Bent front Axle

On my Jeep The driver's side wheel is bent in to the point that it is very visible I have been given permission to go through all of the used axles at Willys works
so far I have disassembled three, and they all have the same problem
sometimes, one side is worse than the other. I have 8 more to check. I would think they would be bent in at the top from hitting bumps too hard. But this is not the case. The only thing I can think of is these were damaged from a rollover. Can anybody explain this phenomenon

 

What's this built-in camber. I think I have a real problem here, especially since there is no adjustment for the camber.
Doug

 

What I want to know is how the heck do you manage to move ANYTHING with that engine hoist on a gravel driveway.

 

I think wide tires make the camber look like more than it actually is. Also, spring lifts can change the camber (and not usually in a good way).

 

As far as the engine hoist goes. It's hard to move it around with nothing on it. So I have to think ahead When I use it, for instance When I installed the engine. I simply raise the engine and rolled the frame underneath. Currently it is just a safety, because I have the front axle off and the frame is only held up by two temporary jack stands. But anyway, getting back to the wheel. It is supposed to be one inch out with tires that are how tall?
Doug/Tucson

 

...so close, yet so far Thanks!

 

I thought the Post said 1" not 1°. How do you measure 1°
Doug

 

are you sure that the axel is bent ?have you checked the spindle to be sure its not bent,which tire is it looks like the driver side to me

 

I put a short level across the longest part of the axle as seen in the photograph. I level the blocks left to right and forward to the rear and then I sit the axle on the flat spot where the springs ago. Then I estimate using a 2 foot level. That a far the knuckle is facing foreword at 90° to the axle. This is the only thing I estimate by eye. Then I placed the 2 foot level vertically, and sometimes the bubble reads level and other times. I must tip the level as much as a quarter of an inch on the flat spot. In order to get the level to read properly. This is the only way I have figured out how to do it. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Take a close look at the photograph. It might explain more than I have
Doug/Tucson

 

Figuring a bent axle

I'm starting a new thread, because the other one did not go anywhere. I made a mistake When I thought that camber should be out one 1" when it was actually supposed to be out 1°. My only way of figuring out if an axle is straight used by using levels. I do not know how to figure 1°. Is there a link that can explain this to me, I have until tomorrow morning. When Willys Works reopens. He has 8 axles in a row for me to check, but I don't know really how to do it

thanks for any help, you can give me
Doug/Tucson

 

Re: Figuring a bent axle

Since it's already Monday morning, I'd suggest you just compare the axles. Usually housings break rather than axles bending. The cast iron part is brittle and typically you'd break the housing at where the tube enters the housing and is plug welded.

To break a 30 axle, you need major Rat Patrol action ... lots of air. The Baja racers would break the housings on early 30s if they weren't trussed, but they wouldn't bend. The later 30s were said to use heavier tubes, and the boss (Brian Chuchua) would just weld them around the tube, where it went into the housing - no truss. Don't know how well this worked out, since I wasn't around much after that.

What year is your Jeep Doug? You should put that info in your sign or from the pull-down in the CP. If it's a 27, I'd expect the housings and tubes would have similar strength to the 30.

 

Re: Figuring a bent axle

The jeep I am working on is a 1955 Cj5 junkyard salvage and by using the levels as seen in the original in Photograph some of them can be way out. Possibly a rollover. Willys works is closed Monday, today. So I actually have till tomorrow to figure this out. I am actually doing him a favor by finding out, which is good and which is scrap metal. If you look at the picture of my original axle. You can see that the drivers side is definitely bent and you can see from the original photograph. In the beginning of this post that I have torn the axle down to a point of a machined surface to measure from

Doug/Tucson

 

Re: Figuring a bent axle

Buy an angle finder. I think I picked mine up at the local menards. Handy little tool. In the picture it appears to me the passenger side tire is off the ground? Really hard to tell from that pic just how bad the angle is. I have seen many a jeep with the camber like yours. As posted in the last thread it is very common for the camber to look significantly worse with larger tires.

The do make an offset ball joint kit to make changes to caster/camber. I have never used them nor had a need to use them. If it is the original axle I don't know much about changing them (caster/camber) as I have always replaced them with D30s.

As Tim stated it takes some major leaping to bend an axle. I have jumped my old Cj7 higher than 4' off the ground and landed it on one tire on hardpack. Didn't bend the axle.