Axle press ring-weld it?

[DAORFFO]

I am running a 9" Ford rear end with Moser heat treated semi-floater axles. The problem I am having is that when I slide the truck sideways in the desert,the pressed on ring that holds the axle bearing on , is sliding inward, which in turn is allowing the whole axle to slide outward. It is happening because of the sidewards load on the tire/axle. I know the true proper set up is to get a full floater rear end . This is what I have for now ( semi-floater), so I need to make this work. I have talked to a few people and they suggested to tack weld the press ring to the heat treated axle. Is this ok to do? I know your not supposed to weld on heat treated axles but its just going to be a little tack weld. Will this affect the heat treat enough to cause the axle to brake? I know somebody on here has had to deal with this before, I cant be the first one. Any thoughts? Sorry for the long post.

Thanks in advance for any help/suggestions.

[carnage crew]

I have the same problem with our comp buggy. How thick are the lock rings? They make some wider ones Like the stock ones that hold alot better. Or what i have done in the past is to install two or three of the thinner ones on the shaft. This has fixed the problem for us maybe it will help you.

[steveG3]

Maybe this is a dumb question, but are you using new lock rings?

How are you installing them?

[DAORFFO]

Originally Posted by carnage crew

I have the same problem with our comp buggy. How thick are the lock rings? They make some wider ones Like the stock ones that hold alot better. Or what i have done in the past is to install two or three of the thinner ones on the shaft. This has fixed the problem for us maybe it will help you.

Ring is 3/8 thick . I thought of installing 2 rings,but there isnt much room left to do that. What do you think about the tack weld on the heat treated axle? Will it promote breakage?

The rings have about 8 desert trips on them. They are pressed on the axle.

[carnage crew]

I don't know about tacking them . I would think it would weeken te shaft but don't know for sure.

[truehi9]

We used to weld it like your asking on circle track cars ALL the time. I would usually put 3 separate 3/8 inch long welds evenly spaced around the axle. It always worked for us and the rest of the teams.

[DAORFFO]

Originally Posted by truehi9

We used to weld it like your asking on circle track cars ALL the time. I would usually put 3 separate 3/8 inch long welds evenly spaced around the axle. It always worked for us and the rest of the teams.

Thats who I talked to, a circle track racing guy. The thing Im concerned about is the torsional loads on the axle in the desert. Going over whoops , the axle will feel on and off loads. If I tack weld them, do you think they will break? How much HP are the circle track guys running?

Thanks

[truehi9]

My motor had 500 hp and 575 torque on a dyno that was considered conservative. Of the circle track axles I've seen break it's always from being hit in the wheel or hitting the concrete wall. The axle would break the flange off the shaft. The ones I've seen broken were right after/outboard of the bearing about 1 1/2 inch from were they were welded.

[DAORFFO]

Originally Posted by truehi9

My motor had 500 hp and 575 torque on a dyno that was considered conservative. Of the circle track axles I've seen break it's always from being hit in the wheel or hitting the concrete wall. The axle would break the flange off the shaft. The ones I've seen broken were right after/outboard of the bearing about 1 1/2 inch from were they were welded.

Were your axles heat treated? So, none of the breakages were from torsional loads, just crashing?

Thanks again for the info.

[truehi9]

Mine were stock but lots of the other teams ran aftermarket axles. Some of them had a big M/E on them which I believed were Moser but am not sure since I didn't buy them.

Yes, crashing only.

I will say that the ones with the M/E seemed to break more often but it was in the same place as the stock ones. I don't know if they were more brittle or if the couple guys running them were just more abusive/retarded. We probably broke one axle every 3 or 4 seasons and they'd break 3 or 4 a year. I believe they probably just put their cars in more of a position for problems.