Can someone advise the best way to remove chassis casting from the cross tubes with the kindest results? i know that they are braised and pinned, in my case i do not have rivets but ht nuts and bolts so at least i have no rivets to contend with.The car is a pb thank
If I understand you correctly, you are trying to remove the cross tube from the end casting so that you can fit a new tube in the original casting. The only way I know requires using a milling machine. I have used this technique for reclaiming the oil pipe castings before silversoldering in new copper pipes.
You cut the tube leaving about an inch above the casting. Carefully remove any pins protuding inside with a diegrinder. Make sure the outside of the tube is clean and has no rough bits on the outside. Using a dial gauge on the outside of the tube, (or you can use the inside if that is cleaner/smoother) and with the casting clamped to the table of the Bridgeport, centralise so that the axis of the tube is the axis of the mill. Mill off the protuding piece of tube you have used to align the casting, then fit a boring head and carefully bore out the tube taking light cuts until the resulting bore is that required for braising in the replacement tube.
I am not sure if you can do the job by removing the pins and reheating the casting - maybe someone can comment on this or has done it this way.
The outer crosstube castings are neither brased nor pinned, just the inner ones. If you clean the tube right up, grind off the rivets and apply a little heat if necessary then they should slide off with varying ease.
As John highlights, milling the tube out will be necessary for the inner ones but it may be far less hassle to contact Russ Truman of Yorkshire Chassis 0113 257 1134 and purchase any new castings needed.
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Posted - 13/06/2008 : 18:57:45
