Technical Drilled axle in the wrong place! And more...

In the equations "I" is the moment of inertia and for an I-beam cutting out the web has almost no impact on that value. As stated previously, all the web needs to do is stabilize the top and bottom flanges. It adds little to the bending strength.

 

GO-KART!

 

i don't even see a beam in the diagram...........you guys are way smarter than me.

 

I hadn't read this thread yet but I like this suggestion the best. I didn't drill mine, I like the look but to me it's kind of like punching louvers in a hood that doesn't run hood sides, not there for cooling just there for show. Drilling an axle for weight savings on a drag car is one thing, but saving 10 pounds on the axle of a street car and then adding 30 pounds of sound deadening?

unicuique sua (to each their own)

 

But you're only saving one pound, not ten...

 

I was being generous in my critique. I don't like the word poser, but sometimes people are just following someone else's recipe instead of cooking for themselves, don't add salt to the chowder unless it needs it. Oyster crackers on the other hand are a completely different situation.

 

What did the drag racer say after breaking his drilled beam axle after a wheelstand?
Doh!

 

Gives a new meaning to "hole shot"!

 

Buddy of mine took his axle to the machine shop he worked at and drilled his and he said it took forever and was a nightmare to do. I bought one off ebay for 120 bucks new. My other buddy had a spring and was set up exactly like that and he kept breaking his shock mounts.

 

Oh no, not another one. $120 new didn't ring bells? Please show a photo of it.

 

After reading the various threads about cast axles failing I pulled the cast axle out of my '31 Tudor and installed a forged one, my wife and kids rode in it and I didn't want to take any chances. The cast axle has been sitting in a corner of the shop ever since but now I have the perfect use for it - AND the wife agrees! Paint it black, put Mini spot lights in each king pin boss and hooks for the pots and pans, it'll look great over the black marble island in the kitchen!
I'm glad you decided to replace that axle and front spring. All it would take is the wrong pothole at the right speed to bottom out the suspension and snap that sucker - there are threads on here that show the carnage caused by that scenario, not pretty.
How 'bout some more pictures of your new acquisition?

 

I'm speaking from only 50+ years of Boilermaker welding experience including just about every alloy known to man and I take issue with your comment that " welding the holes closed will bring it back to it's original strength". If the material used to plug the hole isn't at least as strong as the parent metal and if the welds are not 100% penetration, there is no way that the axle will be anywhere close to it's original strength. By 100% penetration, I mean that after one side of the material has been welded, that the opposite side has been either ground out or arc gouged out to clean metal prior to welding the second side. Because of the heat generated by the welding process, the area immediately adjacent to the weld will have no more than 85% of the strength of the parent metal.

 

There is little stress on the metal in the web, between the perches. There is more stress on the web, between the perch and the kin pin.

A round hole in the middle of the web is a pretty safe way to remove (a little) weight from an I beam. But to decide whether or not the axle is safe, you kind of need to do the engineering....or test several samples to failure.

 

Yeabut . . . "it is so much more important to look good than to feel good!"

 

^^^^that is a good shot of your Kry Kar!

 

Much obliged for the reply. I tend to over engineer things so as to err on the side of safety rather than style or even looks. We take trips to California and don't want any surprises while crossing any of the four deserts. I feel the drilled Chassis Engineering I-beam under the steel Deuce with a vortec 350 should adequately support anything I encounter on our fair highways. Hope to see you at El Mirage in May or November. Gary

 

you're welcome.

There's no such thing as over engineering, but then I probably have a different definition of "over engineering" than most folks. It's easy to under engineer a part, which means you don't really design it to just meet the design requirements--instead, you over build it, leaving much more metal than it needs, and usually in places that don't add to the strength of the part.

Engineering is the design work that we do to figure out the minimum amount of material, shaped in just he right way, to support the anticipated load on a part. The more engineering you do, the better.

but that's kind of a side rant, about folks misusing words.

 

only four holes in this one.

 

Hey Your Right I was robbed! The holes aren't even round!

 

Ah, Lucky 7. Another Hoffman Group name. That explains it.
Search Hoffman Group here, you'll find out plenty.