Technical ~~~ peaking & polishing a 32 axle ~~~

Nice work as always

 

unbelievable skill & detail work Harv !! I think I would try to clear it with something & run it

 

Update?

 

Super busy here, update on the axle and the torque tube as well on Sunday...Thanks guys

 

CONCERNING THE ENDS BEING OPEN ON THE 37-40 TUBE AXLE I HAVE BEEN TOLD THAT THIS WONDERFUL OLD FORD PART IS DESCRIBED AS THE HOLLOW AXLE AND IS LIGHTER TO HELP COMPENSATE FOR THE ANEMIC ENGINE.

 

Hmmm--what would Larry say about now!!!

 

I used a flap roll and detailed the coves on the king pin bosses, there is a small area that didn't get cleaned up, that will get smoothed with one of my small abrasive rolls. I also ran the same roll down the king pin bore just to knock the texture down abit and clean it up.

To detail the ends, I use the large flap disc and get as much of it smoothed as I can, being careful not to hit the wishbone mount or pin boss. I then switch to the small screw lock discs and carefully detail around all the tight areas, checking often with my hand to see where more needs to go or a low spot needs to be blended. Some hand sanding with emory cloth and a sanding block will be needed before the final detail....coming along

On a side note, from the wishbone mount in about 6" toward the center on both sides, the tube is squished and wavy from the manufacturing process, more on this later.

Pics in next post.

 

Cool.
Al.

 

See @3wLarry, I'm not the only one

 

I use the small pads to get tight areas detailed, then the larger as is flexes around the contours. I also smoothed the small areas in the king pin bores, as well as a quick smoothing of the wishbone bores....getting close.

 

After the abrasive pads, I switch to a Scotch Brite pad for the tight areas, small first and then to larger as it flexes to the contours like the abrasive pads. I gave each hole a very light shot with the chamfer bit to knock the sharp edge off. I mentioned earlier that the area from the wishbone mount in about 5 inches is wavy from the manufacturing process, the ends were too. After careful work sanding and checking often they came out pretty good. A new big coarse Scotch Brite pad to remove deep scratches and then on to the finer...

 

Bravo
I knew this would be good.

 

Here is the final product, abit easier than an I-beam but still with it's challenges. The wishbone pads as well as the king pin ends are not round, but to take more metal off to get them round would make the area weaker. As always there are minor scratches but the vast majority of the work is done and the chromer will have a much easier job getting it prepped. I would like to mention that even though the parts I have shown in my threads will be chromed, they don't have to be. On an open wheeled hot rod the chassis is out for all to see, prepping the parts like this would make paint look that much better. As always, thanks for the kind words, and I hope I have inspired you to try this yourself

 

From a man who's spent countless hours repairing boat props, some S.S. polished, same with bronze, etc. and smoothly sanded for painted aluminum props, This surely some of the nicest metal finishing I've ever seen, truly this is;"Making a silk purse outta a sow's ear".

 

WOW! I will say it again Harv, you are a magician! This is car porn at its best...

 

I never see the finished product after the part is returned, until now. The owner of the axle at the top of page 5 was kind enough to send me a shot of it chromed and on his ride...very nice.

 

Beautiful wrapper for all that oooey gooey nougat you put in ther' Candy Man !! I aspire to put something not so pretty in your hands one day. You ARE it.

 

I had some round back spindles sent to me from a HAMBer for the treatment, thought I would add them to the axle thread.

The spindles are in decent shape, seen better and worse, minor pitting and misc. nicks and gouges. I start with a flap wheel and level off the tops, the flat surface going into the round edge makes for a strange transition, but will smooth out nice. After smoothing some minor pitting still remains, it will have to be filled with copper.

Pics next post.

 

I used small round and tapered rolls for the tight curved areas and a carbide bit to remove a large mound of metal from the forging below the top king pin boss. There was a small low area that needed filling, welded it up and ground it flat.

 

Harv, just curious, why you didnt braze the low spot on the spindle? I was discussing filling a spot on a rear end housing off-board with Josh the Plater, he gave brazing the thumbs up for cosmetic filling on structural parts.
Do you figure the welded material will finish nicer?

 

Brazing does work and I have done it, it doesn't smooth out as nice for me.

 

There was a small spot on the right steering are that needed filling as well. The bottom pin boss was ground smooth, but in doing so there is now a flat spot, more on that later.