Repairing worn hub axle races
 

Thought you might want to see how it's done.
https://youtu.be/IM0eg_T9lOs?si=l-o_qDSSWgcR5eXt

Re: Repairing worn hub axle races
 

Very cool, Randall. Thanks for sharing.

Re: Repairing worn hub axle races
 

What a coincidence, I've just set a housing up in my lathe to do the same thing.

Re: Repairing worn hub axle races
 

Dave, can you or Randall show some better pics of how you set up at the jaws. The other end is a 'live center', right??? You leave the race how much over sized for the press fit into the new sleeve?

Re: Repairing worn hub axle races
 

One and half thou is a plenty

Re: Repairing worn hub axle races
 

As did I - in a 1907 "Flather" lathe (i.e. cone pulley box tailstock antique.)

While I had a full set of high speed steel cutters and holder, I COULD NOT cut below the case/hardening/Brinnelled surface of the trumpet housing.

I finally had to give up and give it over to a machinist with actual carbide tooling. And a "real" lathe.

I think the same question of how much interference came up there too. The instructions that came with the sleeves indicated the 1.5 Thou - but what we found was that the sleeve would "stretch" to fit over the interference. It's almost a direct transference from the ID to the OD.

So here is a way to (somewhat) "swallow up" some of that wear found either in bearing needles/spirals, or the hub.

Also keep in mind that Ford early on produced some axles that ALREADY had pressed on sleeves. The treatment for these is exactly the same as a solid axle - but you run a risk of "turning off the original sleeve" and ending up with a severely small inner bearing diameter.

These early trumpets CAN be seen if they're carefully cleaned up and examined on the end.

Joe K

Re: Repairing worn hub axle races
 

When this is done to the axle housing, the owner is usually looking to do up the whole of the bearing which includes the inside of the hub. When the sleeve is inserted in there, a tube of Loctite 660 (supplied with the kit) is used to hold it in place.
If the interference between the smaller sleeve (shown in the video clip) and the axle housing is not enough, could the same Loctite compound be used to hold it? I suspect so even though I would prefer the correct interference.

Re: Repairing worn hub axle races
 

The sleeves I got from Henry's(Snyders), suggest using loctite when fitting the sleeve to the housing, as well as .0015" interference. It's a learning curve for me, my first one. Found out the housing is hard as a rock and killing my inserts, but they are easily replaced. My set up is large end in the four jaw chuck and centred with a dial gauge, and a live centre cone at the other. The length is at the extreme for my lathe, a Hafco AL-330.

Re: Repairing worn hub axle races
 

Fitting those sleeves is one thing but what you do in the hub is another. Using the available sleeves in there and V8 rollers (the quality has improved, I am told) works well but you can't use a new hub, a sleeved trumpet and new replacement Model A rollers. They are too tight. I suspect the reason for that is that by pressing the sleeve on the trumpet, it is stretched a little so that it ends up slightly larger diameter. A solution to that might be to cylindrically grind the sleeve back to proper size after pressing it on.
I was warned about this by my US based parts supplier and he was right. Just as well I heeded his words.

Re: Repairing worn hub axle races
 

Interesting!! Fortunately I have not had this issue yet. The last 4 or 5 rear hubs have been worn too much where they would not pass the 'pop' test with our tester. I just ordered new drums installed on new hubs from Snyders and they have seemed to work ok.

Re: Repairing worn hub axle races
 

Just as well that I don't have new hubs. I could see the sleeves being expanded after fitting the same way as a bush shrinks in slightly when pressed in. Although honing a bush back to size after pressing is easier than grinding an external back to size.

Re: Repairing worn hub axle races
 

The original rear axle wheel bearing races will wear mostly on the bottom, so the races will be out-of-round. The amount of out-of-round establishes the turn-down diameter so the out-of-round is totally removed, and the new race sleeve will have a 0.001 to 0.0015" interference fit. This may require a special sleeve if the catalog sleeve's ID is too large to fit the axle cleanup diameter.

In the case where a special sleeve is necessary, I would scrap the axle housing because the special sleeve will need to be case hardened. I am not certain, but I presume that the original bearing surface was case hardened and then surface ground to its final diameter.

Locking fluid has no value when the fit is an interference, as the fluid will be totally scraped-off during the press fit.


You can deduce from the attached slide that the bearing race is key to the brake drum running concentric with the axle's truce center of rotation. Thus wear of the bearing race affects the centering of the brakes.

Re: Repairing worn hub axle races
 

You are correct Bob. Additionally, we generally warm the races in a small toaster oven (-we also use this oven to preheat engine bearing caps prior to pouring) to about 200° which lets these sleeves just drop onto the housing. Although the heat does not affect the hardness of the sleeve, it definitely would damage the 'locking compound'.