Howdy all. I need to get my '37 axle dropped. I have been to Dave Mann's site and wanted to know of anybody else that does quality work. I am in Missouri, so the close the better. Is there someone doing this near Kansas City? Kurt
You should consider giving this guy your business, he's a H.A.M.B.er, and he gave away the secret for anybody who wants to do it themselves right here for free. Check the thread below. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=6066&&showall=1
I would not send an axle to this guy. He dropped an original '32 Ford heavy axle for me and it looks like shit. In addition to the cost, this idiot ruined a perfectly good axle, of which there aren't very many to start with, and then refused to stand behind his work. When I asked why the axle was so distorted, his response was "Do you think these are going to be perfectly symetrical? I mean if you wanted it perfect go by a new axle."
Really? that bad huh? POST PICS... I stand behind Titus 100%. I had him do two axles, a 34 and a 37 axle and they look really nice, any more drop style axles do have some uneveness to them, thats what makes them unique... they're not a 'new' part... I agree with what titus recomended though, if you want a perfect axle go buy a new $200 chassis engineering axle, they're perfect. But for the price and results I got from Titus the next axle I get and need dropped will be at his doorstep... Tuck heres my Pics...
I would like to see pics of this axle. He is highly regarded around here, and I paln to send him mine, too.
Flyrite drops a mean axle, but he's pretty busy with his choppers. It would be worth dropping him a line.
for example... look how nice the titus axles look compared to these axles from this joe speedshop link- I would say the Titus axles look pretty damn good...
Titus' axles- He drills holes for $50 instead of $100, too. Edit:These two are done by Loudpedal, another H.A.M.B.er.
Here you go. Kinda hard to see with the crappy photos, but check out the big wave in the top right picture.
There is definitely a little thinning going on there. I have dropped a few myself(until my porta power gave out), and thinning can happen pretty easily and quickly if you try to get too much drop out of them. If it was mine, I would probably be okay with it, but it's your money, and you're right, it is a little noticeable. I have had DOZENS of people ask me to drop axles since I posted photos of some that I did, and of my fixture, and it is for this reason solely that I have not done any. This is not a scientific process, and it is impossible to make them perfect....
Thinning is not a big deal, if it is smooth and consistent. From what happened to my axle, it looks like he did not heat it evenly when he stretched it. And this was not a big drop, only 3 1/2 inches on a '32 axle should not look like this. I've seen enough of these that were done properly to know what to expect. What I got was not anything close. Bottom line is, he's running an amateur operation, and does not stand behind his work. So I now have close to $700 in an axle I'm not going to use. If any of you guys out there that like his work want to buy the axle, I'd be more than happy to sell it to you for what I have into it.
Not that I want to get in the middle of this, but I am interested to see it and I really can't tell much from your pictures. There's always a little bit of distortion to the top and bottom webs when dropping an axle isn't there? Is this the thinning you're talking about? I mean, you're movng a big piece of irregular shaped metal 3+ inches with heat and leverage. I had an A axle done by ElPolacko and the web got a bit smaller at each curve - stretched a bit on the outside curve and compressed a bit on the inside curve. A lot like your photo. I guess my point is I can't see much in your photos.
And to get back to the original post - there is a guy in Kansas City who does a great job of dropping axles. Can't quite remember his name offhand. Joey? Joey Engleman maybe? I can make a phone call and figure it out. Real deal guy. Reasonable.
If you find some-one close let me know. Also our weld shop guy might make a jig from Titus' pictures. He builds bike frames and is a pretty good metalman. I only need a 2 inch drop. Mick
Yes there is going to be a bit of thinning. You are stretching the axle and the material has to come from somewhere. We heat our axle ends in a a forge to 700 degrees before placing them in the fixture. This helps evenly heat the axle for a more consistant drop. We also use control shoes and arms to ensure the drop and stretch is even on both sides. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- We are as close to you as your UPS store. We also offer Alliance discounts!
