Front Axle Straightening

[Moodswing83]

What do you do with a slightly bent front axle? Is there anyone in the Michigan area that straightens these things? Evaluating cost over replacement.

Thanks,
Gene

 

[Onlybackroads]

Good question, I will also be interested in what people have to say about this as my axle may be bent from my recent wreck.

 

[msmaron]

Check vendors and send it to WILEY HIGGINS!!!!

 

[Roger V]

A few years ago Terry at Monroe Collision (Monroe, MI) straightened a couple of my axles. He also is great at aligning Model A's. Many have brought their A's to him from the Detroit area.

 

[Tom Wesenberg]

Kevin in N.J. has posted pictures and explained how to check the front axle for straightness. They can be easily bent using a press of 20 tons and probably even less.

 

[Mitch//pa]

we tie them down and bend them on an alignment rack with a bottle jack till we get the desired degrees in spec

 

[bart78]

Probably anyone who drops axles could do that for you.

 

[ctlikon0712]

Here is the link to Kevin's page.
It is a great article and he has quite a bit of other articles on his site.
Thanks Kevin

http://home.comcast.net/~68c/Front_axle_straightening.htm

 

[Kohnke Rebabbitting]

You need 4 Alignment rods, and 4 Alignment cones. I put all rods in at once, run a chalk line from the two end rods, around the out side, and make the two rods in the perch holes just touch on the out side. This will set your bend for the length, and also get all the rods on the top, all in a row, like highline poles.

The last thing is measure between each of a set of rods, ( Top and Bottom 3 spaces) and bend Axel up or down and make both measurments the same, and all that will be left is the Toe In, when you put it back together.

Wa-lua, a perfectly aligned Axel.

 

[Mike V. Florida]

You need 4 Alignment rods, and 4 Alignment cones. I put all rods in at once, run a chalk line from the two end rods, around the out side, and make the two rods in the perch holes just touch on the out side. This will set your bend for the length, and also get all the rods on the top, all in a row, like highline poles.

The last thing is measure between each of a set of rods, ( Top and Bottom 3 spaces) and bend Axel up or down and make both measurments the same, and all that will be left is the Toe In, when you put it back together.

Wa-lua, a perfectly aligned Axel.

Would you be willing to give is those measurements?

 

[d.]

try a local truck shop, they do axle straightening for a living.

 

[Kohnke Rebabbitting]

Would you be willing to give is those measurements?

Mike, if you are asking what are the total measurments between each set of alignment rods, or holes, there is nothing you have to set them to for an exact measurment that Ford bored them as you can't change that, as you are bringing them back to that) same as the Model T to Align, so them measure the same about 12 to 15 inches apart, top and bottom.

Then you know all the 4 holes are the same angle.

Herm.

 

[Fordors]

The last thing is measure between each of a set of rods, ( Top and Bottom 3 spaces) and bend Axel up or down and make both measurments the same, and all that will be left is the Toe In, when you put it back together.

Wa-lua, a perfectly aligned Axel.

The spring perch holes are not parallel, they cant in toward one another, and the king pin holes have a different angle machined in as well, they are not parallel to each other, nor with the perch holes.

 

[Kevin in NJ]

To rephrase Herms words:

The 2 bars on each side should be parallel.

I will add they should be 6 or 8 degrees (sorry my memory is not right) off the straight line.
If you set the axle on a bench and run a straight edge across the top of the axle and used a protractor to measure the angle they should be the same angle on each side.

If you lack the resources to make up bars. A crude thing you can do is set a straight edge on top the axle and sight down the center lines. If you make the assumption that the axle is bent at the perch you may get the axle close enough. If the axle looks wrong then it likely is wrong, but that is after some experience with the right tools.

The following is not the best way. BUT an something to contemplate for a certain sector of the hobby.

I found that putting the axle in the press to fix the slight bend all axles seem to have will also fix the slight twist you might find in an axle. So those with a press and not the resources of making bars might be able to improve their axles with the right eye ball sighting with a long straight edge. Not a perfect process, but it should help improve gross problems. I make some assumptions that you have the basic mechanical smarts to know what you are seeing.

The one picture with the end of the axle, the solid line was the before line.
You can also see the king pin hole and the perch hole are parallel.

 

[swo4rd]

I used the process Kevin describes above in his article - here is a direct link:
http://home.comcast.net/~68c/Front_axle_straightening.htm
and found it to be useful straightening two axles. You do need a press...or have access to one.

 

[Doug in NJ]

A Harbor-Freight-grade 12 ton press will straighten the axle just fine.
I used my special patented optical technique to get the alignment correct.

Here is a photo and explanation: http://31ford.dougbraun.com/suspension_work/IMG_5459

Another photo: http://31ford.dougbraun.com/suspension_work/IMG_5460

Also: http://31ford.dougbraun.com/suspension_work

Doug

 

[MikeK]

Has anybody researched the original Ford print at the Benson Ford Research Center? That would give a definitive answer to angles and possibly other overlooked points of reference.

 

[swo4rd]

Has anybody researched the original Ford print at the Benson Ford Research Center? That would give a definitive answer to angles and possibly other overlooked points of reference.

YES!

 

[Kevin in NJ]

Has anybody researched the original Ford print at the Benson Ford Research Center? That would give a definitive answer to angles and possibly other overlooked points of reference.

The angle listed on my website, 7 degrees, is based upon the Ford axle print. Though in actual measurements there seems to be some differences. I do not have my notes handy. What I found was several axles with the angles exactly the same but not 7 degrees. As I recall it was closer to 8 degrees. All axles measured the same before I tried to straighten them.

I had discussions with someone who was familiar with the prints and the processes. I needed to make sure I was not messing anything up.
I was a worried that my use of plugs instead of cones allowed for some movement of the rods. The movement only was like a 1/2 (maybe a bit more)degree so that was negligible in the scheme of things when I did the math.
The main finding was the angle was consistent on multiple axles and all the rods had the same angle. So either the axles all bent the same or they were made that way.

 

[swo4rd]

Has anybody researched the original Ford print at the Benson Ford Research Center? That would give a definitive answer to angles and possibly other overlooked points of reference.

YES!