Who would reuse this axle?

[Hawkrod]

Yes, whenever something is broke I do inspect the fractured part and I'm sure I would see it broke where there was prior damage. I always want to know why something failed and will disassemble it too if I need to satisfy any curiosity. It's very rare to see one broke off at the bearing for any reason in a general repair shop.

Thats a good point, I just had to ask because I have several here broken at the stub and never bothered to see if there was actually any damage or if it just failed. I guess I will have to take one apart and look some time. Hawkrod

[fordman]

kind of off subject but i always thought you could swap and mix the ring and pinions around and get different ratios out of them.

[willowbilly3]

kind of off subject but i always thought you could swap and mix the ring and pinions around and get different ratios out of them.

No, not that. I used both from different 4.10. I'm 100 percent sure you could not mix parts from different ratios.

[Hawkrod]

kind of off subject but i always thought you could swap and mix the ring and pinions around and get different ratios out of them.

No, you definitely cannot do that. You really should never swap ring and pinion gears as they are actually machined as a set and will usually destroy each other if you change one. You can't even swap them between one ratio, they would not even physically fit to swap them in different ratios. The manufacturing process for R&P gears is actually quite amazing and part of the process includes "mating" them by lapping them together which means they are supposed to be together for life. There are very few car parts that have this limitation but R&P gears are one of them. Hawkrod

[willowbilly3]

Yes, whenever something is broke I do inspect the fractured part and I'm sure I would see it broke where there was prior damage. I always want to know why something failed and will disassemble it too if I need to satisfy any curiosity. It's very rare to see one broke off at the bearing for any reason in a general repair shop. I have also witnessed axles with a lot more severe torch damage than that which were still in service. Keep in mind some of us have wrenched in very remote locations, just couldn't run to the parts counter, and we had to make work with what we had. I even mixed ring and pinions from different sets once when I was working in a camp above the Arctic Circle because it's all we had. And it worked, the truck was still going after several months in pretty severe service, when I left. But everyone who thinks they know will tell you that you can't do that.

[thebannister8]

Yes, whenever something is broke I do inspect the fractured part and I'm sure I would see it broke where there was prior damage. I always want to know why something failed and will disassemble it too if I need to satisfy any curiosity. It's very rare to see one broke off at the bearing for any reason in a general repair shop. I have also witnessed axles with a lot more severe torch damage than that which were still in service. Keep in mind some of us have wrenched in very remote locations, just couldn't run to the parts counter, and we had to make work with what we had. I even mixed ring and pinions from different sets once when I was working in a camp above the Arctic Circle because it's all we had. And it worked, the truck was still going after several months in pretty severe service, when I left. But everyone who thinks they know will tell you that you can't do that.

[Hawkrod]

Mixing R&P from two sets will work for a while, maybe even years but the gears will chew each other up and usually whine. It may be fine for a while but it is not acceptable for normal applications. Hawkrod

[willowbilly3]

Mixing R&P from two sets will work for a while, maybe even years but the gears will chew each other up and usually whine. It may be fine for a while but it is not acceptable for normal applications. Hawkrod

Yes, that's what I have always heard. I only tried it once and never have talked to anyone else that did the mix (is that a 100% success rate?). Over the years I have done a few things that people say you can't do. Like welding exhaust manifolds and leaf springs, successfully. Re-using head gaskets, straightening bent pushrods. Most of that stuff out of necessity. I have been flown into the bush to fix trucks and had to rebuild fuel pumps by making a diaphragm from something different. Or pulled a heater blower and turned out new bushings and the armature with a drill motor and filed some other brushes to fit. Or press one seal inside another one to get a rear wheel seal to fit, or hammering a copper shim from tubing to space out a wheel bearing race that had spun in the hub (that one lasted for years until I lost track of the truck). This is the kind of stuff field service mechanics had to adapt to, we actually fixed stuff, not just always parts swapping. If it kept a truck going for a few months then it was a successful fix, or sometimes even if it kept the vehicle in service until the new parts could be flown in. I know this is getting O/T but I just wanted to point out that everything doesn't always get done by the book and the option to trot up to the parts counter isn't always taken for granted.

[fordman]

i done lots of by passes and riggings similar. but i've never heard of anyone reusing head gaskets. that was some luck. and making bushing for races i don't know if i would have even thought of that. well who knows. i would have to see it first to know.

