cryo/heat treat?

[uglyota]

so it occurred to me that I have now collected 2 spare shortside inner axles (supposed to be the next vulnerable front axle part after upgrading birfields). So why not get one or both treated? I am gonna call Performance Cryogenics in the morning and see what they think about this as far as gains/price, but have any of you guys looked into this (for any application) and what have you found as far as improvement and price? Chromo/300m inners range from $100-$250 so I'm gonna run through the three I have before I go that route
Thanks
:gigem:

[tigweld]

the only guy (Wayne manor) I know that has done it used it rotors on a heavy road race mustang, he said it increased the life span of rotors allot with the supa grip pads(technical term) that they use. He even said before cryo the rotors would start to have hair line cracks before the end of a race weekend and after the cryo he could make it a whole weekend easy with no cracks. It wasn't a cure all though, He eventually went to a 2 piece rotor and cured the problem completely. I really don't know if cryo increases the strength as much as it does the resistance to wear. cool shiat thoght, give it a try and see if it work's.

[uglyota]

cool idea...I'll send my new cheapo rotors off too!

[agjohn02]

it doesnt increase strength as much as it just creates a more uniform grain structure. i think it pretty much just increases hardness. maybe not a good idea for drivetrain parts. i dont know too much about it though.

[uglyota]

aight Dean @ performance cryogenics said that brake rotors are generally getting 200-300% more life after he treats them (at $35/rotor). He said that axleshafts don't necessarily become much stronger (maybe 20-30%) but that they become much more resistant to fatigue over time. For $25/short side and $40/long side and a breakage warranty where he will refund your money or treat another for free, I'll do it...

so it couldn't hurt to cross-drill them before I send them in, right? Ideas on how to do this?

[agjohn02]

i built brake rotors for the race car, so yeah i have an idea. its not "hand drill" easy though. i wouldnt worry about it. you gonna be doing a lot of high speed braking?

the uniform grain structure is what increases the durability, which is good, but i would think the cryo treat would reduce the ductility and make the metal more brittle. maybe stronger yes, but it wont have any give and wont resist shock loading well. im just saying id look into it a lot before i did it to my axles. top fuel axles are strong but they'll break quickly if you drive them on the street because they dont take shock loading well.

edit: this sounds alomost contradictory when i read it back, but trust me in my mind it makes sense.

[uglyota]

stock shortside inners don't resist shock loading well in the first place, that's why they break easier than the longside ones. As long as I drill the rotors so that the holes are balanced radially, is there anything else to worry about?
No high-speed braking, just geto-bling. I probably won't do it.

[agjohn02]

you can make em look cool, but is it worth it? i wouldnt do it on anything but a mill with an indexing head. i think cross-drilled rotors would be bad off-road. the holes will catch and hold crap in them. they're only there for cooling and to let gas out from under the brake pads during hard braking.


i read up on cryo treating and it sounds good. doesnt sound like it makes stuff brittle like i pictured in my head.

heres a good link to a bunch of different companies:
http://dmoz.org/Science/Technology/Cryotechnology/Cryogenic_Processing_of_Materials/

[73bronco]

I've heard bad things about cross drilled rotors cracking too easily. As long as you can lock it up why bother.

[agjohn02]

stock shortside inners don't resist shock loading well in the first place, that's why they break easier than the longside ones.




they break because they cant flex torsionally as far as a longside can before they break. even with aftermarket shafts the shortside will break first unless it is a different material or heat treat.

[BMFScout]

they're only there for cooling and to let gas out from under the brake pads during hard braking.


I thought this wasn't the case anymore, but I can't remember where I saw it.

here it is:

http://baer.com/cgi-bin/htmlos.exe/00724.2.3612873012400018859

so the cheap pads that Eric is most definitely using, at racetrack temps, which probably happens...You should cross drill them fo-shizzle! :gigem:

[uglyota]

they break because they cant flex torsionally as far as a longside can before they break. even with aftermarket shafts the shortside will break first unless it is a different material or heat treat.
yes I know that, that's why I'm having a shortside treated and leaving the longside stock. The longside can flex and the shortside will be stronger, and maybe that'll about equal them out so when one goes the other will too and take my locker, hubs, and r&p with it. It's almost my turn for some real carnage :D

[uglyota]

the cheap pads grab better :D

[uglyota]

John that link in your post has a lot of good sites, but all of their prices are higher than performance cryogenics, he offers a guarantee, and has a history in treating for rockcrawling applications, so I'll go with him
performance cryogenics 916-434-6978

[agjohn02]

i just posted it for reference. theres a lot of info on there. i didnt even look at prices.

[AggieTJ2007]

i think something will survive, just depends on how you do it. Or if you are planning/ exceptecting complete failure just bring the spare axle to clayton.

[eight]

Quit dreaming of cryo and buy yourself those other 2 good hiems you couldn't afford a week or two ago.

How many inners have Scott and Busa broken?

[uglyota]

Why? I now have a spare of each :flipoff2:
Dunno...I know Scott broke one in UT or CO, but it was an FJ-80 and I think it was cryo-ed. Don't know about busa.

[redcagepatrol]

I have only broken one inner shaft since I built the truck - it was stock. My FJ80 Longfields have held up so far but are starting to pop.

Busa has broken about 2 or three stock inner shafts and two or three longfields

Poly Performance has some polished inner shafts that nobody has broken yet.

Bobby Long has 30 spline inners and Birfields that cost about $640 for all four pieces... My FJ80 birfs cost $315 each!