Retaining Rings use on chassis

[Dival]

Hi!
My team (D-Bug #3316) wants to use retaining rings for our shafts in the WCD chassis. We use aluminum 7075 1/2" hex shaft. Do you have any tips of using retaining rings on those shafts?

[Scott Morgan]

We ran the same setup last year and everything worked well.

We turned down the portion of the shaft between the end and the retaining ring groove to 1/2" round, as we found that we were likely to yield the retaining ring somewhat if we expanded it wide enough to fit over the hex.

That's really all I can think of at the moment tip wise.

[InFlight]

You will specifically want an E-Clip (slide in side mount). Harbor Freight has an assortment box cheap if that's near by, otherwise look at Mc Master Carr. The standard .5 shaft E clip is 0.046 wide by 0.396 ID diameter. That's a lot of Turning on some pretty hard 7075.

[asid61]

Originally Posted by InFlight

You will specifically want an E-Clip (slide in side mount). Harbor Freight has an assortment box cheap if that's near by, otherwise look at Mc Master Carr. The standard .5 shaft E clip is 0.046 wide by 0.396 ID diameter. That's a lot of Turning on some pretty hard 7075.

We do this with e clips as well. We buy from McMaster.
It's actually quite easy, and we use a cheapo old Grizzly lathe with just 3 speeds and a lot of broken ares to do it.
Using a 0.040" wide grooving tool and a 1" dial indicator, you can get pretty good precision on these parts. 7075 is not that hard to turn a tiny groove in from my experience. We've never milled solid blocks or anything.

[R.C.]

Are you looking for tooling to do so or? Also I would avoid e clips and use actual snap rings. I see almost no reason to use an e clip over a snap ring in this situation.

[asid61]

Originally Posted by R.C.

Are you looking for tooling to do so or? Also I would avoid e clips and use actual snap rings. I see almost no reason to use an e clip over a snap ring in this situation.

Out of curiosity, why snap rings over e clips? I find e clips are easy to just press on with some pliers but I've never worked with circular snap rings.

[Joey Milia]

My main advice with snap rings is get good pliers. They're amazing with a good pair of snap ring pliers but horrible to get off with a pair with bad tips.

[thinker&planner]

We used e-clips last year, which were great, until we had to take them off without the correct tool.
My advice is to tap the ends of the axles and run short socket cap bolts into the ends with washers bigger than the inner race of the bearings. This allows for much easier maintenance, imho. Just stick a long ball-end hex driver down the frame and you can pull the whole axle assembly off.
Hope this helps!

[InFlight]

This is 0.5 HEX Shaft. You would distort and bend a 0.5 shaft snap ring trying to get it over the 0.577 inch edge-to-edge distance on the hex shaft. The side mount e-clip is the best retainer for the application.

[pfreivald]

Originally Posted by InFlight

This is 0.5 HEX Shaft. You would distort and bend a 0.5 shaft snap ring trying to get it over the 0.577 inch edge-to-edge distance on the hex shaft. The side mount e-clip is the best retainer for the application.

Not if you turn down the shaft with a .040 groove where you want it. We do it all the time--it's cheap and easy.

[JesseK]

Originally Posted by Joey Milia

My main advice with snap rings is get good pliers. They're amazing with a good pair of snap ring pliers but horrible to get off with a pair with bad tips.

Could you recommend a good pair? I got a 'set' from somewhere, and they do work - but I've already ruined the two snap rings on the WCP DS's we have and need to replace them before they see competition. Getting the tips into the holes after the snap ring was mounted, even with what we thought was perfect alignment, is what caused the rings to warp.

[ToddF]

We use snap rings on our 1/2" hex axles as well. Here's a photo.


Tips:
- Turn down the ends of the shafts so the clips go into the grooves. The clips can't stretch over the hex.
- For applications with any sort of significant side load, use heavy duty snap rings. (McMaster Carr 98585A109) Otherwise, normal ones are fine.
- We highly recommend these snap ring pliers from McMaster Carr: 5449A81
- If a snap ring has any signs of being stretched out, throw it away and use a new one.
- In the heat of competition servicing, don't hesitate to destroy a clip to get it off quickly.
- Don't use the pliers for 3/8" snap rings for 1/2" heavy duty rings. The tips will break off. Hide the 3/8" ones from newbies, or label very plainly. We have ruined two tools in two years from this.
- For most jobs, the straight pliers are easier to use, but every so often the 90 degree ones come in very handy.
- When making the grooves, use a go/no-go gauge (we made our own) to get the diameter of the rings right.
- When turning the ends of the shaft, be sure there is still a tiny bit of black anodize left visible. If not, the ends are too small, and the snap rings may pop off under side load. (like while turning during a match) Most years, your bumpers will keep the wheel from completely falling off, but this year this may not be the case.
- After turning the ends, put a chamfer on the end of the shaft. That knocks off the burr left from parting to length.
- After cutting the grooves, use abrasive paper to knock off the burrs on all six faces of both ends of the shaft. Nothing will slow you down when assembling like burrs.

[Joey Milia]

Originally Posted by JesseK

Could you recommend a good pair? I got a 'set' from somewhere, and they do work - but I've already ruined the two snap rings on the WCP DS's we have and need to replace them before they see competition. Getting the tips into the holes after the snap ring was mounted, even with what we thought was perfect alignment, is what caused the rings to warp.

I believe knipex pliers are the ones to go with, I think they're the heavy duty fixed tip ones on McMaster. I might be wrong though, GRT just has the quick change tip ones from McMaster and the tips have gotten misaligned which makes them next to useless. I'm trying to get the team to buy a few of the knipex ones.