[Hawkrod]

Mixing R&P from two sets will work for a while, maybe even years but the gears will chew each other up and usually whine. It may be fine for a while but it is not acceptable for normal applications. Hawkrod

Yes, that's what I have always heard. I only tried it once and never have talked to anyone else that did the mix (is that a 100% success rate?). Over the years I have done a few things that people say you can't do. Like welding exhaust manifolds and leaf springs, successfully. Re-using head gaskets, straightening bent pushrods. Most of that stuff out of necessity. I have been flown into the bush to fix trucks and had to rebuild fuel pumps by making a diaphragm from something different. Or pulled a heater blower and turned out new bushings and the armature with a drill motor and filed some other brushes to fit. Or press one seal inside another one to get a rear wheel seal to fit, or hammering a copper shim from tubing to space out a wheel bearing race that had spun in the hub (that one lasted for years until I lost track of the truck). This is the kind of stuff field service mechanics had to adapt to, we actually fixed stuff, not just always parts swapping. If it kept a truck going for a few months then it was a successful fix, or sometimes even if it kept the vehicle in service until the new parts could be flown in. I know this is getting O/T but I just wanted to point out that everything doesn't always get done by the book and the option to trot up to the parts counter isn't always taken for granted.

I what you are saying, how about brazing a broken piston in a Sunbeam Arrow together (They had a cast iron pistons). It broke in Mexico and it was do that or walk out! The thing about R&P gears is they are machined by using the pair together to machine each other. The manufacturing process is a specialty thing because of all the compound angles and so the teeth are only 80 or 90 percent cut by machine and then a pair is put into a machine and run in with abrassives to finish cut and polish each other. Because of this each pair is like a snowflake, unlike any other. Hawkrod

[AlleyCat]

Mixing R&P from two sets will work for a while, maybe even years but the gears will chew each other up and usually whine. It may be fine for a while but it is not acceptable for normal applications. Hawkrod

Yes, that's what I have always heard. I only tried it once and never have talked to anyone else that did the mix (is that a 100% success rate?). Over the years I have done a few things that people say you can't do. Like welding exhaust manifolds and leaf springs, successfully. Re-using head gaskets, straightening bent pushrods. Most of that stuff out of necessity. I have been flown into the bush to fix trucks and had to rebuild fuel pumps by making a diaphragm from something different. Or pulled a heater blower and turned out new bushings and the armature with a drill motor and filed some other brushes to fit. Or press one seal inside another one to get a rear wheel seal to fit, or hammering a copper shim from tubing to space out a wheel bearing race that had spun in the hub (that one lasted for years until I lost track of the truck). This is the kind of stuff field service mechanics had to adapt to, we actually fixed stuff, not just always parts swapping. If it kept a truck going for a few months then it was a successful fix, or sometimes even if it kept the vehicle in service until the new parts could be flown in. I know this is getting O/T but I just wanted to point out that everything doesn't always get done by the book and the option to trot up to the parts counter isn't always taken for granted.

I've never worked above the Arctic circle but I've done my share of similar things. The difference between a mechanic and a parts replacer becomes apparent when you are on the side of an interstate highway in single digit weather with traffic blowing past at 75 mph. The parts replacer whines. The mechanic will come up with a solution because the mechanic knows the faster he/she gets it running is the faster he/she gets warm.

I've seen axles hacked up like that before. I've welded a couple up, filed the welds and put them back into service. I've also mixed gear sets, welded grooved spindles, straightened push rods and reused head gaskets. None of it was right but due to limits of time, money or lack of a source of parts I made it happen.

[bjde0b]

I traded a guy a power steering pump for a rear axle. It did not have a tag so I don't know the gear ratio, but I pulled the axle shaft and it is in good shape.

To continue on the things we do because we don't have options. I spent 8 hours beating two pistons out of a 2 stroke jet ski engine that was seized. I was then going to replace the pistons that were in another engine only to discover that the other engine had been bored and the pistons were oversized. I ground them down on a grinder and then filed the high spots. I bought one new set of rings. Put an old ring and new ring on each piston. Honed the cylinders. Two weeks later me and my buddy were tooting around on a 1989 stand up kawasaki 650 jet ski. Still runs today.