Shortening half shaft casing and half shafts

[freddy686868]

Basically i have bought a cheap atlas axle and i would like to shorten it and the shafts. I have read loads about people shortening thier own casings by tremoving the plug weld and lightly heating the pigs head to remove the tube. Then using a lathe to remove the right amount of material from the tube and then pressing the shortened one back in. The only problem is all of them don't tell you where the plug weld is. I am wondering if the weld is the big flat indent in the back of the pigs head on each side of the diff. If that is one is there any others? Also does anyone know of an engineering company who will respline the old shafts and 'case harden' them again. Thanks, for looking, John

[RWD fords rule]

Hello John

You are right the two round depressions, one each side of the diff cover plate are the plug welds, you need to machine or grind the weld away and make sure all is below the surface of the pipe

As for shortening the shafts I would get in contact with Fostek Engineering http://fostek.co.uk/services.html

[mk2 wizard]

Try this guy he`s on here and i think his name is old skoolrules but not sure ,,, i rang him a while ago and he can do shafts as well



280940769913 number on ebay its the only way i can do this

[exboyracer]

From what I understand it's best not to respline the shafts as they are never as strong afterwards. cutting the shaft & friction welding it back together is meant to be a better option.

[freddy686868]

Thanks for all the replies guys so that means i can save some buck and shorten the casing myself as i have access to a good little lathe and i'll get a mate to to plug weld the tubes back in as he has a hard core welder. I have spoken Fostek about shortened 2.8 shafts and they are 300 quid so i may aswell buy thr 18 spline jobbies for 600 quid.

[Darbo]

just done this exact same thing on a 2.8 lsd axle
ended up just getting new squires shafts 18t side gears and 2 wavy and 2 friction plates for the diff
housing and endplate need a little bore
drilled and dia ground my plugs out on sunday just need to press the tubes out shorten and in
was also going to rotate the tubes so my 2.8 rear drums levers line up nicely
going to brace with some cds tube ive got will be stronger than a dural brace and lighter i would guess

at least in the end you will be able to rag it about without thinking i wonder how them friction welds are holding up

[freddy686868]

yeah i will go with the 18t shafts and a gripper diff but i wanted to save 150 on the casing shortening and 100 to put the thing on a pallet twice. although i still need someone local to set up the cwp mesh and rebuild the diff.

[livewire514]

when i shortend my casing i made a small pilot hole in the plug weld then used a hole cutter and plenty of cutting oil, so it removed a core of weld and was lot cleaner and quicker, plenty of heat and big hammer done the rest, depending on how narrow you want to go a 52" capri axles shafts will easily go down to 50", this is the reason everyone wants a mk1 capri 3ltr item as it starts at 50" and goes down to 48".

[freddy686868]

Well i have now got the 18t tran x half shafts but i was wondering what outside diameter the thick tubed atlas' are and what wall thickness of cds tube is used. I really fancy turning the ends on the standard tubes down concentric with the bearing holder and turning a thick wall tube to take the standard ends.

[ford 100e]

hi there,andy from arrow engeneering is great for this sort of thing if you want your axle caseing shorterened and he can have your shafts friction welded aswell,he is also a site sponser aswell,but fostek are the masters and do a very good job start to finish.

[freddy686868]

hi there,andy from arrow engeneering is great for this sort of thing if you want your axle caseing shorterened and he can have your shafts friction welded aswell,he is also a site sponser aswell,but fostek are the masters and do a very good job start to finish.

Thanks for the reply but i would like to 'build my own axle' as i have access to all the gear i need to shorten the casing or to make a thick tube atlas if i knew what size CDS to use. i don't mind paying Fostek the £100 to shorten the casing i just don't want to pay £100 for the couriers. i have sorted the shaft problem now and bought Tran X items that will fit a narrow 50" axle so no need for friction welding.

[ford 100e]

you should still give andy a ring at arrow's he is dead helpfull his no is 07891604755

[oldskoolrools]

if you are getting cds tubes you will have to buy the nearest size bigger which is 60.33mm o/d, go for 6.33mm wall. all these sizes are metric measurements of imperial sizes, get the calculator out and you'll see.

the standard tubes are 58mm ish so you have two options, machine the cds tubes down to fit in the pigs head, this will loose you wall thickness and therefore strength, or machine out the pigs head to take the bigger tubes. (more trouble but the end result will be far better.) and if you want the ultimate strength get a p100 pigs head, way more meat than the standard casting.

[freddy686868]

you should still give andy a ring at arrow's he is dead helpfull his no is 07891604755

Thanks for that but i don't like to ring up companys asking for advise and not really wanting them to do the work. I feel i am wasting time a valid customer could be on the phone. If i do get stuck though i will make a point of ringing him.

[freddy686868]

if you are getting cds tubes you will have to buy the nearest size bigger which is 60.33mm o/d, go for 6.33mm wall. all these sizes are metric measurements of imperial sizes, get the calculator out and you'll see.

the standard tubes are 58mm ish so you have two options, machine the cds tubes down to fit in the pigs head, this will loose you wall thickness and therefore strength, or machine out the pigs head to take the bigger tubes. (more trouble but the end result will be far better.) and if you want the ultimate strength get a p100 pigs head, way more meat than the standard casting.

