1911 rear axle housing rivet replacement

[Don ellis]

I need to replace the rivets in both ends of the 1911 axle housings. What's the best thing to use and how do you replace the outboard ones? These ae so loose they move in and out. Someone long ago made a stab at it.
Thanks

[Allan]

Don, I have never replaced the rivets in the outer end of the housings, but have developed an easier method than riveting the centre casings.
With the centre rivets drilled out and the housings removed from the axle tubes, I take the 4 pieces to my local engine shop to have them chemically hot tanked to remove all traces of grease and oil. There's nothing quite like trying to do this cleanup at home with solvents to make you tear your hair out.

In place of rivets I use 1/4" diameter button head set screws and nuts. I cut the screws down so that I have just a little more than the thickness of the nut protruding on the inside. Each screw then has a screwdriver slot cut in the threaded end.

The mating surfaces of the nice clean, dry axle tubes and the housings are then coated with red Loctite 510 flange sealant. This material remains flexible in situ. Then the two parts are bolted together with sealant around the screws and Loctite threadlocker on the nuts. The screwdriver slot allows you to hold the screws as the nuts are wound on. Then they can be held with an Allen key to snug them up. A dob of bondo can then be used to fill the hex hole in the screw head. On my 1912 van I used plain bolts, turned the heads into round and radiussed them to look even more like rivets. The screwdriver slot was then essential.

It's been nearly 30 years since I built the van diff, and the only leak I have so far is an axle seal on the left side.

Hope this helps.
Allan from down under.

[Don ellis]

You wouldn’t happen to have a few photos of yours would you? Especially the screws you used. Thanks

[Allan]

Don, I have a 1913 pair of housings in my shelves that have had the treatment, but I will need someone more agile than me to get them down. I'll see what I can do fro you. Not much point in sending photos of the 1912 van diff, as it looks just as it would normally from the outside.

Allan from down under.

[Rich Eagle]

This shows how I did my '14 rear end.
http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/50 ... 1430708164

[Allan]

Rich's procedure is like mine except I used fine thread bolts and cut the screwdriver slots to hold them while tightening the nuts. He didn't show the sealant that I used.

Allan from down under.

[Don ellis]

Thanks that’s the thread I was looking for. I still don’t know how I’m going to do the out board ends. Not much room to work.

[Allan]

I have replaced a couple of loose rivets on the outside end. The loose ones were drilled out. New rivets were inserted from the inside. I used an angle grinder to dig a slot in the outside of a piece of heavy walled tubing to act as a buck for the rivet head. The tubing was inserted in the end of axle housing and jammed the rivets in place.The rivets were set on the outside using the same tool I used when forming chassis rivets.

Hope this helps.
Allan from down under.