Superbell broken axle

Cast axles scare the hell out of me... Just doesn't make sense to buy one when for basically the same money you can buy a forged axle or drop a stocker.

If that is a real SuperBell axle, I'd bet they will make it right. I wouldn't be talking to the seller, I'd be talking to the manufacturer.

Just sayin'

 

Good lord, you are correct, sir !! The disclaimer is on page 350 of their 2012 race catalog and on page 351 of their 2012 street rod catalog.

However, in Massachusetts (and perhaps other jurisdictions) under its adoption of the Uniform Commercial Code, a seller or manufacturer cannot exclude the implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.... see MGL chapter 106 section 2-316A.

So, if your jurisdiction is the same, sue the bastards !!

 

Not the first time Superbell has been on the HAMB with snapped axles... Henry Ford for me please!!

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=696898&highlight=snapped+axle

 

Any pics of how it was mounted?

 

the area round the perch boss kinda indicates to me that its a Magnum, has the same profile but I could be wrong.

 

Damn Turbo that would scare the Hell out of me if i had one of their axles under one of my cars. I would suggest you change it out if it is "CAST" like NOW!!

 

The shoulders of the "I" beam look wide, more pronounced than "Superbell"

 

Pretty sure I read that whole thread and other than post #200 linking back to this thread, I don't believe there was anything other than Magnums mentioned. I'd still like some real proof in pictures myself. I will however agree that gennie forged Ford is far superior.

 

It can't be cast iron. Nobody in their right mind would cast an axle. Cast iron is brittle. You can hit it with a large hammer and break it.

 

Looks clean, too.

 

Why do you guys keep buying this dog shit?

 

Magnum should stick to just making my condoms

 

Bought mine 6+ years ago before I knew any better and have seen quite a few beat on daily without incident. This thread has me feeling a bit uneasy though.

 

Someone could have been killed!!!

By them giving you another axle would be admitting there is a problem on thair behalf....


They really should have just taken care of it on the spot....that's not very good PR.

Pete-

 

Reminds me of this thread:
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=696898
Look at post 24 in this thread. Pic testing 31 Model A axle.

Get us a pic of the whole axle, it will help make your case if we can figure out what you have.
No cast axles for me, all you have to do is see the twisted factory Ford axles that Henry tested, good enough for me. As long as people buy cheap shit from China thats what were going to get. Whats bad is you have no recourse with China, they laugh all the way to the bank, while giving our kids lead paint in there toys. Easy decision to make. Keep the money here, get a Henry Ford factory forged dropped axle from one of our Hamb members.

 

That's funny but true....

 

Seriously
Has anyone EVER! seen a broken ford axle ? ….. why do people buy this shit?

 

Bummer thats why I had this ^ guy drop two of Henrys for me

 

we'll i have another "SUPER BELL" story, i had a P&J chassis with super bell
5 in drop tube and 4 bar ,rear was P&J also w 9in 4 bar all chrome, i was pulling out of a parking space and the passenger side steering arm broke, 1 wheel went one way the other the other way.
I called Jerry (a real piece of work) at P&J and he couldn't quit sttttttuuutering , SUPER BELL STAMPED RIGHT ON THE STEERING ARM,
I took it both d/s and p/s side to a metal alergist company, there was a rust spot on the broken piece the size of a pencil eraser.. between the two broken halfs, the driver side they tested was also cracked but couldn't see it because of the chrome plateing..WOW.. I did my Barnaby Jones investigating and talked to some high end builders that said at the time of the 5' drop axles, Super bell and Magnum were the only 2 makein them, but nobody was bendin 5'' steering arms, butttt, P&J were taking 4"
drop steering arm, re heating them and bendin them to 5"" thus my situation.
when they were re heated and bent, they cracked and weren't caught and then chromed and sold. This is the FACTS scott at Super bell admitted to me after they got my defective parts back in their hands.

I got the two steering arms replaced from P&J, but now my alignment was way off, as I paid a alignment shop to align it the 1st time, i asked Jerry if he was willing to pay for the alignment this time, after all, had it not broke when it did they would have been scrapin up my wife and i off the highway. Mr personality (Jerry) said aahh just take a tape measure and give your self a 1/8" toe and call it good....GREAT CUSTOMER SERVICE!
He didn't give a dam now about me sense he has the broken parts in his hand. I know there is alot of super bell stuff out there, mine happen to be a fluke?? I had to sell the car, my wife wouldn't get in it, and i had trouble drivin it, rethinking about that night it broke!!
AND YES I HAVE PICTURES OF THE BROKEN PARTS!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Because they look like Snickers candy bars, especially when chromed!

 

A buddy of mine has a broken superbell as well, seems as though they may have a problem that they need to be looking into before they kill one of their customers instead of just passing the buck, that is if they really give a damn... Jim

 

This is some scarry read.........

 

The axles are cast but the material is "nodular cast iron" which is very different than regular cast iron. Standard cast iron has the free graphite in it in the form of flakes which makes it very brittle, in nodular cast iron the graphite is in round noduals which makes the material much less crack prone and a greater ability to yeild and not fail in bending. Cast crank shafts and rods are made from nodular cast iron. It can be quite strong and maluable but the axle that was shown in the photos certainly appears to have had an existing crack or inclusion that was shown by the rust areas. This is usually caused by poor manufacturing processes ( bet they are made in China or Mexico!) . I happen to have the same axle on my modified and have over 15000 miles on it but after looking at the failure I think my next purchase is a forged steel axle!

Rex

 

AGAIN....

What do you mean by this? You have something cooking against Super Bell?

 

Sounds like a call to arms for a good olde fashioned blanket party to me.

 

Nice to deal with professionals, who truly care about their customers.

Let us know if you find any.

 

Well it's a good thing we still have good guys around here, like Limey Steve over at Limeworks who despite having all his engineering and designs Stolen by Speedway Motors is still in business and can hold his head high even after Speedy Bill copied his designs to a t and had offshore manufacturers build and undercut him on his Made In America price.

Cheers



moe


.

 

oh yes, they also make pacemakers! think of what you can do with all the money you'll save!

 

I don't know, this is very uncharacteristic of Speedway, they usually (at least in every instance I have had with them) jump right on problems and make it right.

For example, when we built my Son's T bucket he bought a chrome Corvair steering arm from Speedway. On it's first test drive around the parking lot the teeth inside the arm rounded off and he had no steering. We figured we did something wrong so we ordered a second one. I was test driving his car one night after doing some alignment work and as I was going down the road at about 35 mph, in traffic, I heard a loud crack and I had no steering. Luckily, the car went to the right and I got stopped safely off the shoulder.

We put the original Corvair arm off of my 23 on his T and got it home. Next day I called Speedway and they could not have been more concerned. They did fracture tests on some in their inventory and they failed badly, so they issued a call tag for both arms we had and gave me a complete refund. They immediately pulled every arm from their inventory and put a statement in the catalog that they temporarily were not selling any arms and that a new forged one would be coming out soon.

I am VERY surprised they would not help with a broken axle like the one you show, that is even a more serious problem than the arm we had, IMO. I would move up the food chain at Speedway in the customer service dept.

Here is the steering arm that broke for us.



Don

 

Although I've got no reason not to believe what the original poster has stated, I'd be keen to see a photo of this entire axle, to see if it's got the Superbell logo cast into it. Until I can see that, this could be any brand of axle.