Hi all.
Anyone know where my friend can get a replacement front axle for a '35 Ruby? He snapped his in a muddy field just yards from the entrance to a show he was attending last weekend.
Thanks
Ed

Location: Wrexham

My God...what did he hit ? I've got a spare front axle in an off site garage and I'll have a look for it tomorrow or Sunday, but I'm not sure what model of Austin 7 its off. However, even if I determine it's suitable, it would be wise to try to obtain one as close to you as possible for reasons of ease of delivery.

Location: Ferring, Worthing, West Sussex

Stub axle (L or R) king pin or axle beam ?

Cheers, Tony.

Location: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

Thanks all.

The whole axle is needed. Iv not actually seen it, but apparently the end where 2 bolts pass through has cheered off causing the wheel to collapse & end up against the inside of the front wing on the drivers side. The break is clean on one side, yet rusty on the other indicating that there has been a fracture for some time. He's only had the car a short time (this was his first show!) so who knows what has caused it in the past

Location: Wrexham

Hi Edmund

It will be of interest to many if you can establish exact details please.

Particularly on any of the heavier cars which may chance to have had effective front brakes often used, and probably assisted by repeated heating to shrink axle eyes, it is common for torsion cracks to develop in the flanges of the H section where this commences.

Unfortunately in this country, whereas a crack is unlikely to be spied, welding of an axle if recognised is cause for a w.o.f fail. Most axles have been heated at some stage and almost any added metal is an improvement.

You will find old axles quite common; good ones not so.

Location: Auckland, NZ

I too am looking for a late Girling type axle and radius arms but for slightly a slightly different reason, not important here. However a spotted small cracks in the H section on both ends of my 1933 axle. Both rusty. I have had them laser welded, a process new to me. Seems successful so far but keeping a wary eye on it. I suggest this would not be a solution for your friend but might be for other cracked parts.

Location: Soggy Devon

Perhaps the axle had been overheated during previous repairs. Anything more than dull red enbrittles the steel.

Are we talking about the later than the car 'Girling' type axle, or the early one? Your mention of two bolt holes makes me think Girling, but can you clarify this.

Well it's all gone quiet. Iv heard nothing yesterday, so no idea how they got on stripping the old one off. Iv not seen the car, but was told it was a 1935 mk1 Ruby. If I hear anything more Ill put the details here.
Regards Ed

Location: Wrexham

Presumably the one that did this at Carfest?

Location: not north wales any more

Indeed it is.
I was due to attend in my RP, but the weather was so apaling on the Friday, that I gave the whole thing a miss.
The Ruby is for sale once fixed, he thinks he's too big for it! He is rather large for a little Austin & more suited to his V8 Pilot

Location: Wrexham

Some years ago in the local VAR mag I recounted the tale from about 1962 of a colleague with a Ruby of sorts. The story may bemuse others.
Ross was a teenage mechanic apprentice and lived a few doors from me. As we both ran Sevens which were then rare we naturally discussed “motoring”. As with many old cars of the time his was in no mean state; inconceivable with current rules. Ross decided to holiday with a relative in a country town about 200 miles away. He picked up a young hitchhiker who, by a colossal chance, happened to be going to the same street in the same town. They had some hub trouble and called into my fathers home to adjust. My father was somewhat of a mechanical perfectionist. The hub was so damaged Ross had a lot of trouble balancing the axle key in place so he could replace the hub! My father was incredulous. Anyway they got to the destination but setting out a few days later a back axle not unnaturally broke. Ross returned , managed to acquire an axle, and many dirty handprints later departed again. The handling deteriorated severely, until any braking threatened control. The long and steep motorway descent into Wellington was done in 1st gear, not something one could do today and live. The handling was so bad a cop car questioned their meanderings . They resorted to parking the car downtown , which you then could. They decided it was projecting too far into the roadway so pushed it forward. The car subsided to the ground with a broken front axle. They took the tram home.
The car had been driven flat out much of the way.
The hitchhiker did not think it was funny.
I am still in contact with Ross. He has owned and driven a myriad vehicls in many countries without accident, a feat he attributes to his trainng.

Location: Auckland, NZ