Back on the Salisbury axle today. What a struggle. I spent a good couple of hours fighting the bolts holding the drive flange in place. This was after already having to resort to chiseling off the hub cap which had rusted on solid. I tried heat, penetrant, shock, psychic commands, and harsh words, blood sacrifice, and my 600mm breaker bar to eventually tease 5 of the 6 bolts free enough to then rattle gun clear, the 6th though was having none of it and refused to budge. Eventually the head sheared. Not so bad as at least I could then remove the flange and then remove the hub.
I'll probably have to drill it and re-tap although I'll try welding on a nut first and see if that does the trick
The up side, is that everything is in excellent condition. The Timkin bearings are lovely, the brake shoes and cylinder are like new ...
... and the drive shaft has no spline wear.
The oil I drained was good with no sign of water ingress inside the axle case ...
... and no sign of any oil leaking past the seal.
Overall, I'm pretty pleased with the condition. I'm only having to touch it at all for the obvious reason of checking condition, and to address the surface corrosion. It looked pretty crusty when I dropped if off of the springs, but it's all cleaning up nicely.
The brake drum and back plate are in the electrolysis bath to get a thorough derust.
I have to do it all again of course, and deal with the sheared bolt (I hope I don't have the same on the other side). Anyway, it should all look nice again when its back together and has been painted.
