How bent is bent?

[tattooman]

larry,would love to talk to you about my anphacat. total rebuild. thanks, tattooman

[Amphiman1]

amphicat/?

larry,would love to talk to you about my anphacat. total rebuild. thanks, tattooman

Hi, thats more in my league,....

[ygmir]

Very interesting thoughts and tips. These will be very slight bends to try to correct....or at least slight in my way of thinking. The axle might be 1/8" out overall. Maybe that's alot for this type of steel?

1/8th shouldn't be to bad.......
generally, cold bending, especially repeated, will substantially weaken steel........and, powerful impact can add to this.........although, vibrating impacts when hot bending and tempering can be beneficial.........

these are my experiences, anyway........

good luck
Henry

[Roger S]

Looking at the videos, I'll guess the high spot of the bend is not more than .050" out of round. = .025" push back to center. Mine was .030" out of round > .015" hammer travel. A little bend at the bearing makes a lot of wobble at the tire.

[dkultti]

I Would Park It For Now.

That's way too much wobble brother. My biggest concern would be that over time it could result in damage to your tub. May even be rubbing now, or close to it. Surely it will cause other issues in time. Best is to get it fixed now while the damage is minimal.

[philipatmaxfour]

bent axles

I got an email today from my friend David Berger.He is a character,tells great stories and has been driving,destroying and fixing amphibs for more years than he prob. wants to remember. It was great to hear from him. David uses a method of placing a chain under a plank and around the bent axle,he turns the axle till the bend is facing down and jacks it up a bit at a time. Some trial and error but no strain on the bearings. I wish Knew how to show you the news clip of his friend Tim O'keefe who is a parapalegic and sunk his Argo through the ice. Tim is a man who loves life and lives it!

[Roger S]

Hey Philip, I saw that post at route6x6, and Tim's newscast. Don't forget the drainplugs! I messaged David about this site.. he said he's a registered user already.?

[David3rd]

i have sean worse,LOL

hi all! http://www.6x6world.com/forums/image...s/confused.gif
im not sure how this site works,
i dident sucsessfuly make the move here when others did in part because route6x6 used to auto e-mail posts to you, i only had to click a link to reply to any thred from the comfort of my own e-mail acount.
this serching for stuff is diferent http://www.6x6world.com/forums/image...ies/hmmmm2.gif
i have sean worse axels,
mostly on my machines.
the best method is to remove the axel for straitining on a 20 ton or higher hydralic press. (works on solid axels much better than tube axels)
it's a good idea to have a spair axel or two for temporary replacement so your ride is alwase ready to roll!
on the day you straiten them simply roll them across a good flat table with the hub off the table edge and note the high spots on the hub.
set them up in the press with suports as far apart as posable and find the center of the high spot and pump away, it takes practice but eventualy you get the nack of it.
i found it worked for me one or two pumps after it realy starts resisting.
or by sight you push a little ferther than strait and release after a 5 count!
sucks when you find you actualy bent it an equel amt. the other way! LOL
any way you roll them again and if they only wobble at the hub 3/16 or so id quit there. (provided the part on the table never showes air space onder it when your rolling)
most bend at the bearing coller so thats nearly alwase where your pressing them from.
now if you dont have time to pull them out of the machine my friend is quite correct there is a simple and quick method to get them back to within 1/8 to 3/16 off center wich is good enoph to ride on without any problems.
i wont lye to you,i once watched in horror as someone i thought of as a compleat idiot did this and although it worked great i dident ever plane to do it myself.
that is till one time i was at a ride in NJ at pete cagles.
seams there wasent time to throw in a spair, the group was prepairing to go out for another run, so i was compelled to try,
i hoped knowone cault me at that rediculess manuver but when al was said and done there came some voices of astonishment from over my sholder to let me know i had not gone so unoticed,LOL
next thing i had a small number of people crowded arrond for a lesson, aargh!
i asked all present to never tell anyone they got it from me,LOL
but within a few short days it found it's was onto petes site as a "how too"
as "the berger method" aarrgh again!!
he had photos and step by step instructions that were prity clear and so it spred like wild fire,
so for a time i was famous. LOL
In time i ecepted this beacause knowone ever claimed any dammege to there machine from doing it.
there were several acounts of the methode on vairious threds on route 6x6.
Still i was more comfortable being known for quick trail side bearing and or axel chainges or my screws threw the tire rim mod's.
but..........
if you want to try it........
you need a good strong automotive floor jack and a good strong chain with a locking hook on one end and a good strong long plate of steal to place the jack on and the chain under.
you place the chain under the steal plate (or wood 4x4 as sugested by pete) near yhe base of the bearing coller and the cup of the floor jack just under the axel hub.
rotate by hand and mark in each direction the spot that hits the jack,
mark the spot between your marcks and before you go ferther use atire iron or something agenced the floor and held up near the center of the hub as it is spun to see how much out of spec it is.
(you will get a circle insted of a single center point)
1/8 to 3/16 is hardly big enoph to bother with, but you will compair this each attempt to check your results.
next set your chain up arround the plate and the axel near the bearing and lock it to itself.
next set the axel at the pointyou marked at the bottom and raise your jack cup up to it, now pump away!
when your eyes begin to bulge it will only take another pump or two before you can see with you own eyes that the axel is indead bent the other way!
you give it say a 8 to 10 count and release it.
now rotate again to compair your out of round point on hub center again.
repeat as nessesary from the marking the hub point on.
when your 1/8 to 3/16 out your close enoph!
practice makes perfict, if only a little use less seconds befor release, a long way to go?
alow more time for the bending befor releaseing it. good luck and remember to use this method only when you cant remove and replace axel or cant straiten in a press.
Thanks to Phillip cox and Phliip osborn for alerting me of this thred.

[Don]

Hi Dave, we've missed you.

[argohunter]

Hi Dave, we've missed you.

David, good to see you here

[LarryW]

Hi Dave, we've missed you.

David, good to see you here

Hey DAVE,

[cclingma]

I believe I've been taught how to straighten an axle, now it's time to get busy straightening.
Thanks!

[maxheadroom]

Bent axles

Boy oh Boy...

Where do you stop..

I bought this 1990 MaxII a few weeks ago and have it totally gutted. Great info here on Axles, I have a few bent, but nothing like the Video, I'm a bit of crazy guy for making things right, I'm even thinking of upgrading them all to solid.. Any thoughts on that.. I only want to do this once and do it right, I may want to use tracks later and was told you need solid axles for that.??

I will post some pic's of the progress soon..

Thanks for all the great info gents.

Maxheadroom..

[jerseybigfoot]

Hey Dave. I used your method (Burger Method) to straighten an Attex axle at the recent Busco Beach ride. Yes it draws a crowd. Worked perfectly. We also used the tree, sling winch method followed by the I can't believe he hit something that straightened exactly method on a different ATTEX