TOPIC: fix'n an old pitted driveshaft

Well, due to my lack of patience and not wanting to spend money on a guy to weld my 1961 500 drive shaft so the seals will do their job again, I set out and did it myself Also didnt want to spend the 35 bucks for the correct speedi sleeve.

My drive shaft had the normal wear ring and some pits. So I started by drilling a pit down to clean metal. Then with my Old School Lincoln stick welder I hit the spot quickly for a clean weld. Then I power grinded down the weld to just above the normal surface level.

Now I grabbed a good file and worked on it until it was level and looking good. The file would slide across the HARD diveshaft and grab at the "softer" weld that was higher. Hours went by repeating this process and Ill be damned it looks pretty good I paid my local welder/machinist a 100 bucks 4 years ago to do the same thing in his lathe and it didnt look any better.

Trick was to do it a spot at a time. Get it leveled up and transitioning smoooth, then move on to the next patch. My file would grab at the weld until it was level and smooth.

Not sure how long my weld will last in a water environment, but I guess Ill see.

Ill post a pic tomorrow.

Conrad
1500J

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Here is a pic of the job.
Conrad

Nice work!, I wonder how the softer weld will hold up against the rubber seal on that, or the JB weld against the seal. Or is this portion of the shaft below the seals?

As far as I am concerned there is too much risk of bending a shaft when welding is done on them.

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I simply machine a thin wall stainless sleeve ( 0.010" wall thickness ) to fit the particular shaft I am working on.

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Allows use of original seal dimensions too.

good test Conrad, Ive been wondering about this myself , Speedi-sleeves suggest you use a JB Weld like epoxy for deep grooves...Under the sleeve ofcourse, but I have wondered just how long it would really last

risk of bending a shaft when welding is done

I would agree if you just got on it and did the whole thing is one shot and let the damn thing get smok'n hot.

Im basically tac welding. If im on the rod for more than .5 seconds I've done way too much.

I can literally grab the shaft inches away from where Im welding while I work.


I would equate the same level of danger would be getting up in the morning and drinking coffee. 99 out of 100 times I dont burn my mouth doing this.

If I owned a lathe, I would do a lot of different things in life.

Conrad

Conrad, my brother is a machinist up in the Cedar Rapids, IA area, if you need anything turned I'm sure he'd be glad to help. Just give me a shout and I'll call him for ya!

Thanks Mark I appreciate that