Bender for axle?
- Thread starter Chaser320
- Start date
Welcome Chaser! I admire your spunk in wanting to build your own front axle. The reality is it seems to make more sense to buy one of the aftermarket units with the proper camber and spindle considerations already engineered and done. The only axle bending I have witnessed was done in a friend's garage with a lot of heat and grunt from him (he's a big boy) to straighten out collision damage. I imagine the equipment to bend one to proper shape would be some sort of mandrel bender - pretty expensive. What do you think?
If you want to save yourself some headache, I bought one custom bent to my specs from Okie Joe's Dropped Axles - Joe's Speed Shop The price was right as well.
Bill Pedersen
Member
Hi Chaser320, welcome to the site. I have built a couple of front tube axles for front engine dragsters which are a single bend per side axle somewhat similar to the axle in the CCR plans. I used a JD2 model 4 bender.
It’s a lot of work to only make one for yourself. Besides a bender, you will need access to a milling machine. You will need to build a jig to hold the axle so you can fish mouth the tubing at the proper angle for the kingpin boss. You will also need another fixture to hold the kingpin boss in place while you weld it. The camber is built into the axle and it is not adjustable.
I also like to build everything myself, but I decided to buy my front axle from CCR. (They are also a sponsor of this site.) I like the look of the “S” style bend on the axles which is where there are 2 very close bends per side. Most all of the home shop benders are a Rotary Draw design and you can’t get 2 bends this close together without using a mandrel bender. CCR tig welds their axles and I couldn’t be happier with the one I bought.
Bill
It’s a lot of work to only make one for yourself. Besides a bender, you will need access to a milling machine. You will need to build a jig to hold the axle so you can fish mouth the tubing at the proper angle for the kingpin boss. You will also need another fixture to hold the kingpin boss in place while you weld it. The camber is built into the axle and it is not adjustable.
I also like to build everything myself, but I decided to buy my front axle from CCR. (They are also a sponsor of this site.) I like the look of the “S” style bend on the axles which is where there are 2 very close bends per side. Most all of the home shop benders are a Rotary Draw design and you can’t get 2 bends this close together without using a mandrel bender. CCR tig welds their axles and I couldn’t be happier with the one I bought.
Bill
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