Battery Vehicle Society

Here are some pictures of my axle fun.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/23884667@N ... 01/detail/

One thing I've done that's sure to help is reduce the driven pulley diameter so the belt tension is not overly tight. The belt ribs were disintegrating and the belt had stretched longer by 3/8 inch at that point, so I got some help to turn the pulley on a lathe a tiny bit, and the whole thing goes together more like a stock EL idlere assembly.

Nonetheless, I'm really hoping to put a new factory axle in (Andreas?), and not rely on a welded and possibly heat-stressed axle.

Thanks,
Scott

Interesting.

Any idea why the axle broke? As a fellow Hot-rodded El owner I'm a little nervous that it could happen to mine... and that wouldn't be very good at all!

Nikki.

Surprised you're not the first to break one eh Nikki!

*chases after Kelvin and hits him with big stick*

My noteriaty isn't that large is it?

At least it's not an axle!

qdos wrote:Surprised you're not the first to break one eh Nikki!

whooo, brave move !


Nice knowing you dude....

Hehe.

Back to the broken Axle....

It does seem to be quite a common occurance. I've found a few examples on line of broken axles. Scott, are there any tell-tale signs that something is going wrong?

Nikki.

aminorjourney wrote: any tell-tale signs that something is going wrong?
Nikki.

Hi Nikki sorry for the delay in replying. Life is what happens when you're trying to get stuff done

I was aware of the broken axle after it happened, i.e. I heard squeaking and actually thought I had a failing belt. Turned out the squeaking was the axle slipping inside the bushing (see photos on flikr that I linked to in another post here). It broke at the keyway, which of course is one of the places with the smallest cross-section of metal in the axle.

Other than a visual inspection, I'm not aware of any way to tell that a crack has developed.

My second axle breakage was a poor penetration of my repair MIG weld on the bushing.

Scott