Suspension dismantling - balls and shafts

[JackM]

Alex,

I had the same problem when I restored a couple of carriers for the Museum in Fremantle.

I tried almost everything to remove the shaft from the ball/cone, but all I did in the end was to bend the shaft by applying too much pressure while trying to separate the two, in a press.

They are often rusted in very tightly, as you have found.

My solution was to find some spare suspension bogeys and cut the pieces I needed from them, ie I cut the springs off one set to get decent shafts and the shafts off another, to get the springs.

Wasteful I know, but there is often no viable alternative.


Jack

[Ron Pier]

Fortunately I haven't had to attempt this yet. But just reading these problems and wondering how I would procede. I like the sound of Bruce's idea to cut and bore out the shaft. I think it would be simpler and cheaper to make new shafts rather than getting new springs made. Ron

[cantankrs]

Hi Ron,

Bruce found the taper of the ball/cone made it difficult to chuck them securely in the lathe especially so that they'd run true the full length. Consequently the morse taper drill he was finishing with snagged when in deep and twisted off part of the drill thus stuffing it. Maybe boring a taper or step-boring into a length of round or square bar stock and tacking the ball into it might help but one is trying not to tool up for mass production where it can be avoided

He is looking into making new shafts but hasn't decided yet.
Jack, appreciate your experiences. I think by compressing the springs Bruce managed to cut the shaft without damaging the springs (or is that one of the things you also did) but I'll get him to verify that to me and let you know.

Regards

Alex

[Lynn Eades]

If you can push the ball down the rod against the spring, and get som oil, or clean up the rod, the spring will push the ball the other way. So I found that by compressing against the sping enough times that eventually the spring pushed the ball back, and freed up. Obviously yours are in a worse state to start with. Some are so worn, that they will never rust up.
Keep in mind that, that ball runs in a fibre cup in the bogie casting, and if the ball is not in fairly reasonable condition , it will destroy that bearing. There tend to be more suspension bits around than carriers now, so throwing stuffed bits away (when you have others) is not such a crime.
I have been lucky enough to be able to pick the best from a pile of bits.

[cantankrs]

Hi Lynn,

Thanks. You mention that the cup lining/insulator is fibre - do you have any thoughts on whether the cup linings could be replicated? Are they leather? Apparently some of these linings are in a bad way already. They're riveted to the cup aren't they?

I've taken note about what you wrote re the ball heads should be pretty smooth to protect the cups - do you know what the balls are made of? Since they've been heated so far already, perhaps the heads could be bronzed up and smoothed off to restore their surface?

Thanks

Alex

[Lynn Eades]

The balls are quite hard. The cups are like a brake lining - may even be ferodo.
Yes they are riveted in. I put mine in with Araldite - not yet proven
Alex if the balls are nbg, why dont you put the word out, and ask about the cups at the same time.
I think the cups would be hard to make, because of the shape, unless you found a modern material, in a sheet form, that could be pushed into shape. I think thats a big ask.

[motto]

I would suggest that durathane for the cups might be a practical material. It makes excellent suspension bushes and is machineable. May cost a bit though.
David