The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Driveline Pulling rear axle to stop oil leak

I finished machining one axle and pressed on the sleeve. I turned the shaft so I would have .0005” to .001” press fit. I chose a light press fit because the finished OD of the sleeve is the same as the finished size of the original shaft and I didn’t want to increase that size too much. I opted for a press fit over a shrink fit as I didn’t want to overheat the sleeve loosing the temper.

The axles are induction hardened under the bearing area, about an inch wide. I have a old Craftsman 12” lathe and although It did do the job, it was too small to do it efficiently. I have an Aloris style tool post and used 3/8” tool bits with replaceable carbide tips, and went thru three inserts (three sides each) before I finally cut thru the hardened area. It was about .150” deep and almost at my target depth. I wasn’t able to cut more than .005” at a time or I destroyed the carbide tip. So consequently, so it was really time consuming.

Before I retired, one of the machines I ran was a 15” South Bend lathe and would have loved to do this job on that lathe. The headstock is much beefier than my Craftsman lathe and I could have run a much heaver tool and much heaver cut.

I’m optimistic that this sleeve will work, but the sleeve was barely long enough to cover the area that both the bearing and the grease seal area the ride on, making locating the sleeve difficult. I’m pretty sure I have the location correct, but I won’t be sure until I reinstall the axles.

Here are the before and after pictures. If this works, I’ll document all I did and submit it for a Tech Tip.