The front axle on our 14 is bent back and up slightly on the left side. I imagine some previous owner found a ditch somewhere. As far as I can tell the left spindle is 1/2 " back and up to the point where the camber is Zero.
Is it that hard to bend back to standard?
When I drive it pulls slightly to the right reguardless which side of the road crown I'm on!
Any chance someone could give me a suggestion on this?
Has anyone tried to straighten a front axle with a press? Would u heat it, or do it cold?
Since the left front wheel spindel is back 1/2 and inch, would this cause the car to tow to the right? Thanks in advance to any help.
The T axle is tough steel, bending it cold would be ok.
Take it to a good frame / axle shop and they can check it out, and get that axle back straight again.
Dan, the best way to straighten an axle is the way you have showen in your Post, out of the car, and by it's self. But the tooling they show is Mickey Mouse. The pointers that I had like that 45 years ago, were to short, and were to loose in the perch holes. Plumb lines don't tell you anything, and you sure can't hold it steady enough, to keep it from swinging, and what would it tell you any way, with any accuracy. Putting a level on a rod, what would a guy compare that to, the other end, if the axle isn't level, and how you going to level if it is bent, what do you go by. The picture of faceing off a axle yoke, should always be done, after straightening an axle, but the axles are tough, and will dull a tool like that fast. We put the new spindle bolt in, and tighten it, then level the end, and side, to the milling machine, and remove the bolt, and mill top, and bottom. To straighten T, an A axles, I have 4, 25 1/2 inch long drill rods, and a Taper cone, on each end of the rods, and they taper down to nothing at the rods diameter. These are BEAR alignment rods, only they had two, and I made 4. I have the whole machine, but the Original Rods were sprung. In the Ford Service Bulletins Book, they show the Alginment rods in an axle on page 482, and the rest of the machine on page 307, I have never used the rest of the machine. When you get a bend between a spindle bolt, and the perch, a 75 ton K.R.Wilson press, says, you want me to do what.
i used a 20 ton press.
20 t press used on my wife 26 front axle, nice and straight and ends angled correctly.
A long lever was used to correct the twist.
David.
Herm
Right about the pic, I posted just to show ref. to how the axle should be straight. No bends.
This older post by another forum member showed some nice rods fitted precisely to measure points to be sure the axle was straight.
Thanx guys this is what I neede. I have access to a 50 ton press.
Would u use the press to bend the very end (perch hole to the spindel holes) to increase the camber?
Wilf
Nope.
Camber is made by the offset of the forged spindle body that fits in the axle yoke.
The axle is to be dead straight. Note the alignment bars in the last post.
If the axle checks out straight, then the spindle body could be bent, or spindle shaft holding the wheel bearings is bent, or the bore is worn and the kingpin bolt bushing is off, or something there is bent.
Kep, and David did you use your 20 ton presses the bend in between the spindle bolt, and the perch hole cold. I had a 20 ton, and a 25 ton, and they wouldn't do it.
Why not use some heat to reduce the amount of force it takes to bend the axle? Or even with selective heating you should be able to straighten a bent axle with no external force required.
The key is that to make some part of the axle smaller it to heat that area and let it cool, check after it cools and repeat if necessary.
Heat is used all the time to form special speedster axles.
http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/179374/212997.html?1311734200
Jim
Not really, i just used somebodys press to push the axle straight. When i released the pressure it went back to being bent so i pressed it way past straight to the point i thought it would break and it bounced back to nearly straight. Just kept pressing it until it was straight.
Wilf
This is how I straighten all my front ends
All rods have to be straight first
All rods need to be parallel with each other
All have to be equal distance apart at the top of the rod and the bottom of rod
This makes all the holes dead parallel.
As hor heigt of the holes, I run a string line across the bottom and make sure the perch holes are equal distance below the line. The hight is not rally important, it wont be too far out.
I had the spanner cut from 1 1/2 inch plate is made for a piece of 2 inch water pippe to slide over for more leverage.
Use the Press as a vise to hold it, Over twist with slanner ( make sure it is bolted to the floor.... well)
Ease off the press to just hold in place (zero pressure) before you line up the rods.
Do not handle the rods at any time in the press. Really need two people to move the axle without touching the rods
Mark
Steve Coniff will be presenting a detailed Model T front axle straightening seminar using his alignment fixtures at the March 2012 MTFCA annual meeting in Albuquerque.
Ron the Coilman
Dan, Mark, just the way we do ours also.
To align Spindles, spin in lathe between centres and use surface gauge to check for out of round.
Also put both on one of the aligning rods and check distance between centre of threaded ends. Should be the same distance from edge of Spindle Arm Holes (if both mounted on bar the same way)
Spindle Arms can be also be checked in one plain only. The will have to be checked for angle in the oposite plain
(Spindle arm photo is incorrect: you need to reverse one of the arms to get the correct measurements to calculate)
Jim, if you start useing heat to bend an axle, you open up a whole new can of worms. It will bend where the heat is, not where it needs to bend. JMHO. Dave
Jim, if you start useing heat to bend an axle, you open up a whole new can of worms. It will bend where the heat is, not where it needs to bend. JMHO. Dave