Axle material

[old_chopper]

I am going to build some off road spindles for a buddy. The vehicle is heavy, 6000 pounds or so. It will take a lot of abuse such as drops and side loads on the wheels. The spindle body and steering arm will be welded up from A36 hot roll. It's easy to make it thick enough to hold up. The spindle shaft is another story. The wheel locating part of the hub is a maximum of 3.080". That limits the bearing size and spindle shaft size. I was thinking about building the spindle shaft out of 8620, mainly because I have it on hand and it will weld just fine to the spindle body. But thinking more, I'm not sure if it's strong enough. Any suggestions on material and need for heat treat would be much appreciated.

[Dan Timberlake]

Without pictures or sketches I don't have much of an idea what you are up to.

Some examples here -
http://www.fourwheeler.com/how-to/0901o ... -knuckles/
Lots of examples here -
http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/general- ... ction.html

Part geometry is at least as important as material selection.

regards,

Dan T