It was easy to work out the imperial sizes as i work in imperial in my line of work every day. It is 2.375" 2 3/8" o.d and 1.875" 1.7/8" i.d. I have access to a cnc milling machine so it wouldn't be hard to take a 0.080" out of the pigshead for the cds. Any idea where i could get it at a sensible price as it is looking rather expensive just to get hold of some. Regarding using a p100 pigshead i'm not too overly bothered in having the ultimate atlas axle just one strong enough for harsh tarmac rallying.

[freddy686868]

when i shortend my casing i made a small pilot hole in the plug weld then used a hole cutter and plenty of cutting oil, so it removed a core of weld and was lot cleaner and quicker, plenty of heat and big hammer done the rest, depending on how narrow you want to go a 52" capri axles shafts will easily go down to 50", this is the reason everyone wants a mk1 capri 3ltr item as it starts at 50" and goes down to 48".

How much heat are we talking about? As i have had the oxyacteln on the pigs head and it wasn't having any of it.

[oldskoolrools]

they take a fair bit of shifting, the tubes are an interference fit with plenty of surface area and have been in there 30 odd years in some cases. you have to make sure you have drilled out the weld completely, i use a big fat press to remove the tubes and they sometimes go with a bang when the tube starts moving.

[livewire514]

i used a plumbers blow lamp, the rothenburger type with map gas, like he said above they take some heat and persuasion

[freddy686868]

Thats great guys! I have messaged a pro for some help and will be making some calls tomorrow for some tube and othrr bits and bobs. I think i am going to cut the old tubes up as the axle is too log to go on the 10ft 20 ton press i have access to. And i will push the remainder of the tubes out using the press and big bang theory.

[Darbo]

i used a tube through the axle tube with a big socket or similar to press each tube out
with v blocks across the lip of the pigs head

came out np with a 10 ton ram pressing
pressed them in the same way so no force was on the pigs head itself just the area the tube is being pressed into

[pablomills]

I've an Anglia axle that I may not be needing if it's of any use? 44 inches flange to flange including the end plates...

[freddy686868]

I've an Anglia axle that I may not be needing if it's of any use? 44 inches flange to flange including the end plates...

Thanks for the offer but i'm building a heavy duty atlas axle for my future bubble arched mk1 so it's needs to be 50" and needs to take about 250bhp on slicks.

[freddy686868]

Well i got abit excited today


I cut on tube in half on one side to fit it in the press and pressed out the long tube first. I will use the incut tube as a legth gauge for the new thick tube axle it only took 9 ton of pressure to move! Should have seen all the boys hiding behind stuff.
After that then i removed the stump left in the pigs head with a meer 4 ton.
I then continued to cut the flanged end off the already cut up tube so i can machine it down to fit in the thick tube.

[freddy686868]

they take a fair bit of shifting, the tubes are an interference fit with plenty of surface area and have been in there 30 odd years in some cases. you have to make sure you have drilled out the weld completely, i use a big fat press to remove the tubes and they sometimes go with a bang when the tube starts moving.

Hey i'm just wondering if you got my pm as i can not find 60mm cds tubing anywhere nevermind 2.375" stuff.

[freddy686868]

Well the pigs head is all machined to just under 60mm diameter and it is all painted up ready to go to arrow engineering for the rest.

http://s1212.photobucket.com/user/fr...62744.mp4.html

[oldskoolrools]

looking good! it will be nice to start one of these builds where someone has already taken to tubes out first! lovely

[freddy686868]

looking good! it will be nice to start one of these builds where someone has already taken to tubes out first! lovely

I'm too tight to pay the postage to send the tubes aswell :-P just out of intrest how do you go about boring out the pigshead when you do it?

[RWD fords rule]

Clamp it down to a bridgeport mill and use a 3"+ boring head

[freddy686868]

Clamp it down to a bridgeport mill and use a 3"+ boring head

Basically the same boring head that was used then just on an angle plate instead of flat on the bed.

[RWD fords rule]

Yes

[gorilla1q]

Basically the same boring head that was used then just on an angle plate instead of flat on the bed.

Got any pics of this setup? Just rad this and got me

[freddy686868]

Got any pics of this setup? Just rad this and got me

This is the way o bored mine. But the guys use a 90 deg angle plate and borr it out verticaly

Here's how i done it
http://s1212.photobucket.com/user/fr...62744.mp4.html

[freddy686868]

Well andy done a great job at finishing and building my axle up for me! But i would like to know what size/length to make the shafts. I have pictures of where i think i should part them off. What do you guys think?



Double pinned


Shaft length


Where i think i should part off being abit on the safe side.



That is about and inch to take off. Working on the fact that i was told they are shafts for a 52" axle that would be about right to me but i want to make sure before i make an expensive mistake.

[freddy686868]

Any one have an idea.

[exboyracer]

You want 'em long enough so that they fully engage with the drive splines in the diff, plus a little bit (technical term )

[oldskoolrools]

You want 'em long enough so that they fully engage with the drive splines in the diff, plus a little bit (technical term )

i think you will find the correct technical term is "a nadge"