Correcting lowboy axle alignment
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3 July 2019, 03:38
Bill NewcomerWorking on correcting center axle alignment. Making a jig saves me a lot of frustration. I am glad I have extra I-Beams to waste for something like this.
3 July 2019, 03:44
Bill NewcomerAfter some fabrication and finesse, I have two little white spacers for the center axle attached.
5 July 2019, 06:54
Bill NewcomerJig is now available to the first person who is "In progress" on their lowboy build.
9 July 2019, 06:16
BozzerBill, sorry mate I've only just seen this. What exactly is the problem? I understand there's an 1/8 gap, but what causes it? As you know, I have one to do soon. I just want to see if I can eradicate the problem before I get too involved?
22 September 2019, 20:38
Bill NewcomerWhen assembled as cast, the center axle is too high. The tires float off the ground. Let me know when you are going to build it and I'll mail you the alignment jig.
23 September 2019, 06:24
BozzerBill, I'm in the UK buddy, but my Mrs is currently in the USA. I plan on building it after I return from there. I should be back here in the UK at the beginning of November. Just been trying to sort out my flights now and it's chaos, because of the Thomas Cook collapse. I never expected to see that happen! It's affected flights worldwide. I've been trying to figure out how your jig works, but I'm struggling. So the centre wheels are too high? Am I correct?
23 September 2019, 20:40
Chaz GordonNow, that's where a 3D printer would come in handy. either to make a jig, or a whole new part to correct the issue. Now, just to convince the Missus, and find somewhere to put one.........
23 September 2019, 20:56
BozzerLol Chaz, that's where I landed lucky. My Mrs loves the hobby too, so when I get to the states full time, we are getting one. There's no point getting one in the UK because the voltage is different and I don't wanna risk breaking it in the move. Only I can find a woman who likes to build models, but on another continent lol
23 September 2019, 21:07
Chaz GordonNice. My other half is very Arty, does a lot of clay and painting, so at least we don't have any issues over the volume of space taken up by my Hobby. Although I have to hide some of the good stuff to stop it suddenly appearing in her tool box. Not to mention "Glittergate"
23 September 2019, 21:46
Bill NewcomerBozzer, The way it works is you glue the front and rear axle housings to the leaf springs as you would normally. Pre-build the center axle housing. Use the metal rods to hold the two subassemblies in the same plane. Make spacers to fill in the gaps like I did or just goober glue it in place. Once dried/cured, slide the rods out and install the wheels. They should all now touch the ground.
24 September 2019, 04:19
BozzerAwesome Bill, thanks for clearing that up. The I beam that you have cut and clamped, what was that for?
24 September 2019, 09:09
BozzerSorry Bill, I think ive sussed it! That's what you used to pack the gap, your shim?
24 September 2019, 09:12
Bill NewcomerCorrect. The clamped pieces brought the flanges closer to be a spacer between the axle tube and the spring perch.
25 September 2019, 05:27
Album info
When I glued the axle sub assembly together, I noticed the center axle was slightly diagonal to the other two. I also saw the center axle was significantly out of plane with them as well. A little filing on the spring pockets fixed the skew but the height difference was still way off. So I fabricated an alignment jig from 7/16 Plastruct I-Beam and Evergreen tubing. The gap is way too big to simply fill in with glue so now I have to fabricate two crescent I-Beam spacers. I do not have 3/8 I-Beam so I figured out a way to shorten the cross section so that the pieces will line up when finished. Now that the issue has been corrected in my build, I am offering the jig to the next person that contacts me who is building a lowboy with "In progress" status.
