Randall Young wrote:
> Perhaps some smart person can figure out _why_ the rear axles break, and
> re-engineer that area to be stronger (eg smaller bearings so the axle can
> be thicker, or even better alloys, etc.) but still acceptable. I'm no ME,
> but the basic design seems pretty similar to others, I don't see any fatal
> flaws.
>
> Randall
> 59 TR3A daily driver
But there is a fatal flaw. The problem is that this is not a floater axle, so
like any other non-floater axle, if and when an axle shaft fails, the wheel and
the car will part company, just like on old Volvos, early Sprites, and even
pre-war Ford V8's.
Per my previous post, we had new hubs and axles made from modern materials. The
axles were relatively recently manufactured of high alloy steel, through
hardened and case hardened. We followed the advice of a degreed, full-time
metallurgist. We even had the case hardening depth 'taper off' in the tapered
area, so the area of the keyway would not be so brittle.
The hubs were only a couple of years old, and were CNC machined from billet
4130.
Obviously, those improvements were not enough, and did not fix the problem.
Further redesign is of course theoretically possible, like changing the design
so that bigger shafts can be used, which would perhaps be less likely to break.
However, since this one broke half-way up the tapered area, unless the hub /
nut areas were also redesigned, that would not help, and the axle would still
be a non-floating one.
I would certainly be receptive to suggestions for a method to make these
floater axles. If that is done, however, is the end result any different than
installing a different axle housing with these design features? Would the
pleasure of racing these cars be diminished? Would the spectators find it
offensive?
TR6 -- 29 and still running
TR4 -- 39 but no longer racing
uncle jack -- temporarily sidelined
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