Hot Rods quality of ebay chrome drop axle?

Has anyone used this axle before? Can you tell me what the quality is like? I searched on here but could not find any info on this axle.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-Smooth-...Rod-/141640636217?hash=item20fa709739&vxp=mtr

 

Possibly the same company as the thread below? I am very interested in finding out as well.
For your reading pleasure....

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/helix-solid-axle-good-or-no.950329/

 

Interesting how people list new hot rod products on ebay with no mention of the manufacturer. Buyer beware. This has China written all over it. Just my 2c

 

I've seen those axles before and I thought the same thing. I had a Speedway Vega pitman arm crack though the bolt hole years ago and ever since then it's a "No Foreign/Unidentifiable Part Policy" for this guy.

Dropped original axles can be had through a number of vendors so I just get a dropped original for anything I do.

 

Chrome axle not good on a driver, something called hydrogen embrittlement, should be heat treated after chroming, good for show though.

 

The axle itself is probably ok, it would be the quality of the chrome that I would wonder about. Not all chrome is created equal, we have all seen that cheap chroming that lasts about a month and it doesn't have the same depth or luster of really good plating.

Chroming is an expensive process because of the labor and steps involved. For $350 I can't see how they would do a proper chrome job on those.


Don

 

Smoothrods is another Hoffman group company - keep well away from it !

 

I have no experience with this particular axle,but I have bought many quality ones in the last few years. There is no way you can buy a quality chromed axle for 350.00

 

Scotto has his shit together listen to him.

If you must buy a "new" axle get with one of the companies that have a good reputation and sell an American made product. It may cost a little more which may move your finish date out a little bit but better late then never.

 

Dude, you can't make blanket statements like that. Chrome axles are fine.

 

My fifteen year-old chromed front axle is both driven and fine.
The biggest problem with chrome axles is finding a decent set of polished-top kingpins, chrome bearings
and lock-bolts. Only two companies that I know of market them, and both are made in China. 'Decent'
refers to both fit and finish.

 

Could you post a picture of a failed forged steel axle, that was chromed, where Hydrogen embrittlement was quantatitivly proven to be the cause?

Just one will do....

 

From Frank Oddo's book, "Streetrodding Tips and Techniques" (and we all know Frank did not know what he was talking about)
"Hydrogen Embrittlement
This is a long-winded topic, but here is a short, to-the-point tip: Critical steering and suspension components should not be chromed because of the adverse structural/chemical reaction induced by the electroplating process.

If you have acquired such components along the swap meet trail before becoming aware of the potential danger, they may yet be salvageable. First, however, they must be stripped of the decorative chrome. Unfortunately, few chrome platers are willing to risk contaminating their tanks during the de-chroming process, so keep that in mind when looking over used parts.

But that’s not all, the parts have to be oven-baked to remove the free hydrogen molecules. Powder painters have the facility to do so. (And that’s what should have been done in the first place!)"

 

http://www.finishing.com/1600-1799/1747.shtml

 

From Pat Ganahl's book, "Ed 'Big Daddy' Roght- His Life, Times, Cars, and Art"
"The Cars- Mysterion
The frame is made from huge steel channel, approximately 2X6 inches, liberally drilled (or cut) with large holes along its full length, and then fully chromed. Although it looks big enough to handle those two big block Fords, the chroming was its downfall, because it led to hydrogen embrittlement, which resulted in the frame continually cracking as the car was trucked from show to show."

 

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/...axle-almost-got-me-bumped-at-tech-wtf.518187/

 

Just to crap on everyone's argument here and Roth's steel tube chassis aside (we are talking forged axles here are we not?) lets take theory and application together.

We can all pull theory out of a book and know for a fact that the people that have written the books are educated beyond what most of us can comprehend. That said there have been countless men over decades though practical application in complete ignorance of the theory in the book that have proven that one can plate an axle and drive it countless miles in less the perfect conditions and do it successfully. Men write books and their theory in theory is good, yet in application it can and is disproven on a daily basis.

There chew on that a while.

I personally don't run chrome axles not out of a fear of failure but because I am a cheap bastard. I tell everyone curt little sayings like, "Chrome won't get ya home" or "paint weighs less" but the fact of the matter is I just don't want to spend money on it. Men have been running chrome forged henry axles for as long as men have been building rods. They hold up just fine as far as I can tell.

 

Slightly off topic but here goes.
I have a trusted friend that was an engineer for Mr. Gasket during the changeover from American made to Chinese made. Part of his job was to go to china and inspect the processes. Anyhow, he's got a bunch of story's about Chinese shops. They would follow the specs to the letter for the first run of parts then just do whatever they wanted after that hoping no one would notice a radius change or different material. My favorite was when he went to a chrome shop, and they had a guy standing in the dip tank in hip waders with a lawn rake dipping parts.
Btw, Mallory, Mr Gasket doesn't actualy make parts anymore, it's all sourced overseas. It's a shame. I work with many ex Mallory guys including half there machine shop. The old building is used by a guy selling Pantera parts now.

 

Mr Gasket originally didn't make parts anyway, he repackaged gaskets in his garage. When he started you couldn't buy just say an intake gasket without buying a top end gasket kit, so he would buy the kits and separate them out into individual gaskets and sell them out of his trunk at races etc. That is how the name Mr Gasket came about.

OK off topic, actually our discussion of the safety factor of a chromed axle is also off topic when you get right down to it. But discussion happens doesn't it.

 

Thanks for the info mr beans.
Super shops bought me gasket, Mallory, Hayes clutches and a host of other company's and bundled them together under Mr Gasket.
I guess the real info that can be garnered from my comment is that anything Chinese I'd be skeptical about. Not all company's do their due diligence when it comes to suppliers. Including eBay sellers of no name drop axles.

 

It wasn't the chrome so much as the fact that Roth built the frame out of 10 or 12 gauge sheetmetal that he had bent into the channel shape then cut all those holes in it....

 

I provided quotes and links just for discussion fodder. However, back in the day (40 years ago) I had a Model A coupe that had everything on the front suspension chromed: Ford beam axle, brake backing plates, brake drums, spring, split wishbones, tie-rod, etc. All of the parts I bought used at swap meets, back when "everybody" was switching to 4-bar front ends.

 

Hell I was just adding to the discussion, and trying to convince everyone that I had an IQ of above 65.

You and I have an edge over the masses we have experience to add to book smarts. Well that and you got a nice old tri five wagon.

Oh and for the record I prefer Mexican parts to Chinese parts. America for the Americans.

 

Smells like hoffman to me.


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Figure out the price of a decent axle, and having it chromed.
Then ask how someone can do the 'same" thing for $350.00

 

LOl just buy a Henry dropped axle and a can of aluminum paint.

 

I've got no scientific knowledge of chroming, but to me that axle in the Ebay sale looks like a So-Cal axle. They are supposed to be forged. Maybe made overseas though. Could be the seller found a chromed axle that fell off the back of a ship on its way to So-Cal?

 

Chromed axles have been around forever and IF the chroming process is done correctly, Hydrogen Embrittlement can be eliminated. It just adds another step to the process. I would NEVER purchase a chromed suspension part from China, E-Bay or even a swap meet for that matter. The Chinese will lie to your face, like the wood flooring that was making everybody sick because of the Formaldehyde outgassing, "but no, not in our product".

 

Thanks for all of your imput. I figured that it was too go to be true. Guess I will have to fork out some more hard earned cash and get a better axle.

 

Are the So-Cal dropped axles still made in California or are they made overseas? Any input?