Hi,
I was talking to one of my closest advisors regarding axles etc. and I
mentioned in passing the application of heat in the disassembly of axles etc.
This person is a qualified aircraft mechanic with more than 40 years of
experience...
Here's what I was told:
DON'T DO IT.
Reasoning: axles are tempered, the process involves heating the object
(and presumably cooling it in a controlled manner) in order to align the
metal grain to some optimum pattern. By heating these units, you
basically destroy the temper.
The "neat" thing about this change of the temper is that the part will
look perfectly fine, but will fail in dramatic fashion, when it decides
to fail (like under heavy loading, or extreme shock etc.)
In some cases, such as a failed bearing, the localized heat will cause
"blue-ing" on the surface of the metal. This is why you do not want to
re-use axles that have bluing on the surface - you don't know what the
state of the underlying metal is.
So, for axles - heating is bad. Ever pop the clutch? How about streaking
around corners sideways?? Think about what might happen if you were to
lose control of your car when in one if these circumstances... BAAAAAD!
For all our safety - please don't heat your axles... or hub flanges or
hub carriers...
I'm willing to discuss this matter further...
Bye,
rml
p.s. FWIW - I'm taking Ralph Janelli's advice about using a used wire
wheel adapter to make a substitute Churchill tool. Wiil report to this
list on the success.
p.p.s. If anyone out there has made "solid spacers" for the pinion gear
on a TR6 diff or for the outer axle on TR6 (as in "substitute the crush
collar with a solid piece"), please get back to me to compare notes. I
want to make some really tough hubs for my next TR6. I'll be really
beating on this car...
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