I'm in the process of building my -69 O-axle. Because this axle does not have c-clips, I started to think what keeps the driveshafts in. I came to conclusion that only the bearing&lock ring press fit keeps the axle in. If the axle slips from those fittings, it will come out.
Am I right or thinking something wrong here?

 

The bearings and lock rings are a tight press onto the axle shafts. The retainers hold the bearings (and thus the shafts) into the housing. Don't over think this.

 

True that the retainer and bearing press is what holds the axle in. However, even if you could pull 1.0 g lateral force in these cars (good luck), less than 1/2 of that will be lateral forces on the rear axle, and the vast majority of that will be on the outside wheel pushing IN on the axle. Even if you assume the forces required to generate that 1.0 g lateral force on the car is equally distributed across all 4 tires, only 0.25 of that total force will occur on the inside rear wheel pulling OUT on the axle, so about 1000 lbs at most (~1/2 ton, assuming a 4000 lb car). I can guarantee you it takes way more than 1000 lbs to slip the retainer OR the bearing (let alone both) off the axle shafts. On top of all that, the ball bearing inner race increases its grip on the shaft under lateral loading (which is why the outer race broke......more like exploded..... in my first attempt to press-off the bearing). My money is on the 4 bolts holding the axle retainer to the axle housing failing long before the bearing or retainer slips on the shaft.

 

Thanks Joe, I'm trying not to! I'm engineer by trade and tend to have this bad habit.

 

Good points you have there. I'll stop worrying about my axles coming out.

 

I used to build demolition derby cars , fords mostly and we would tack weld the axles to retainer to prevent axles coming out. It never happened so...