AXLE-RIFFIC Part 1

I think this deserves a Mr. Hanky, since the axle is one of the final crappy things I have been putting off doing.

Hidey Ho!!!!!!!!!!

I pulled off the wheels and drums and did a little inspecting.  I dropped the axle on a floor jack and rolled it out from under the trailer.  Looks a little odd, huh?

I drug out the old sandblaster and cleaned up the axle to inspect for cracks or signs of fatigue. I figure if anything would leave me stranded, it would be axle related.

 I was surprised to find the leaf springs dated 8-62, so I guess the axle and springs were factory.  

Some of the parts are missing, which would explain why the brakes would never engage.  The first thing I did was measure the brakes to make sure they weren't some obscure configuration made of the rare space age material, "Unobtainium."  Luckily, these were the standard run of the mill, 10"x 2-1/4" brake shoes that fit just about everything.  I went to my trusty Mac and quickly looked up one of my favorite sites, www.etrailer.com, where I found the backing plates fully assembled with brake shoes, magnets and all new hardware.  They are made by Dexter axle in this great country of the USA and they only cost $38 per side.  Sign me up.  The missing magnet s $25 alone.

These got really hot at some time.  You can see the bluing of the steel.

The spindles show signs of being hot in it's 50 year life, but I don't know if it were this set of bearings or a previous set. So, these are getting cleaned up and bagged for a spare set, in case we are ever on the side of the road.  I honestly think these are fairly new, but who knows.  I probably won't have $40 in all of the bearings and seals, it's cheap insurance and it makes me feel better.  I called the local parts house and they can round up all the bearings etc. by tomorrow.  That's about when my backing plates should show up.

In the meantime, I decided to paint up the axle and do a little cosmetic work on the wheels and tires.  Since I had some time in between coats of paint on the axle, I figured I would clean up the wheels and tires while they were easy to get to.  I scrubbed the old farm dirt off and threw a fresh coat of paint on the wheels.  You can't really see them with the hubcaps installed, but remember, I am OCD, so it would bother me knowing they looked like crap under the hubcap.

Baby can't have polished shoes with ugly buckles, so I threw the caps on the buffer.  The caps I am running are 1956 Oldsmobile.  I like them.They have the globe in the center and since we will be world travelers in the Avalair, they are the perfect fit.

The pics are not that great, but here is the axle all painted up.  I'll post part II when the other parts show up and we can install this bad boy.