OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Repairs and Maintenance Questions on Walk Behind Lawn Mower Frames Victa Lawn Mower Frames Technique for securing axles

G’day Folks,

I have a couple of loose stub axles on the early Victas I’m recommissioning and there are a few ways I could go about securing them.

1. Weld them on

Either Mig or stick. I’d cut a relief angle/ substantial shamfer into the rear of both components and weld a ring of filler.

Benefits:

Very secure

Issues:

Damage to hard plating on axles?


2. Braze them on

I’d use Oxy/Acetylene brazing, with, probably, brass filler.

Benefits

Less heat than welding.

Issues:

May still damage Plating?

Not as secure as welding, likely to fracture with use.

3. Forge plate onto axle.

I’d keep the axle at a neutral temperature and heat the end of the mounting plate to orange heat, peen around the edge of the stub and allow shrinkage with cooling to provide additional security.

Issues:

I’d need a decent jig to ensure alignment.

I may have issues localising the heat, and I’d not want to end up with a junk axle assembly through heat migration causing the remainder of the assembly to loosen.

Arriving at the right final hardness of the mounting plate may be problematic. If I simply leave it to normalise after forging it may be too soft but I don’t own a heat treating oven so my efforts at getting the hardness right are going to be somewhat primitive. I could oil quench it and then temper it back.

Does anyone have a technique they use for repairing these that they’ve found to be successful?

Cheers

Ironbark