Rear Axle, Springs, Seals

[aeronca65t]

Some time back, JollyRoger wrote about cold re-arcing the rear leaf springs (to lower a car in the rear).
He recommended using a sledge hammer and an anvil.

I had cold re-arced mine using a modified pipe bender, but it was a pain in the neck to get the springs really "even" and I had wanted to try his "hammer and anvil" method. I think Rob Selina had some success with it.

Last weekend at the Pittsburgh Vintage, I snapped three axles over two days, so obviously something was wrong with the axle housing.

In the end, I found out that my rear axle housing was bent like a pretzel and needed to be replaced.
I had apparently bent it in an "incident" at BeaveRun four weeks earlier, when I lost a wheel due to wheel-stud failure (Moss studs that I believe were inferior to the OEM studs). Before my left rear wheel went sailing away from me (at about 70 mph) it apparently "caught" and kinked the rear axle housing).

Anyway, since the rear had to come out, I pulled the leaf springs and tried my hand at re-doing the arc of the springs.

I have an anvil at work but not at home so I looked around for a "quasi-anvil" that I could use. Eventually I remembered that I had an old 1500 engine block (ruined from a con-rod escaping). After smoothing down any sharp edges, it made a perfect anvil.
I placed each leaf sping over an open bore hole and pounded away with my 4-lb. sledge, slowly moving along the length of each spring. After a bit of trial-and-error, it worked perfectly...much better than my pipe bender method. The springs are much more even and I can probably delete an axle spacer to boot. Great!

Also, I am trying a trick someone suggested regarding my oil seal leak (onto the rear brakes). Since I had a stripped down axle housing anyway, I pushed an oil seal in from the *inside* (through the pumpkin area). Since the diff was out anyway, it was easy to do this.

I'll see how it all works at Pocono (19 Aug)..

 

[RobSelina]

let us know how that works out Nial!

 

[ChrisS]

Nial,
Which internal seals did you use and are you running stock or competition axles? Since you said you were breaking axles I assumed they were stock type but I thought they were too rough to make a good seal. I need to do this so I am interested in your method. I'm going to see Mike F. tonight so I'll get his methodology from when he did it, but I'd like to compare notes.

 

[JerryB]

""""""In the end, I found out that my rear axle housing was bent like a pretzel and needed to be replaced. """"""

Most of them were made that way. Some are way out....many just a bit ...Alex MacGillavry in Phoenix does a great job of straightening and has end manrels and a jig for these housings.....790-3915 in the 520 a.c. I havent seen him in a while tho...

"""""Moss studs """""""

more and more stuff from Moss comes from a country of undetermined origin. Try a Ford dealer...get 9" center section to housing bolts....bonus...their 3/16 " longer in the threaded area than stock Spridget studs.

""""""""I pushed an oil seal in from the *inside*""""""""

you can make a shield for each side out of sheet neoprene with a hole just big enuf to let the axle slide thru....screw to the inside baffles with 2 x 10-32 an scruz and all steel lock nuts.

On the axle outer ends use o-rings......leave .002 " or so clearance from the axle hat to the hub threads.

 

[PeterC]

On the seal issue. The stock rear bearing is a 6207. You can get a double sealed version 6207-2RS It's pre-greased and lasts for a while. You could pluck one of the seals out if you want.

Peter C.

 

[aeronca65t]

I have mentioned the "extra" internal seals that I have added to my Spridget rear axle.

I have not used these yet but will see if they improve things at the one-hour enduro I'm running at Pocono in mid-August.
I did this since I had "gutted" the rear axle housing anyway (I'd bent the previous one in a crash at BeaveRun......Ever see a live axle rear with negative camber?)

Oil leaks are a common problem on race-Spridgets since oil sloshes around so much. The required double-bearing rear hubs seems to make the problem even worse.

The first pictures shows the round aluminum fixture that I used to hold the "new" seal. The green seal can be seen on the end of it. The fixture is put on the end of a long rod (I used 1" steel conduit) and pushed in from the opposite side as far as possible. Be sure to grease the axle so it does not dislodge the seal (when you install the axle).

The second picture shows the aluminum fixture and the seal (#9814) sitting on a white board. The rear (with the conduit "push-rod" visible) is beneath it.

I'm using stock axles for now. The double-bearing hub makes a bigger difference than the race-axles....until my supply of spare axles runs out, anyway. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

Note: I've used the sealed bearings that Peter C. has mentioned (as the outer bearing in my double-bearing hub) and it has reduced the oil-leakage somewhat.

Note to Chris: This setup came from Tommy M., a pal of Mike's.

 

[JerryB]

The problem with driving a seal in as you have done is the the axle tubes on the housing is not round...so oil moves down the tube and collects in the hub cavity between the bearings and will have a harder time draining back to the banjo section. IF the axle tubes were round you could use a Seals-it seal in each tube...but they arent and it wont work.

You really want the stock diverters in the housing....and use the sheet of neoprene. As a backup to using the sealed 207 bearing you pack the back bearing in the hub with Chevron Delo grease or Shell Rotella grease which has a thick consistency and wont run. This slows down gear lube migration to the seal area. This back bearing is n/a in single or double sealed. (in most double houbs).

Then as a back up to the back up you slide o-rings down the axle shaft to the inner face of the axle hat. After polishing the burr on the i.d. taper of the housing stub you want about .002"-004" end clearance form the o=ring(s) to the stub taper. this will stop the oil at the edge of the axle tube.

Repack the rear bearing and replace the 0-rings nad inspect everything about every 4 hours or so.

Using the 2x hubs you probably know to use just the face o-ring and Hylomar.

 

[aeronca65t]

I have wondered about oil getting trapped on the "outside" of the seal....I guess time will tell.
I don't want to sink a bunch of money into this (my double-bearing hubs are home-made and everything else is stock).

Anyway, if this doesn't work (and I'm not holding my breath), I'm switching to a shortened RX-7 rear with disk brakes and limited slip. That'll be tons cheaper and probably better

 

[JerryB]

Take a look at what they have....hope it works/ still in biz...

dwarfcarproducts.com

Tis looks very cost effective... he was doing Toyota as well as Spridget center sections.

 

[Hap Waldrop]

The orange Huffaker race Bugeye that belongs to Klaus Bock, in my profile picture that I drove last year in SCCA nationals had the dwarf car hubs, they never leaked a drop, but the bullit proof hub rentention is what I liked the best. It rather expensive ordeal though, Huffaker get a premium for this and a few racers have built them themselves, even if you do it yourself I hear it takes a $1000 worth of parts, but if money is not a problem I think it is a worthwhile project.