One of the first parts stripped off a P40 were its wheels. Often the tail wheel was removed and the aircraft was left with on its axle, sitting on the ground, which is why there are a few knuckle’s around that have badly corroded axles in them.
Over the last couple of months we have come up with a repair scheme to cut off the corroded axle and replace it.
First off the axle is fitted into our machining jig and set up so axle is in central and true position. The axle is then cut off and the knuckle machined to take a new axle, the seal surface is also machined to take a sleeve to return it to original condition.
New axle insert and seal sleeve are machined and are then shrunk onto the knuckle. Once fitted the rear side of the knuckle is silver soldered to the new axle so it can’t come apart.
