Called a local axle place and asked them about cutting and resiling an axle for me. Basically I'm narrowing the longer drivers side to match the shorter passenger side of an Explorer axle. Longer axle is just shy of 3" longer. The guy on the phone didn't seem overly knowledgable. He put me on hold a couple of times while he went and checked. He said they could not cut and respline an axle unless you wanted to take out at least 4 to 4.5". Why? Can't for the life of me figure out why you just can't cut off any length and extend the splines. Does it have something to do with the machines and the way they grab the axles? I know I can't thread a pipe in my pipe threader unless its at least 5" long. Ended up just ordering a couple of G2 axles from an eBay seller for $225 delivered.
Maybe the splined end is surface hardened and you have to take at least 4" out to get to a non-hardened surface.
Maybe, but don't they harden them after they cut the splines by running it thru an inductive heater.
No the Splines are Larger than the Shaft just past the spline area why didn't you just get two Passenger side axels?
When I did this process we just used two passenger side axles. It seemed to work just fine.
Thats what I ended up doing. Junk yard wants real money for these things now because there is a demand for them. I ordered two new passenger sides for $225 delivered, but having the longer ones cut and resplined for $55 a piece was tempting. Original question is still out there. Why do they have to remove the entire splined area to respline?
In reply to tr8todd:
From a machinists standpoint. Your going to have a hard time picking up exactly on the root of one spline and grinding it back a few inches. It's best to just cut new than try to extend.
44Dwarf
UltraDork
8/11/17 9:10 p.m.
I don't know if Moser Engineering still does it or not but when Greg was still a live they did a bunch for me. RIP Buddy, miss talking with you at the races.
Dutchman will do it. I met a gentleman who needed some RX-7 GSL-SE axles to shorten for his Datsun Roadster project and he was having Dutchman do them.
A lot of axles appear necked down just inside of the splines, is the main reason why. They make the splines by rolling, which raises the OD relative to the rest of the shaft. (Bolts are given threads this way, too. It's mesmerizing to watch)
If you're just matching the length of the short side axle, why not just find another short side axle? https://www.summitracing.com/oh/parts/svl-2022636-1/overview/ $72 at Summit for a right side 31-spline axle. That is comparable in price to having an axle shortened...
