I'm over at the shop right now.
Just got done pullling the short tube out of a high pinion 60 housing.
My hat's off to all you that have done this. When you said it was a PITA, you weren't joking.
The rosettes laughed at cobalt drill bits, even after I tried anneiling(sp?) them.
I got through one of them with a massonry bit on a Bridgeport mill. The second one toasted the bit. :eek:
I wound up using a die grinder with a conical stone and finished with a cylindrical stone.
Made a puck and "tried" to press the tube out with a bottle jack but it just laughed at 6 tons.
Nothing like heat and a GDBMFH! Then the jack finished the job.
Glad I only had to do one side.
Doc.

I think it's funny when everybody (the "experts") tell people how easy it is.... hahaha...... I tried the die-grinder, hougen-hole saw
bits, torch, plasma, drill press...... yup.. skunked.... made a killer
axle-bracket to attach it to a mill table, and took it into a machine
shop.... he had a hell of a time doing it as well... 300 bucks later,
i went home an still had to grind-out a bit on 1 housing, (i did 2)
and pressed them out with my shop-made 50 ton press.....
and when one of them went POP, it sounded like a 38 going off
next to my head..... but all is good now....

--Sherpa

but then again, I hear the "way to do it" is with an "air-arc"
machine..... I should check into that....

its welder boy here. I use #1 torch tip with about 45lbs oxy jet pressure.After a short preheat on the rosset I punch clean through the weld & the tube. Make sure you cut out the entire rosset,then press.:smokin:

I dropped my 60s off at MAXLE Engineering picked them up a week later and handed them a check for $300 and a case of Bud Light! Whew,(wiping my brow), that WAS a lot of work, It's really hard handing over perfectly good beer!:flipoff2:

glad my tera 60's came with out tubes installed :flipoff2:

A couple friends and I 'swapped tubes' on an axle by cutting the tubes off at equal distances from the center of the pig, swap sides, and welded them back together, then we sleeved the d44 tube, with a junk d60 sf tube, much easier than pulling the tubes, but you gotta jig them back up straight.

Hayraker,

How did you account for the saw (or whatever you cut with) kerf?

Originally posted by twistedmetal
It's really hard handing over perfectly good beer!:flipoff2:
no way i would have gave up the beer!!!!!!! lol

Originally posted by doctor_G
[B
Nothing like heat and a GDBMFH! Then the jack finished the job.
Doc. [/B]

See that was the ENTIRE Problem from the begginning .... you didn't have a GDBMFH.... those FIX EVERYTHING..... I tend to start with those now.... just go to swingin..............
:D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D

Originally posted by BillaVista
Hayraker,

How did you account for the saw (or whatever you cut with) kerf?

used 6010 to replace the kerf


edit: wansn't much kerf, cut it with a porta band.

Has anybody tried heating the plug welds up and then drilling them while they are still red hot?

Sherpa rig and GearMan: I remember a few times while I was grinding, "Be nice to use an air arc" :D
I wanted to be careful about the housing. If it wasn't a high-screw 60, I probably would have used the torch or air arc.
I always seem to have bad luck with cast so I felt better using the grinder.
Twistedmetal: I can feel your pain. Could have maybe saved yourself 300 bucks by doing it yourself. Aterwards, pay yourself the case...........I SURE DID!!
Camo: Avoided the hassle and still came out ahead! :D
Dangerranger33: I agree 100 percent, No self respecting mechanic/machinist/welder/fabricator/wheeler would be caught dead without his GDBMFH close by! I need to quit fawking around and reach for that first! :p

Originally posted by liveaxle
Has anybody tried heating the plug welds up and then drilling them while they are still red hot?

I'm thinking you would have your hands full trying that.
When I tried anneiling the rosettes, I got them cherry red but almost as soon as I moved the torch off of them the heat dispersed. (alot of mass there)
Probably be hard on a bit too..........then again when you look at the alternative, it's like a catch 22.
Looking back on it, the grinding method wasn't all that bad.
Couldn't have said that yesterday though. :eek: :D

come awn guys..just shoot em out with a 50 cal full metal jacket...

