Page 2 - The Mysterious Miss Kimberly & Her New Axle

Hut Date: May 2008

I had to make a special taper cutter to machine the holes in the axle to take the fixings for the towing "H" frame.  All iron work mountings were hand forged to a taper fit in the timber and brilliantly executed by a very talented blacksmith who knew what he was doing and a real tradesman.  The "H" frame was a work of art.

 
New build axle timber using all the old iron work.  Fitting the towing "H" frame ...
 
Checking the final fit of all the taper fit tails on the "H" frame before a final draw down ...
 
The axle swivel ring - hand fitting to new timber axle.  The whole axle replacement took nearly 80 hours ...
 
I managed to save and re-use the top axle elm wood support beam which connects the swivel axle to the chassis.  By putting 6mm steel plate boxes over the rotten ends to give back the strength I have also stopped any more rotting as they are now protected from the elements.  All the timber has been well soaked in rot and worm killer.  All iron work is painted in real red lead from Spain with a 50/50 mix of red lead and oil paint as a top coat colour ...
 
Miss Kimberly's axle completed and ready to fit ...
 
Drilling 1/2" holes x 8 to fix axle tie rods ...
 
All the bits of ironwork to fit Miss Kimberly's rear axle ...
 
Axle fitted ...!!!
 
Jumble sizes up the situation before signing off Project Axle and allowing the long shot...
 
Miss Kimberly proudly presents her new axle ...!
 
More coming soon so keep checking back!