I'm wondering why the suggestions to weld the plate to the axle. I see no strength advantage there. The plate is simply a pad or spacer. Besides, I wouldn't want to apply heat to the axle and take a chance on messing up the grain structure and weakening the axle.


Well, I just overengineer everything, and felt by welding the plate to the axle it would give a measure of rigidity to the whole thing. As for messing up anything by welding on it, I don't think so. This axle is a big chunk of steel, and the little welds he will be doing won't affect it, IMO. Like everything else, spread the welding out over two sides to keep the heat to a minimum.

We weld all the time on thinner components than this, and no harm is done.


Don