It is looking destinctly cast to me and broken. I really hate to see that. [QUOTE="T'RANTULA";7749291]I think some one hit the axle on somethin while driving and cracked it. Then it finally broke off...[/QUOTE] t'rantula, The axle was most likely flawed from the factory and just waiting for its chance to prove it. One of the problems with cast iron is that it has the ingerent propensity for fissures and cracks from the get go. I don't thnk that they magnaflux them at the factory, maybe at the outside most the rap them with a hammer and listen.
Why would anyone buy a new axle from china when you can get a good axle that's magged and set to stock specs from Joe Casto and Sid's Dropped axles???? Keep our money here with our guys!!!!
There is a difference between ductile cast iron and just plain cast iron like exhaust manifolds. People should differentiate that the aftermarket axles are indeed ductile cast iron.
HI; I have a drilled, by me, Super Bell axle in my model A for over 10 years now, I have hit boulders going through a field, a chunk of asphalt that fell off a belly dump in Idaho on the way to Bonneville dead smack in the middle of tha axle, when I got home I pulled the axle and sandblasted it to check it and found nothing.in my opinion Super Bell has a good product. If you think about it the block that holds your crank that spins at 8000 RPMs and the rods the the trans case the rear center section are all cast. cast iron is a tough material,but anything can break. THANKS Chris
My neighbor has a 34 that was running a superbell axle and it cracked in the same place sending him off the road into a field no one was hurt but car had heavy damage
I have in the past and will always use American forged axles in any car I build. My 3W was hit head on by a Dodge van and the Chassis Engineering axle bent back 8" from the left side spring perch and did not crack or break. I consider only two choices original Ford or Chassis Eng. for my builds. Why take a chance?
What is up with all these front suspension failures conveniently occurring at low speeds? Its just kinda weird how every time I open one of these threads that say an axle snapped, or ball joint nut came off, or lug nuts backed out, etc, its always at speeds under 10mph.
Forged steel is the material of all old and new front beam type axles. Cast Ductile STEEL is the material of some hotrod beam axles. Cast iron is the material of factory exhaust manifolds and intake manifolds. Steel casts off sparks with "stars" at the end of them when struck with a grinder wheel. Cast iron shows just yellow sparks. Thank God the breaks we've been shown happen at low speeds.
"I'm not 100% sure of details, but this apparently broke as the vehicle was turning into a driveway at low speed." Would sure be nice to know what really happened instead of everyone ignorantly making assumptions on what "apparantly" happened. Why don't we find out and be 100% sure of the details?
I saw Taiwan on the box and thought the same! Same webs and shape as the one in my living room right now. The box I have here proudly proclaims that they are forged though. I sure wish the original poster would provide us with some info as to what this axle actually is so that we can kill the speculation that is running rampant through this thread.
ductile iron or cast the axle still broke and i lost what little trust i had in using an axle made from it.
IF those are So Cal Axles, as others have said, then the info above is incorrect as the So Cal axles are FORGED, NOT Cast. I would agree that the one that broke was cast, and I bet in the US, but the ones shown above are not those.
Ford cars deserve ford parts! I just can't understand why anyone would spend hard earned money on a new axle, cast or forged, when so many old originals are still available, are stronger, and look BETTER...
Easy to tell cast from forged. Cast have a narrow parting line/ridge. Forged have a broad parting line usually roughly ground slightly above beam surface, see early Ford axles.
We need INFORMATION here, positive ID of the axle from whoever bought and installed it. Right now we are running on air... I agree with most of the air, and have never even contemplated using a Nonford axle, but still we don't know much here. I consider only MATERIAL and MANUFACTURER to be of interest here, NOT anything horrible that happened on the road. Axles have to exist in a world of curbs, potholes, and accidents and have to be designed to keep things together no matter what. Experience among rodders seems to pretty well show that Ford axles are indestructible, which gives an especially interesting sample: Ford axles were not only forged and made of specially made Ford steel, they were highly heat treated...and most of us rodders are running dropped versions that: A. Have had the heat treat in most stressed part destroyed by heating for dropping...and B. have had the distance between the axis of the beam and the point of stress INCREASED by the drop, causing a big increase in leverage available to destroy the thing...Ford engineering book says "resistance wille be equal to the magnitude of the resistance multiplied by the effective distance A...." Distance A is the drop...
What happened to hotrodkiwi who started this thread. Seen these threads before, someone shows a picture and then disappears while everyone else gets into a pissing contest. I have a Superbell Axle under my A and its been serving me well but I would like to know who built the axle and what really happened to it!!
Well, who made it of what is necessary info. What happened to it is not...parts that keep the wheel on a car need to stay together no matter what, responding to overstress by bending and not breaking. You don't want to find yourself with one frame horn dug into the pavement at 75 because the axle broke off in a pothole...it has to be strong AND malleable as all get out.
To show how much attention Henry gave to parts that can kill you if they break... I am holding an early Ford pitman arm. It bears two little indents and a paint mark, the indents being artifacts of hardness (Brinnell, I think?) testing at the spline area and out on the arm, the paint splat probably being the mark that the testing had been passed on that part. According to my sources, such testing was done on 100% of the arms in times when Ford was banging out as many as 2 million per year. I have also posted somewhere here on the HAMB a summary of the ingredient list and a heating process for Ford axles. They put a truly remarkable amount of effort into these things for some reason...
I agree with Bruce whole heartedly. I'de love to know what that axle is and it's material content. The thing that strikes me in this is that it looked heavily pitted, almost like it spent lots of time sitting and rusting.
Agreed...but look at the break. I see some specks of what looks like 'fools' gold'.... Come to think of it, in 55+ years of Early Ford mechanickin', I've NEVER seen a Henry axle break, so I have nothing to compare it with... But! I also never heard of broken front axles 'til these cast iron jobs showed up. (1972) There were two that I remember, (both 'I' beams) Another thing I recall...1970, a friend was standing in the front office of Super Bell, and there was a gentleman with a Super Bell tube axle with the end disconnected. It had 'unplugged' on the Hollywood freeway, luckily the Deuce sedan spun around and didn't hit anything. The guy's family was in the car. Super Bell tubes after that were rosette welded beside the 360 degree beads on where tube connected to cast ductile... I also remember in 1977, Goodguise Pleasanton. Ed Moss had an aluminum 4" dropped 'I' beam on display...I couldn't believe it. Aluminum.
The Jalopy Journal
