I think that Summers Brothers' original design (without the pin, as is done in
the stock axle) is probably fine as long as the 5/16ths bolt doesn't come out.
And I, for one, would not want to have to find a way to drill through those
axles - dunno what material they used, but whatever it is, it's HARD.
-----Original Message-----
From: Joe Curry [mailto:spitlist@cox.net]
Sent: Wednesday, July 06, 2005 11:56 AM
To: Barr, Scott; fot@autox.team.net
Subject: RE: Spitfire Axles
Scott,
Will drilling and pinning the yokes to the axles (as the stock ones are)
sufficiently weaken them?
When I had the axles made up for my CV-Joint conversion, I left the
axles unsecured inside the yokes. My rationale for doing so is that
since the suspension was fully independent (not swing axles) the only
way it could come out was for some other component to fail first. At
that point, I would already be out of business and having the axle come
out of the yoke would not be any more of a problem.
I never had any problems with it but have moved on to the Corvette (Dana
36) diff and have provided slider shafts on the inboard yoke.
Joe
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-fot@autox.team.net [mailto:owner-fot@autox.team.net] On
Behalf Of Barr, Scott
Sent: Wednesday, July 06, 2005 9:23 AM
To: fot@autox.team.net
Subject: Spitfire Axles
Sorry to bomb the whole list with this, but for those of you who were in
on the Summers Bros. Spitfire axles as arranged by Ed Barnard...
What have the rest of you done to make sure your yokes stay put on the
inner end of your axles? How often do you check them?
When I originally assemble mine, I used a 1/16h" thick grade 8 washer
(edges ground straight to fit inside the yoke), backed by a smaller lock
washer for the 5/16ths bolt into the end of the axle. Loctited the bolt
in place.
While swapping my diff this weekend, I checked the bolt/washer at the
inner ends of the axles which holds the inner yoke to the axles and
discovered that the side forces had pulled the passenger-side washer
into a nice cup shape. There was perhaps .100" of play between the
inner collar and the outside of the yoke. The driver's-side washer was
also cupped, but not as badly. Use of Loctite on the bolt apparently
kept the bolt from backing out and allowing the yoke to part from the
axle. The marking paint on the bolt's head showed there had been no
movement there.
As you may recall, Tom Strange had his come apart in Canada Corner at
Road America a couple of years ago. From what we could tell, his washer
got pulled cup-shaped (possibly in a spin in the Kink the previous day).
The bolt came out of his axle and the yoke pulled off of the axle,
ending his race at the track-out of Canada Corner.
In reassembling my axles-yokes, I've backed up the full-width washer
(edges ground down to slide into the slot at the inside of the outer
part of the yoke) with a heavier hardened washer of the same diameter as
the axles. More Loctite and bolt heads drilled for safety wire -- will
do that as soon as I come up with something to safety wire to... This
is the same as what Tom did to reassemble his after it came apart the
first time -- no problems since then. I expect mine will be fine now,
too.
Scott
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