Is my axle supposed to look like this?! I had hell getting it out.

First of all I'm new to the site. Thanks for the help ahead of time.

I noticed today some gear oil leaking around my rear passenger axle. So I thought i would go ahead and replace the rear axle outter seal and bearing. I couldn't get the axles pushed in far enough to get the C clip out. I thought it may have had something to do with the auburn locker on it. I finally had to beat it in pretty hard to get the axle in far enough to remove the C clip and then beat it back out to remove the axle. On every i got it out i think i know the problem i was having with not being able to get it out. Apparently the bearing went out and rubbed a big grove in it. Now I've got to replace the axle. It has 30 spline alloy USA axles and a auburn locker in it.

Am I correct thinking that that big grove shouldn't be there?

View attachment 10747
Ah, you've now become a victim of the conundrum that is high strength steel alloys used for axles.

The problem as you've seen is the higher strength steel alloys like 4340 and similar is they are through hardening alloys and not good for case hardening like 1541H and similar. Through hardening alloys are hard to heat treat to have a high hardness at the outer surface that a bearing can ride on without becoming too brittle and shattering under load. 1541H is a good case hardening material and you can bring the case (outer layer of harder material) up to a very high hardness so they can act as a bearing race while leaving the core at a softer more ductile level that isn't brittle.

I've played this game designing a u-joint cross out of 300M and it's hard to get the surface hard and keep a ductile core in place.

The issue is the buying public doesn't understand that almost no one wheels hard enough to take out 1541H axles and they have to have 4340 because it just sounds better. Now you see why it isn't. That and Alloy USA can't design much without borrowing ideas.
 
Wow! :eeeeek:
Now *THAT* is some serious wear!
It actually isn't. The problem is the axle material they used is very difficult to bring up to a high enough hardness level to act as a bearing surface and they wind up a lot softer than you would want for the bearing to ride on. If they changed the material to a case hardening alloy like 1541H and put a 62-65 Rockwell hardness on the wear layer, they would last forever.
 
I guess that's where i getting confused because if you look on revolution GA's they only offer for Dana 44 and amc35.
Same same. When they first came out they were the Model 35 as AMC also produced a Model 20. Somewhere along the line the manufacture was transferred and thus the designation changed. The 35c is the c clip version which is what you have. Early versions did not have c clips.
 
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It actually isn't. The problem is the axle material they used is very difficult to bring up to a high enough hardness level to act as a bearing surface and they wind up a lot softer than you would want for the bearing to ride on. If they changed the material to a case hardening alloy like 1541H and put a 62-65 Rockwell hardness on the wear layer, they would last forever.
You would definitely know better than I ! I've just not seen that before :)
 
Ah, you've now become a victim of the conundrum that is high strength steel alloys used for axles.

The problem as you've seen is the higher strength steel alloys like 4340 and similar is they are through hardening alloys and not good for case hardening like 1541H and similar. Through hardening alloys are hard to heat treat to have a high hardness at the outer surface that a bearing can ride on without becoming too brittle and shattering under load. 1541H is a good case hardening material and you can bring the case (outer layer of harder material) up to a very high hardness so they can act as a bearing race while leaving the core at a softer more ductile level that isn't brittle.

I've played this game designing a u-joint cross out of 300M and it's hard to get the surface hard and keep a ductile core in place.

The issue is the buying public doesn't understand that almost no one wheels hard enough to take out 1541H axles and they have to have 4340 because it just sounds better. Now you see why it isn't. That and Alloy USA can't design much without borrowing ideas.


For the sake of time and money I intend to buy a single G2 30 spline for the passengers side. To get me back on the road. Any advice there?
 
My guess was "corporate" but, I cheated and looked it up :D

"Custom"
Circlip! = Circle Clip :)

My grandpa called them CirClips, and it used to bug me ;)
I did, however, like working on the tractors etc with him!
 
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So here's the bearing if you can tell anything from it still being in the axle tube. I haven't got my hands on a puller yet. Rolls fine right now but as stated before there's no weight on it.


IMG_8353.JPG
 
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I'm glad I happened to find this. I learned today that the Revolution Super 35 I plan on buying comes with 1541H shafts and I immediately thought "well, crap, that isn't as good as 4340" when I found out. Through Blaine's explanation though, sounds like I should be happy to purchase 1541H shafts after all. I never knew anything about them and only ever hear of 4340 and 4140 being tossed around.