steering arm heating and bending

[wandiharry]

Maybe the spindle/arm be heat treated after this process to retain or regain its integrity?
Thoughts on original axles that have been dropped, do you guys have the same problems with these?

[jailbar joe]

s'cuse my ignorance.....if you can heat and bend an original beam axle which carries the full load weight and stresses
of road shock as well as the stress of braking action which must be far more extreme with modern tyres and brakes
than they were ever designed for.

the steering arm does not have to absorb so much stress.....
i would not have anything to do with bending a steering arm...but am curious how one differs frrom the other

[Oldcol]

G'day Joe, the steering arms cop a pounding in service and are probably the most likely area of failure....if you can visualise ,the rolling road wheel cops every road fault and transfers it directly into the steering arms,which are already under stress just keeping the wheels pointed ahead, and there is a leverage factor to consider there as well as the gross vehicle mass up on top pushing one way and the road shocks ,etc, pushing the other way...but not gently. Impact loads are massive, and then look at the size of the steering arms compared to the chunk of the axle. Axle has it easy! It's also pretty common for early Ford axles to have surface cracks too, if you go to the trouble of having them crack tested , it'll scare you just how many don't pass a crack test. It's quite common to find cracks in the area these folks in the article are heating and bending too, and also in the axle stub itself as well as in the corners of the machined recesses of the backing plate bolts, and often where the back of the axle is machined for the thrust bearing and main axle assembly, the lower kingpin boss. Sometimes you can see the cracks when you wash the axles up....I've got a pair of '36 Stubs that have cracks on each side of the kingpin bosses, you don't even have to look hard to see them. It does look like it's the sharpness of the machining that causes the cracking, due to the concentration of stresses at sharp points.....and it's not impossible that it's also a result of the original forging process . I've had stub axles off really low mileage cars come up cracked when tested. So with stubs that are prone to have cracks in them maybe from new, you don't really want to do anything to make the issue even worse.

[monte]

Maybe the spindle/arm be heat treated after this process to retain or regain its integrity?
Thoughts on original axles that have been dropped, do you guys have the same problems with these?

Yer if the axles have been heated to be dropped as I have seen on some videos they should be normalized by a heat process ,same as those steering arms that are part of the stub axle but as Cols said they should be checked for cracks before they even start but I must say that old forged steel is bloody good stuff and it can withstand a lot not like the Cast iron crap that our TAC will pass today that will eventually kill somebody

[jailbar joe]

G'day Joe, the steering arms cop a pounding in service and are probably the most likely area of failure....if you can visualise ,the rolling road wheel cops every road fault and transfers it directly into the steering arms,which are already under stress just keeping the wheels pointed ahead, and there is a leverage factor to consider there as well as the gross vehicle mass up on top pushing one way and the road shocks ,etc, pushing the other way...but not gently. Impact loads are massive, and then look at the size of the steering arms compared to the chunk of the axle. Axle has it easy! It's also pretty common for early Ford axles to have surface cracks too, if you go to the trouble of having them crack tested , it'll scare you just how many don't pass a crack test. It's quite common to find cracks in the area these folks in the article are heating and bending too, and also in the axle stub itself as well as in the corners of the machined recesses of the backing plate bolts, and often where the back of the axle is machined for the thrust bearing and main axle assembly, the lower kingpin boss. Sometimes you can see the cracks when you wash the axles up....I've got a pair of '36 Stubs that have cracks on each side of the kingpin bosses, you don't even have to look hard to see them. It does look like it's the sharpness of the machining that causes the cracking, due to the concentration of stresses at sharp points.....and it's not impossible that it's also a result of the original forging process . I've had stub axles off really low mileage cars come up cracked when tested. So with stubs that are prone to have cracks in them maybe from new, you don't really want to do anything to make the issue even worse.

hi col,thanks for the detailed explanation...i do understand what you are saying and nmust say i have first hand knowledge of stub axle cracks...i was going to use a pair of 39 stubs and was advised to have them tested....boy was i surprised at the amount of cracks in them....needless to say i passed on that project.

i guess the over riding thing about what we do is safety first and foremost... so i think it must be safe to say that any of the old original cars running original suspension must in all probability be running on cracked and unsafe suspension....or as someone once said....those cracks have a ford part number

[steve the ford guy]

Here is something different in axles, its a rare Canadian or accessory dealer part issued from 1937 (?). Bottom photo is a matching axle here in Australia

[Oldcol]

They look like the regular axles we have here, probably 'coz all our stuff was sourced from Canada....but those shown are all 36 and earlier, the 37-41 axle is shorter from the kingpin to the perch pin....

[torana68]

And yet it’s common in the USA and I don’t remember any posts of one failing? No I wouldn’t do it but knowing what blacksmiths used to do with railway parts I’m pretty sure it could be done. Are you stressing over your heat dropped I beam?

[enjenjo]

And yet it’s common in the USA and I don’t remember any posts of one failing? No I wouldn’t do it but knowing what blacksmiths used to do with railway parts I’m pretty sure it could be done. Are you stressing over your heat dropped I beam?

We even have commercially available welded steering arms here and I have yet to hear of any of them breaking either.

[Maffra]

If you want to bend steering arms in Australia get someone who knows what they are doing and provides an engineering certificate for their work. My understanding is that Gary Page in Victoria is the only person in Australia that can do it with such aa certificate.

If that is what is required, frankly it is pointless arguing against it !

Regards

[steve the ford guy]

"Here is something different in axles, its a rare Canadian or accessory dealer part issued from 1937 (?). Bottom photo is a matching axle here in Australia