A little off topic, but if you used a forge, and heated the whole end of the axle, wouldn't the kingpin/perch holes get a little distorted? I thought that was why titus just used localized heat in the first place? To minimize hole distortion.... Edited to say: I like the idea of using a forge, because it takes a long damned time to heat an axle hot enough to bend it fluidly with a torch, and now that I'm thinking of it, the web will distort like that in the pictures when it isn't hot enough, I know that for a fact. Perhaps that was titus' problem....
I remember an old magazine article showing Mordrop doing some axles. They used a large forge to heat the whole end too. But they used some way to locally cool the kingpin and perch bores right before bending. Don't remember how, and I would think any quick cooling would embrittle the bore. What say metalurgists?
Well yes but there is considerable cooling that happens once you take it out of the forge and set the axle into the fixture. We do this to get more even heating and it also takes less localized heat fromt the rosebud to make the alxe move the way we want it. Our control shoe makes sure the king pin boss doens't distort. It also allows us better clearance for the steering arm. We do however get a little distortion on the perch pin boss from time to time. We don't cosnsider that to be much of a problem though.
Dave did mine and it came back sandblasted and looking great. It was worth the shipping to me. I live in CT. -Rich
Hey Richard, The two pics on the left are examples of MY WORK. See for yourself: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?p=1104379#post1104379 Also fyi for those who are wondering: thinning of the axle during the drop process is normal.
loudpedal dropped my '46 Chevy truck axle 4" and it came out GREAT ! He gave me a very fast turn-around, in spite of a death in his family, and kept in contact with me, to let me know the status. I highly recommend him. Here's a pic of the axle after dropping it......
I love it when we argue about this; Everyone calls everyone else incompetent, and its just fun to watch. Go read the Fountainhead, Ayn Rand. Its that book your grandpa had under the short leg of the loveseat. I personally designed a 2 different fixtures and built 5 prototypes of heating devices ranging from solid, liquid and gaseous fueled as well as electric. My findings were as follows: This is not a profitable business. All the tooling I built is sitting in a pile in the back of the shop because there are other people who do it cheaper. Be thankful there are people who are willing to work so cheap to build you hot rod parts. When Roark got out of school, no one would hire him. Sticking your neck out in any business is tough, and its the people who do are the ones who shape the future of this art form. David
Well now It just gets complicated...I didn't want this to be a "my dad can beat up your dad and still drop axles better." thread. Anyways thanks for the names and contacts. I will need to sort out the list of options and make a decision. What I am trying to do is build a front suspension using a '37 front suspension and NOT splitting the bones. These means the perches are way out there and I get to use a nice long spring. The suspension is hanging from an A frame that is z'd 4" in front. I am close without the axle drop, but to get the ride height I need, leaves me with too little clearance between the bones (unsplit) and the frame. I only need 1-2 inches for proper clearnace. I plan also droping the steering arms for linkage clearance. Any thought on problems that I am not seeing, would be appreciated. Clearance between unsplit bones and engine/transmission is not currently a problem. Kurt
what a nice thing to come back from vacation too! MR 392 hemi, Well tell me if im correct but the way we left it was that if i could find another 32 heavy axle is that we would drop it and trade it out with you, was that not correct? and yes i do stand behind my work cause i said wed take care of it, but like you say 32 heavy axles arent the easyist to come by. so dont say i dont stand behind my work. and to the evenly heating it, we heated it in the same way that weve done the otehr 50 axles weve done. an axle is gonna do what its gonna do, even with guide plates, that may make the curve on the bottom correct but i dont know how it would help keep the width the same. weve had a few axles that necked down of our own, so all weve done is dress the faces of the axle to smooth the transition of the necking and make it look smoother. thanks for those who support me, i am in no means an expert, just a guy doing it in his garage for an extra little pocket change and it bites you in the ass, thats why i removed my hamb class add a long time ago, its to much a pain in the ass to keep everybody happy, and solve everbodys problems. and mr 392 hemi, like i said if we can locate an axle ill take care of it for you, like we left it with Dave. jeff
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