rear axle question

M

mike37cdn

Senior Member
i puled the rear drums of my 26 four door and found that the axle had two key ways cut in them is this factory or aftermarket not sure thanks mike
 
redmodelt said:
One key way was bad (?) so they cut a new one. No comment on if this would be a good idea or not.
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It's kind of a risky situation. As a machinist I've been asked to do it but it was always with something that wouldn't kill someone if the shaft broke. On a pump or some cases where a catastrophic failure wouldn't create a problem where someone might get hurt it's no big deal. Any time you remove material, your risking making the shaft weaker. When engineers design shafts a lot of time they'll design a 2 to 1 safety margin. However another keyway can create the opportunities for damage to the axle exponentially and it'll increase the opportunities for failure. I guess I'd bite the bullet and find a new axle. Last summer we had a fellow get killed on one of the tours for the national meet in Rochester. They believe it was because of a part failure. His wife was critically hurt and he was killed. After seeing that happen I don't take chances with anything connected to the front end or rear end. JMHO.
 
Saw it once on an axle that was out of the car. 2 keyways. 90 deg. apart. No apparent wear on either one. No reason for it though.
 
Though I for some odd reason called it a double jetway in my last post I meant Keyway. I wrote that post on my iPhone and for some reason it has a tendency to think it knows what I'm trying to say without asking me. And the SOB is going to drive me crazy if It doesn't stop messing with me.
 
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