Swivel housings

[Phil Hancock]

Having got no ware asking this question of LR technical i will ask it here.

Does any body know for sure what the material spec and heat treatment(if any during the manufacture) is of the outer swivel housings on series axles.

[minivin]

Having got no ware asking this question of LR technical i will ask it here.

Does any body know for sure what the material spec and heat treatment(if any during the manufacture) is of the outer swivel housings on series axles.

You thinking of welding caliper mounts ala defender? not sure of the treatment, but minimum I would think would be to normalise the item afterwards to relieve any stresses, or get it shot peened

[Les Henson]

Shot peening is a good idea, it can be very beneficial to metals that have high surface wear, such as gears, cams, cranks, etc. You can 'cook' a steel item to relieve stresses caused by welding. Very technical stuff, but interesting. Who ever thinks of the stress put into metal when altering it? (well, apart from NAS90 that is! )

Les.

[Tonk]

Phil,

wot r u tryin to achieve? outer swivel housings dont weld very nice if thats wot u're planning

[isuzurover]

The swivel housing is just plain old cast iron, I'm sure it isn't nodular or anything.

Welding to cast iron is possible, but should be avoided where possible, especially for critical components like brakes.

If you want to do some repairs - e.g. a crack, or weld something non-critical - you need to heat until it is a dark straw colour, weld using a MIG or stick with rods for cast iron (low hydrogen?), then let the part cool as slowly as possible.