Bent axel issue

Travis

Lurking
Feb 3, 2019
3
0
1
52
Philadelphia
Hi,
I am trying bent axles for the first time. I bought them, bent and polished.... did not make them. After polishing the wheels and adding graphite I put them to the '20 second' spin test, and they did not pass muster.... about 6 seconds each. I placed straight axles in the front, these I hand polished what are spinning at 15 seconds. I had used the card method to ensure the wheels are not rubbing against the car. Can I expect the bent axles to spin for the same time as straight axles? Any Ideas?

Thanks
 
I've been through the bent rear axle experiment. And yep, I could tweak and tune the axles to get the best performance out of the car. BUT, after marking the position of the axles, removing the wheels, and reinstalling the axles, I then checked the alignment and they were dead straight with ZERO toe in or toe out on either side. That's when I was finally convinced that straight rear axles and drill with a 3 degree negative camber was the way to go. ( Like EVERYBODY had said. I'm just that guy that's got to learn the hard way :) )

That being said, an axle that has been bent properly should not effect the wheel spin time. The surface the wheel runs on should still be straight. If the wheels are only spinning for 6 seconds, there's probably some other gremlin at play.
 
I'll echo what has been said already, don't bend 'em, but you're right, it should not affect your spin times. Unless, the bend itself encroaches on the bore. And are you absolutely sure that no part of the wheel is rubbing (accept the inner hub as expected)?
 
Thanks all. Often its the poor musician that blames the instrument, but in this case it may be true. I believe the bent axles i purchased must be bent/misaligned/defective in some manner. Placing the same wheel in a straight unpolished axle in the the car, yields better results