I bought the front axle and radius rods out from under a trailer. I think it is 36 Ford. had wide five wheels on it. After I got all the angle iron and crap cut off of it I realized that the axle is bent. Is this worth trying to straighten out or should I just buy a new one from Speedway???
You can pick them up fairly cheap, if you look around. I just picked up a '37-'41 axle for $52, which included postage and it was in great shape. I would guess by the time you took trying to get that hunk of iron back into shape and finding the caster / camber was still out of specs, it would be time well saved to just locate another one. My 2¢
I would say that if you pay someone with the equipment to fix that,you'll spend more than you would to find a good one at a swap meet or on here. I personally really like to use FORD axles,and would not buy a new one.You should be able to find a nice FORD axle for under $100
Talk to someone who drops them. They can usually repair one reasonably or sell you a core to drop.An original dropped is a lot more desireable than any of the aftermarket ones. Just my .02.
The last one I bought cost me $20, and the two before that were free.Going rate at swap meets around here is $50-$80
hang it on the wall and look for another. Those 33-36's are not that hard to find. It needs alot of work from someone who knows what they are doing...and it still might not be right
Is this axel worth straightening? Yes. As anteek said you could use it as a core on an exchange for a dropped axle.
That axle looks as though it has been bent at an alignment shop-probably to adjust camber on that side. It could be straightened by using the same technique: A bottle jack and some heavy chain. But that would throw the camber back off.
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