[Fot] Summers Brothers Axle Failures?

[EDWARD BARNARD]

List: I've kinda stayed in the background on this axle issue. I was aware of the failure of Steve's axle in the UK and have corresponded with him and Summer's on the issue. I designed the axles that Steve and the guys on the other side of the pond are using, in addition to about ten people here in the states. Tom Strange did the prototype testing for me, and we were pretty sure we took care of any problems. These axles are made as one piece, axle and hub together. There is no groove cut for a "C" clip. Like the ones Glen has, they have press on collars. The yoke is removable, which allows the axle to be inserted through the trunnion from the outside, then it has the collar pressed on. The only problem we had with the first batch of axles was with the washer that together with a 5/16"x24 #8 bolt, held the yoke on. The bolts were backing out, which caused the yoke to "hammer" the washer into a concave. After that, we drilled and safety wired the bolts, along with Locktite.
 That was the end of that problem. Steve received the second set of axles, and has been running them for about four years. There have been no reports of failures here in the states so my engineering mind wonders what is the difference between how they run them in Europe and we run them here; i.e. number of races per season, horsepower to wheels, size of tires, etc. Whatever the case...they (Europeans) appear to use them harder than we (Colonists) do. Steve worked with the new Summer's Bro's (they are under new management) to strengthen the axles further. They are making them even thicker all the way to the yoke. This required opening the trunnions to the limit of their metal, and using even larger bearings. Just a footnote; when Summer's Bro's reopened under new management the previous owners (Mr's Summers) didn't leave their drawings behind. People had been calling me wanting to order axles, and I really didn't care to deal with the selling of axles at cost anymore so, I
 contacted Summer's and sent them the drawings, along with the permission to do with them as they wished. It was only a week later that Steve contacted me about his breakage. That's the poop on Summer's Bro's axles since 2001 when, at Mid Ohio we ( a bunch of FOT'ers) sat down together and decided we needed to do something about the lack of decent axles. Thanks - Ed  

Fubog1 at aol.com wrote:   FWIW I've got a set of the old Mueller axles in my spit. They're one-piece, 
with the circlip bearing retention. They have a lot of national races on them 
from the old days when Jim Johnson had the car, plus 20 or so weekends I've 
done. They will bend before they break.
I've only gotten 1 set of the Summers Bros axles, they're the same design 
but have the press-on sleeve instead of the circlip. I've have a set out of a 
customers car on the bench right now, out of a GP car that must have a 
gazillion races on them, crack check fine. Even with sticky slicks, I have a hard 
time understanding how they fail, unless the suspension is repeatedly slamming 
hard into full bump.
I think Russ Moore & Ed Barnard have gotten some over the past few years, 
mebbe they'll jump in on this one.
Glen
drive as slow as I do & the axles will last forever...
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