How long should the axle shaft key way be? I am working on an axle and on one end it looks like the key way might come into contact with the neoprene outer seals. I am not talking about the key itself but, the slot in the axle. Has anybody else ever have this problem?

Thanks,
Stephen

The axle shaft taper should be 2 3/4" long, and the key way starting at the beginning of the taper( i.e. narrow end) should run out beyound the end of the taper, just at 3".

Dan, I have had a problem with that type of brake shoe, which led to some serious damage to my Hayes wire wheel brake drum. The action of the cam will push the lower end of the shoe towards the drum for good braking, but the upper end is driven away from the drum and on my car the shoe bent at the cam end. This left the metal end of the shoe in contact with the drum, causing deep grooving in the steel drum. There are some better ones with castings on the ends, but these are not as common.

Just to give you a heads up and notice to keep an eye out.

Allan from down under

These shoes were discussed a few days ago. I've used both styles, and never had any problems with either.

Stephen, it appears I have the same issue on the rear axle I am currently rebuilding. I checked last night and I have two new axle shafts from two different vendors. One has the keyway cut well into the sealing surface. I am still setting up my bronze thrust plates so time will tell if it cut deep enough to interfere with the seal lip.

I'm sure there's several possible solutions to this problem. I would try filling the keyway, where it interferes, with JB Weld and carefully smoothing it over where the seal will ride. In general, I'm not too big a fan of JB but this looks like a good place to try it.

I should say, I believe JB is a very good product, but in my thinking, it gets used for way more things than it's suited for.