Rear Axle Dissection

[drj545 3]

Now that my axle was officially condemned by the place I took it to, and I’ve hopefully a new tube on the way, I thought it would be an interesting exercise  to chop up the old axle to have a look at it. 
 

When originally trying to take the trailing arm shafts out, the shafts were firmly jammed in the tube, and looked like the bearings had collapsed. In desperation I took it to a local guy who has built a few axles in the past. He had a hydraulic ram to pull the shafts out ( after burning a hole in the shaft), but even then they wouldn’t budge (popped a seal in his ram). 
 

So today i invested 1 cutting disc and found this: 

 

 

 

 

I thought I was cutting the bearing out of one side, but then I realised that this tube must have been sleeved in the past:

 

 

The other side didn’t seem to have this. Its inner bearing was in decent condition, could read MADE IN FRANCE and the part number on it:

 

But the outer was tatties:

 

This was off a 1 owner, 107,000 mile car. I’m a bit surprised the tube was sleeved but given the corrosion seen here maybe i shouldn’t be. The corrosion seemed to get by to the outer bearing, but the inners seem pretty rust-free. 
 

Anyway thought I’d share!

[jord294 87]

I won't touch sleeved tubes. 

 

The car has likely to of had a rebuild in the past.

 

I've seen better higher mileage axles and worse low mileage axles

 

 

 

 

[Leslie green 81]

The scottish weather has got into that one over a long period of time which is usually why they fail id think.I don't understand why it was sleeved as the sleeve doesn't come out to the outer bearing which is usually the one that the seat corrodes on . 

[Tom Fenton 1,524]

I don't think that is a sleeve, I think it is the end of the main cross tube that has been badly worn away by the trailing arm shaft rubbing on it.

[welshpug 1,621]

Agree, it'll be the remains of a bearing.

 

Nothing wrong with a sleeved tube, pretty standard engineering practice where a bearing surface or seat is damaged.

[drj545 3]

I’m not sure what it is now to be honest, had a look last night and the “sleeve” I was chiselling goes way into the tube, and seems to butt up nice to what would be the bearing seat at the end of the tube, if that makes sense:

 

 

That is, the pink and green lines are on the same level. 
 

Is this how they’re made? I’ve no idea as this is the first one I’ve ever opened up. 

[Tom Fenton 1,524]

The pink and green are only level at that point as the shaft has been rubbing on them over the years due to the bearing being collapsed. I think on the opposite side of the hole the pink bit will sit proud and there will be a shoulder.

[Tom Fenton 1,524]

1 hour ago, welshpug said:

Nothing wrong with a sleeved tube, pretty standard engineering practice where a bearing surface or seat is damaged.

 

Agreed, either weld up the bore and machine back to size, or machine oversize and shrink a sleeve in. As someone that works in heavy industry I've seen it and done it hundreds of times on things that carry hundreds of times more load than a 205 rear axle tube.

[stef205 91 1 Cars]

On 2/8/2023 at 4:53 PM, jord294 said:

I won't touch sleeved tubes. 

 

The car has likely to of had a rebuild in the past.

 

I've seen better higher mileage axles and worse low mileage axles

 

 

 

 

For what reason? What other option is there? Not everyone has a stack of overpriced tubes stored away. 

[Leslie green 81]

I'm wondering was it a bodge put in to remove play in the axle by taking up the gap between the tube and the shaft, but when the grease disappeared being mild steel the rusting locked it solid in there .I know my mechanic used to fit extra bearings in rally cars or even road cars where things were bad on that part of the shaft to move the bearing to an unworn area but that is much too deep for a bearing.

[stef205 91 1 Cars]

6 hours ago, drj545 said:

I’m not sure what it is now to be honest, had a look last night and the “sleeve” I was chiselling goes way into the tube, and seems to butt up nice to what would be the bearing seat at the end of the tube, if that makes sense:

 

 

That is, the pink and green lines are on the same level. 
 

Is this how they’re made? I’ve no idea as this is the first one I’ve ever opened up. 

the pink is the centre tube section, as its become so rusty youve managed to split it and peel it. Green is the depth of the original bearing seat area

[Leslie green 81]

This is what it should look like :

 

IMG_20220816_153241 by Leslie, on Flickr

[jord294 87]

13 hours ago, stef205 said:

For what reason? What other option is there? Not everyone has a stack of overpriced tubes stored away. 

Stef, I've experienced far too many sleeved tubes to stay well clear of. This is why I spend the time sourcing usable genuine tubes