Posted by jeffdeq
on August 26, 2009, 5:43 pm, in reply to "Re: Won't go in gear unless diff lock is on...."
VIP Member | Message modified by user jeffdeq August 26, 2009, 10:05 pm
Not really. I am lucky, he is a childhood friend that became a very good machinist. He does a lot of difficult machining work in a paper mill. He took the shaft and drilled a hole in both broken ends and pressed in a short stub of round stock steel. Another individual fillet welded the stub with a build up weld in a rotating support. My friend then checked the rotating runout which was less than .001". He then turned back a fillet machine surface in the fractured area. What is left is a reinforced area that should not break again. If I had to pay for this it would cost more than just buying another shaft. Aaron sold me one for a spare for about $70. When it came in it had a radial runout of .011". This is the result of poor machining work at the factory. As you can see the shaft cannot tolerate a lot of wobble when the bearings wear out. This is what caused the shaft to snap. If you decide to buy a new shaft, take it to a machinist. Have him look at how the factory welds the stub onto the long shaft. The machinist will know what to do to reinforce the potential fracture area.
The two rear shafts are the same design but different lengths. I had my friend weld up and turn down a fillet on the right shaft which did not break but had already started to fracture.
Jeff
Camo Mammoth