:D

could have maybe saved yourself 300 bucks doing it yourself.
Nope. The $300 covered removing the tubes, removing the ends from the tubes, installing the shoeter MUCH thicker tubes, jigging it back up to EXACT specs, and then putting everything back on it all the way down to the gear oil. Back in my own shop, I trippled that amount working on other peoples headaches.:D

I've got two HP 60 inline to re-tube and you guys are scaring me!
I've resources to buy at wholesale a sintered diamond core drilling bit.
Probably $100 ... similar to a wood hole saw, only used wet and at a medium speed ...
Any thoughts on how this might do?

My buddy showed me a semi-easy way to remove the welds, take a arc welder and burn a hole through the weld and then use a torch to burn the rest of the weld out. I tried it and it wasn't that bad of a job (a little scary, I didn't want to ruin the HP 60). I did try first with a 44 and that was cake compared to the 60. If I had an air arc gouge it really would have been easy.

btw I tried my plasma cutter and it almost burned the head up.


Craig

Torch.


Heat it up and blow through.


worked for me, and didn't fawk up the housing at all. Arc air would probably be better, maybe not. But I got a torch.


BFH and a long piece of pipe and beat the tub out :D

Originally posted by Jaffer
I've got two HP 60 inline to re-tube and you guys are scaring me!
I've resources to buy at wholesale a sintered diamond core drilling bit.
Probably $100 ... similar to a wood hole saw, only used wet and at a medium speed ...
Any thoughts on how this might do?


Hey Jaffer, it's your hundred bucks! I'd say got for it! hehehe

I also failed to mention that all those bits/tips/cutters I tried
cost me about 120 bucks before I gave up......


Crazy Craig wrote:

btw I tried my plasma cutter and it almost burned the head up.


Craig


yeah, I tried that too.... same result, and my plaz is a hypertherm

1100...................

nothing but molten steel spraying back on ya!

Hey Craig, that 60 you're working on shoulda been mine! I
was also bidding on it on ebay before you got it!

--good luck guys,

---Sherpa

I'll probably try heat the next time around (air-arc or torch)
A machinist friend had mentioned an all carbide end mill, that was before I showed him what they did to a masonry bit.
Jaffer, I'd be hesitant on shelling out the jack for a bit, then take a chance at trashing it. Then again you could be a pioneer. :D
Good luck with your projects guys!

I almost forgot, for all you guys that have a lathe or access to one. I set up the axle tube and inner knuckle up in the lathe and turned down and under-cut the weld holding the inner knuckle on.
Worked out slick, only took about 10 minutes.

I have cut out a few broken taps with a carbide endmill, OK more than a few, usually smaller 10-32s. I understand the concern with the "shock", carbide is HARD, but brittle. With some patience, I have made it through some nasty stuff. If I recall, those welds are about 1/2" in diameter. A 3/4 carbide endmill would take care of the weld, but you would have to fill it in (easier than taking it out I guarentee!:D) I am thinking of talking to my boss about working with some smaller 4x4 shops I have come in contact with. Would $100 be reasonable to get the tubes out?

Originally posted by doctor_G
... Jaffer, I'd be hesitant on shelling out the jack for a bit, then take a chance at trashing it. Then again you could be a pioneer. :D
Good luck with your projects guys!

Well, it will be worth a call to the manufacturer to get thier opinion as to suitability and I do have a 1/4" version in stock that I bought on a whim when they were on sale ... plus an old D60 pumpkin that sacrificed it's tubes to another axel.
These diamond core drill bits are designed for glass and hard stone and they grind ... sort of like an oil well bit ... rather than cut.
The only trick to using them is to keep them wet and the slag flushing out and to not go so fast as to build up much heat as doing so will cause the diamond particles to dislodge from their welded (sintered) bed on the edge of the cup shaped bit.
From all the pain I'm reading here, it WILL be worth looking into further ... :p