Hi all,
I'm trying to refurbish a little camping trailer for my niece and that involves replacing the stub axles because 1) the original ones were left exposed to the weather and had gone rusty and 2) they had too long a shoulder on them anyway meaning the track was too wide and there was some jiggery pokery on the mountings to get the wheels inside the mudguards.
Anyroadup, I got the old stubs off but I have a couple of concerns re fitting the replacements ...
Firstly I believe the stub axles are normally welded onto the swinging arm and square insert first ... and then pressed into the housing with the rubbers, meaning I have to be careful not to allow the swinging arm / insert to get too hot whilst welding (and whilst I was grinding the old stubs off, I quenched them in a bucket of cold water when they felt hot to the touch to be on the safe side).
Secondly, whilst I might be able to get a reasonable weld on a straight horizontal run on some equal gauge steel and especially where I might be able to go over it and tidy up with the angle grinder (or cut it open and start again), this is not that. It's some fairly thin (3mm) box with a fairly substantial (25mm) diameter bar welded to / though it and more importantly, going to be used on the road and so I would feel more comfortable that it was done by someone who was more proficient, up-to-date and with a better setup than me.
With that in mind I see no reason why it couldn't be done safely, either with regular cooling or being welded with the sensitive bit in a bucket of water to keep the rubber (and nylon bearing blocks) cool (I'd have to say when doing something previously the grinding got the whole thing hotter than the welding), but only by someone who knows what they are doing.
eg, You might see from the 'before' pictures what looks like a nice weld around the back of the axle (with the previous one the old stub knocked out once the weld was ground down to the surface, with this one there was penetration right though the box section) and what looks to me to be a nicely balanced fillet around the outside of the arm, putting more weld onto the box than the stub and hence strengthening the box section.
I'm in no particular rush, am willing to drop the units off and collect later if not too far away (fuel costs etc) and happy to provide some beer tokens of course (or 3D printing / basic turning in return). ;-)
I've not tacked the stubs in place because I didn't want to make it more difficult for someone and any small / relevant alignment issues (like tracking) can be sorted out in the mounting of the suspension units.
So, anyone able to help me out or point me towards someone who might please?
Thanks for your time reading this. I felt it was necessary to get all the points across for obvious reasons.
Cheers, Tim
I'm trying to refurbish a little camping trailer for my niece and that involves replacing the stub axles because 1) the original ones were left exposed to the weather and had gone rusty and 2) they had too long a shoulder on them anyway meaning the track was too wide and there was some jiggery pokery on the mountings to get the wheels inside the mudguards.
Anyroadup, I got the old stubs off but I have a couple of concerns re fitting the replacements ...
Firstly I believe the stub axles are normally welded onto the swinging arm and square insert first ... and then pressed into the housing with the rubbers, meaning I have to be careful not to allow the swinging arm / insert to get too hot whilst welding (and whilst I was grinding the old stubs off, I quenched them in a bucket of cold water when they felt hot to the touch to be on the safe side).
Secondly, whilst I might be able to get a reasonable weld on a straight horizontal run on some equal gauge steel and especially where I might be able to go over it and tidy up with the angle grinder (or cut it open and start again), this is not that. It's some fairly thin (3mm) box with a fairly substantial (25mm) diameter bar welded to / though it and more importantly, going to be used on the road and so I would feel more comfortable that it was done by someone who was more proficient, up-to-date and with a better setup than me.
With that in mind I see no reason why it couldn't be done safely, either with regular cooling or being welded with the sensitive bit in a bucket of water to keep the rubber (and nylon bearing blocks) cool (I'd have to say when doing something previously the grinding got the whole thing hotter than the welding), but only by someone who knows what they are doing.
eg, You might see from the 'before' pictures what looks like a nice weld around the back of the axle (with the previous one the old stub knocked out once the weld was ground down to the surface, with this one there was penetration right though the box section) and what looks to me to be a nicely balanced fillet around the outside of the arm, putting more weld onto the box than the stub and hence strengthening the box section.
I'm in no particular rush, am willing to drop the units off and collect later if not too far away (fuel costs etc) and happy to provide some beer tokens of course (or 3D printing / basic turning in return). ;-)
I've not tacked the stubs in place because I didn't want to make it more difficult for someone and any small / relevant alignment issues (like tracking) can be sorted out in the mounting of the suspension units.
So, anyone able to help me out or point me towards someone who might please?
Thanks for your time reading this. I felt it was necessary to get all the points across for obvious reasons.
Cheers, Tim