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Axle repairs

Does anyone know of a place where we can get front axles repairs (kingpin eyelets shrunk) as Ian Dunford is now unable to access the blacksmith any more and doesn't offer this service?

Alternatively, has anyone else had any success in repairing them (welding and re drilling perhaps) and if so, could they offer and advice.

Thanks
Tim

Re: Axle repairs

Hi Tim

Are your eyes beyond saving with oversize king pins? It makes reaming interesting, but saved me a lot of bother!

Regards
Nick

Location: not in the garage :(

Re: Axle repairs

I've always done my own since seeing the old bloke at Townsends (they used to be a blacksmiths firm in Sarf Lunnen) using a stick welder to weld round axle eyes in order to shrink them.

Here's the Big Seven axle from my special welded -somewhat out of focus in this pic unfortunately.



Unlike most welding work, here you are aiming to get maximum heat into the weld area in order to maximise the shrinkage which occurs on cooling. From memory, I did this welding at about 180 amps with a MIG welder - I would use bit less if I was stick welding. Once the weld has cooled, it can be fettled to clean up the outside of the eye.



Then, it's just a matter of very carefully reaming the kingpin eye back to size. I keep some old reamers on which I have slipstoned the lead face of the cutting edges for this job, as a result it makes a slightly undersize hole, which results in the kingpin being a tap fit in the eye.

I have done the kingpin eyes on my '31 tourer using the same process, as with the Big Seven axle, the end result is quite a lot more "meat" around the kingpin than the factory provided.

Location: N W Kent