Cast iron axles

Many of you have noticed the heavy duty cast iron axles, and even replaced the stamped steel axles with them.

While they are heavy duty, and can carry a large load, be aware that they can break. Cast iron is a brittle metal, and will snap if hit with a sharp blow. I have broken one, and it took surprisingly less effort than I thought it would. Typically catching a tree stump at high speed, or a large jump would do it. Stay away from this, and they will last a long time. Just high speed mudding or trail riding, they work fine..One we had lasted for 10 years, never did break it.

Stamped steel will bend, but usually not break. Welding new tubing on the ends for the spindles, welding where the stamping come together, will make them bullet proof.

the one on my bolens even has tow hooks on the bottom of it, along with holes to mount a snowblower or plow off the front. those boles are off the frame

Nice input stretch, another thing I see with them is making something else fail; chasing a problem. Now that the axle has little forgiveness, you might bend whatever comes in contact with the frame, such as the pivot mount or the guides.

Excellent observation Stretch- quite often, it's better to bend something than break it. This is reminiscent of our recent conversation regarding the hardness of axleshafts.

Another real-world example of bend vs break- Rims. Many offroad truck and buggy owners prefer steel rims over fancy-pants aluminum. Smack a rock or something on the trail, and you bend the steel rim. The aluminum breaks. A bent rim can be beaten back into shape with a hammer. A broken cast aluminum rim? Scrap.

I had this happen to me a couple years ago. Driving to work in the dark on an unfamiliar road. At about 50 MPH, I struck the edge of a curb that jutted out a lot further than it should. It was such a hard hit, I knew I did some damage. I pulled into a gas station a couple miles up the road just as the tire went flat. The bead area of the rim had folded back from the impact, enough to start the air leaking out. I quickly swapped on my spare and drove to work. On lunch break, I beat the lip back, aired the tire up, and swapped it back on. That rim remained problem free for nearly 2 years before I sold the van. Try that with a cast part!