Home Made Front Axle

[scratch built]

I built a home made front axle, and I was wanting some imput on what I did.

I first had 4 riser plates cut on a water jet to get the drop I wanted from my spindle to my long main span that goes underneath the car. Next I cut two 2"x2"x1/4"wall square tubing pieces that were about 2.5" long. Each one was welded in between 2 of the riser plates with a main span of the tubing welded between the bottom of the plates and connecting the 2 sets of riser plates on each side. I MIG welded all 1/4" material at every seam and ended up with about 16" of weld, plus 2 rosetta welds on each side, on the smaller pieces of tubing. Lastly, I had spindle bosses machined from 1.5" x 1.5" solid stock that I hammered into the small tubing pieces and welded in. I will try to attach a picture for you to look at. thank you

PS: I have since corrected the scrub line problem, but the spindle bosses were untouched.

[bretsk2500]

That's an awfully short panhard bar you've got. You'll have some bump steer issues from it. (the longer the panhard, the less the lateral movement of the axle as it goes up and down.) I'm also not sure that the square tubing was the best choice.. if you look at OE beam axles, they're almost always taller than they are wide.

I would be interested to see more pics of the project.. that SBC a 350?

[Sberry]

Did you design this yourself or copy?

[scratch built]

I designed it myself. The panhard bar should be fine because I'm not getting very much travel out of the coilover shocks. The engine is a SBC 350. I'm really just wanting to make sure the tubing holding the spindle bosses looks secure enough. I welded every seam of it with my MIG which was set to
1/4". Like I said it has about 16" of weld and two 3/4" rosetta welds on each side.

[scratch built]

bump

bump; just wanted more to reply

[JD in Socal]

what is it?

From your description, the material sizes seem reasonable. The picture is small and I can't see the connections or the quality of the beads. If you can post some additional pictures you will get more feedback. Also, what kind of car are you supporting and how much does it weigh? Is is a cruiser or a race car?

Give us a few clues to work with and you will get more feedback.

JD

[MMW]

Could you post some more pics? Different angles? I'm sure the amount of weld would be fine but I question the 1/4 plates as uprights. Maybe not stiff enough?---MMW---

[MMW]

After looking at the pic again is the main tube 2x2x1/4 wall?---MMW---

[scratch built]

more pics

Sorry I couldn't even find the original pics on my computer. The main span is 2.5" x 2.5" x 1/4" cold rolled flat bar. The uprights are 1/4" plate, but the holes you see acutally contain tubing running from the front plate to the back for torsional stiffness. I feel pretty confident in my welding ability, the beads looked good up close. I just want to make sure that if it's welded correctly the design looks sound. I can't imagine it wouldn't be, I want to feel good driving this car. The car is almost 100% scratch built roadster with a 133" wheel base and 70" track width. The axle in these pictures is the same one with a raised scrub line.

[Danny]

What unit did use to produce the welds?

[scratch built]

I used a Miller similar to the 250, but it has a name I can't remember. The difference is mine has big dials you set to the material instead of digital gauges. It's good up to 1/2" steel. I used .035" wire.

[fun4now]

i cant comment on the structual integrety but just wanted to say its a good looking project.

[snootworks]

I can't give you a qualified opinion, but there's a couple things that strike me as being points of concern from a design perspective. Do we have and Mech Eng's on here that could lend a hand?

Definately a slick project!

[scratch built]

I'm not one to argue with free advise, but to me it seems that all the stress will be between the spindles and the shocks. The span going under the car should be realtivly unstressed because it wont't absorb any of the cars weight, or at most very little. I'd be more worried if I'd have just tried to weld a verticle perch onto a fish-mouthed tube. The way it is I think the piece holding the spindle will not even have a chance to move. It's held fast by weld in every direction. As long as it will bend before snap off, I'll be fine.

[MMW]

Sorry I couldn't even find the original pics on my computer. The main span is 2.5" x 2.5" x 1/4" cold rolled flat bar. The uprights are 1/4" plate, but the holes you see acutally contain tubing running from the front plate to the back for torsional stiffness. I feel pretty confident in my welding ability, the beads looked good up close. I just want to make sure that if it's welded correctly the design looks sound. I can't imagine it wouldn't be, I want to feel good driving this car. The car is almost 100% scratch built roadster with a 133" wheel base and 70" track width. The axle in these pictures is the same one with a raised scrub line.

You say the main span is 2.5x2.5x 1/4 cr flatbar. By looking at the pic in your 1st post the main span (bar/axle running from one side to the other) looks to be tubing not flatbar?--MMW---