Had a situation where someone gave me the front axle to a 4WD Shibaura SD2243 tractor where the axle shaft snapped off the wheel hub. This axle had two bearing surfaces to accept two radial bearings and an external spline to accept a drive gear.
At first I thought this was going to be difficult, since I would expect the axle spline to be metric and I might have to design a special tool for it. To my surprise I didn’t have to. Looking at the spline a lot closer its geometry was very close to a 90 degree V-shape groove. That made this whole project a lot simpler. First I made the blank, then I use a simple 90 degree V cutter to make the spline. The drive gear fitted up just nicely onto the spline. About .001” backlash.
I then finished by machining the bearing surfaces and substituted an American thread form for the end of the axle shaft. I also had to make a new locking ring.
An internal diameter hole was machined in the wheel hub and the axle shaft press fitted into it. The peripheral interface between the axle and hub was then welded together (not shown). This made for an extremely strong part. Much more than the original design.
The tractor is now back up and running. So the tip of the day is you might not have to go metric on an original metric design.
At first I thought this was going to be difficult, since I would expect the axle spline to be metric and I might have to design a special tool for it. To my surprise I didn’t have to. Looking at the spline a lot closer its geometry was very close to a 90 degree V-shape groove. That made this whole project a lot simpler. First I made the blank, then I use a simple 90 degree V cutter to make the spline. The drive gear fitted up just nicely onto the spline. About .001” backlash.
I then finished by machining the bearing surfaces and substituted an American thread form for the end of the axle shaft. I also had to make a new locking ring.
An internal diameter hole was machined in the wheel hub and the axle shaft press fitted into it. The peripheral interface between the axle and hub was then welded together (not shown). This made for an extremely strong part. Much more than the original design.
The tractor is now back up and running. So the tip of the day is you might not have to go metric on an original metric design.