year only and the other 32 axle is not.
Just imagine it's 1932, and 1933 is next year. Guy walks into the ford dealer and say "hi I need an axle for my new 32 ford, my wife bent it." Parts guy says sure, which one do you need, the 32 or the the 33-36????? " Not !!!
Would the parts guy ask "do you have the "normal" 32 axle?" Both are normal.
What would he ask the customer ??

 

You asked a question, I answered it. Simple, not an argument.
And yes, the same very late 32 axle did get used up to and including the 36 models.

The point is, when you ordered your new Ford in 1932, you did not have a sale guy asking "Would you like the heavy or light axle?" There was no choosing.

 

<<<The point is, when you ordered your new Ford in 1932, you did not have a sale guy asking "Would you like the heavy or light axle?" There was no choosing.>>>

Ha. No. The point is, up 'til then, there was no 'light axle' yet. Just the 'heavy'.

 

31Vick, those disc brake rotors push the wheels out a lot further than drums do.
Stand in front of your tire and give it a good kick. Watch it flex back and forward.
Changed to drums on mine and noted a huge change in stiffness.

 

Super Bell axles are cast iron not forged. HRP

 

Yes you’re right!
But we’re 2 yrs out on this thread,,
He’s not up for a change

 

So I suspect drilling holes in a I beam axle would probably make the flex worse.