busted dana 44 axle shaft

[kevin]

i broke a rear axle in my jeep, which is fairly common, it broke at the usual spot, at the splines, i didnt have the heart to throw it out, i figured i would find a use for it some day, i wish i had a camera and new how to use it, but for now please bear with me. i took the shaft and bolted it to an old brake rotor, then bolted or can be welded, 2 more old rotors to the rotor/axle assembly, so now i have 3 rotors with an axle on them, axle pointing up. scrounge around your shop find a vice, cut and drill apiece of plate for the vice, on the bottom of the plate, make a sleeve that will fit over the axle, weld it to the plate, its best if the sleeve has a hole drilled thru it with a big nut welded over it for a bolt to sinche up on the axle, i just ground a flat spot on the axle so it will stay in position. this is a really simple thing to build, the beauty of it is that the finish height of the vice is about 3 feet, which is the usual height of most welding tables, how many times have you had a job 3x the length of your table, simple, just clamp a stick o angle iron in the vice, now its an extra support for your table. that is why the nut and bolt on the sleeve, to adjust the height, and when done, no need to pick it up, it rolls and if you are concerned that it will topple over, just cut a few short pieces of round stock about 1/2 inch will work and tap them into the cooling slots on the bottom rotor, this will stabilize it.i hope i didnt bore you guys with this, but after i built this thing,it has proved more usefull than i could ever imagine. thanks for your time kevin

[c wagner]

Sounds like a good use for it, pics would be great!!!