Hello all, I have a 1989 Ford F250 and the bearings and possibly gears in the rear axle went bad, would make an awful grinding noise whenever the throttle was released. Anyway I did swap in another axle but it is an older axle and doesn't have the port for the ABS sensor. I am a machinist intern and certified welder so I am good with working with metals and would like to rebuild the original axle from scratch. Would like to make my own gears and other parts. I have access to manual mills and lathes, CNC mills and lathes, EDM machines, etc. My questions are these, does anyone know what steels these gears are made out of? Does anyone know of any superior steels that could be used (would like to bulletproof it)? Does anyone know the hardness level on the stock Ford gears? Any help would be appreciated!

Thanks!

 

I think you're over thinking things...quality gears are about as strong as it gets and take serious abuse that a stock engine won't even come close to dishing out.

 

Oh absolutely, I just want to manufacture my own gears from scratch because it will be a good school project for me. Have always wanted to do something like that.

 

Good luck to you & I hope you get an A+, but most of us would kill to have those toys to create non-off the shelf items at our disposal.

You'd probably do better in physics lab to create a better gear set.

 

Not to rain on your parade, but this would be an extremely difficult, if not impossible project. The ring and pinion are hypoid gears which have an extremely complicated tooth profile, and you'll need to know the exact dimensions of the differential housing itself in order to properly create them. There is a ton of math that goes into hypoid gears.

You might be able to create the differential spider gears, which are standard bevel gears. But you'll need to use a good high-strength hard steel with a lot of impact resistance. It will likely need to be hardened afterwards and have a good heat-treat. Internet suggest 8620 or 9310 would be a material to use.

 

Thank you for the response! Yeah I I might have to buy the ring and pinion gears. Thanks for the info on the steel. Do you know of any literature or resources that would have the deminsions I would need for the gears?

 

Yeah those machines are a blessing for sure! We shall see what happens. Thank you for your input!

 

I was going to post a similar statement as LeadHead. I don't see you doing this with some regular CNC mills and lathes. A custom crank is possible with those machines though..that'd be cool. My grandfather did that back in the day for a Porsche 4 cylinder, using manual lathe & mill. Took him hundreds of hours..its a work of art.

This is the internet, so maybe you can find the correct information on a machinists forum. There are some Youtube videos out there, not really how to videos but might give you an idea.

 

No info on the gears, sorry.

 

Thanks for the info! Yes it is definitely an art form. Do you know what machine tools you would need for something like this, just out of curiosity? Thanks!

 

I don't. The machining in the YouTube videos i watched is like nothing I've been around. Google search for "hypoid gear cutting". Most of us on this forum understand what the gearset does, which set to run for given applications, some of the more skilled can set them up properly, but I doubt many know what it takes to actually manufacture them. I sure don't. So, I hate to steer you away from FTE, but I think you'll be better served elsewhere.

 

So, your pinion has come loose and is being pulled into the carrier on overrun? (axle driving engine)

Hobbing, grinding, heat treat and fixture lapping a ring and pinion are very specialized tasks requiring tools, jigs and ability beyond that of most machinists.


With all the advances in multi axis CNC recently, it would be interesting to see the tool path v/s workpiece programming needed to accomplish something like this.

You could probably write a master's thesis on this alone, and by the time you did, the state of the art will have changed to where it's not relevant anymore. (said by someone who remembers when g-code took over from paper tape)

 

Yeah, you're right. It is something I wish I could learn how to do, although I don't know of any plants here in TN that do that kind of work. Otherwise I would seriously consider swapping my internship. Thanks for the response!