A billet 7075-T6 front axle housing for the Treal Hobby H10 Optic, machined on 5-axis centers to ±0.005 mm with matched bearing bores. Built in runs from one piece to 10,000.
Four problems that come back to geometry, not to driving style.
A cast or soft housing deforms at the outer bearing seat. Preload drops, the pinion walks, and the ring and pinion mesh opens up. You end up re-shimming a housing that will not hold the number you set.
Thin mounts take a set after hard landings. Steering geometry moves a degree or two, and the truck pulls to one side on every climb. Bent mounts also chew through rod ends faster than they should.
If the knuckle bores sit off center or out of parallel, the steering arm sweeps a different arc left and right. You compensate with trim, then the trim drifts as the bore wears.
Waiting weeks for a housing stalls the whole build. Custom runs and short production batches are where most hobby suppliers fall short, so a single broken mount parks the truck.
Billet stock, one setup per face, and bores cut to the fit the bearing actually needs.
The housing starts as 7075-T6 billet, not a casting. That matters because 7075-T6 yields around 500 MPa, roughly triple the strength of a cast aluminum housing of the same wall section. Thin walls stay thin without cracking at the mount radius.
We cut the main body on 5-axis centers so the bearing bores, link mounts and shock tabs come off one setup. Fewer setups mean fewer stacked errors. Bore-to-bore position on the Treal Hobby H10 Optic housing holds inside ±0.005 mm.
A bearing seat that is 0.02 mm loose will spin and wear the housing. We hold the outer bearing bores to an H7 fit and check them with bore gauges, not with a caliper. If the drawing calls for a light press, we cut to that; if it calls for slip, we cut to that too.
Threaded holes get checked with go and no-go gauges. On a crawler axle, a stripped M3 mount or a cross-threaded shock screw ends the weekend faster than a broken shaft. We keep thread depth and minor diameter inside the print.
Pick the material by load path, not by price per kilogram.
| Property | 7075-T6 billet | 6061-T6 billet | Cast aluminum |
|---|---|---|---|
| Typical yield strength | About 500 MPa | About 275 MPa | 150–200 MPa |
| Best for | High-load mounts, thin walls | General housings, easy anodize | High-volume, simple shapes |
| Machinability | Good, needs sharp tooling | Excellent | Casting then light machining |
| Corrosion behavior | Good with anodize | Very good | Depends on alloy and porosity |
| When to avoid | Parts needing heavy welding | Extreme load with thin sections | Precision bearing bores |
One shop for the housing, the shafts and the small hardware around it.
Simultaneous 5-axis work for the housing body. Bores, mounts and shock tabs come off one setup, so position error does not stack.
Milled housings and turned bearing spacers, shims and pin retainers. Turning covers the round features that milling cannot reach cleanly.
Fit-check prototypes before you commit to a run. Useful when a new link geometry needs to be tested on the truck first.
Anodizing, bead blasting, brushing and laser marking. Hardcoat anodize suits housings that see rock contact.
Runs from one piece to 10,000+. No minimum order quantity, so a single spare housing is a normal order.
Raw material check, in-process monitoring and final inspection. Dimensional reports and surface roughness maps on request.
Numbers below are what we can hold on this part family.
| Item | Capability | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Achievable tolerance | ±0.005 mm | On bores and critical mount faces |
| Surface finish | Ra 0.8–1.6 μm | Ra 0.2–0.8 μm on request |
| Maximum part size | 4,000 mm | Travel 4,000 × 400 × 150 mm |
| Materials stocked | 7075, 6061, 6082, 2024 | Also 5052, 5083, 6063, ADC12 |
| Minimum order | No MOQ | One prototype to 10,000+ parts |
| Quote turnaround | 12 hours | Includes free DFM analysis |
| Production start | Within 24 hours | After drawing and material release |
| Typical shipping | 3–5 days | For standard housing runs |
Six reasons that show up in the part, not in a brochure.
Fifteen years cutting aluminum and plastics for small mechanical assemblies. The habits that keep bores round are old habits here.
127 high-precision machines across three plants, including 16 simultaneous 5-axis centers and 16 mill-turn centers.
Bore and mount position inside ±0.005 mm. We do not quote a number the machine cannot hold on a given geometry.
One prototype or a 10,000-part run. Small orders do not get pushed behind large ones in the schedule.
Quotation and free DFM analysis within 12 hours. We flag thin walls and unreachable features before cutting.
Historical qualification rate across shipped lots. 100% inspection before shipment, reports on request.
Housings, link mounts and bearing spacers for small off-road platforms.
Small runs of upgraded housings and hardware without a tooling charge.
Same machining discipline applied to brackets, housings and mounts.
Fit-check parts cut before the production geometry is frozen.
It is machined to the H10 Optic front axle housing envelope, so the link mounts, shock tabs and bearing bores land where the stock part does.
Send the platform revision you are running with your inquiry. Small running changes between batches are common, and we would rather check your drawing than assume.
7075-T6 yields around 500 MPa, roughly double 6061-T6. That extra strength matters at thin mount walls and at the bearing pocket, where a crawler takes side loads.
If your housing is a simple shape with thick walls and no high-load tabs, 6061-T6 is cheaper, machines faster and anodizes more evenly. It is a reasonable choice for a light trail truck.
Bores are held inside ±0.005 mm and cut to the fit your bearing needs, typically H7 for a light press.
We check them with bore gauges rather than calipers, because a caliper will not reveal an out-of-round bore that a bearing will feel.
Yes. There is no minimum order quantity. One housing is a normal order, and it does not wait behind large runs.
For a single part, expect us to ask for a drawing or a sample. A measured sample is often faster than a model when the original CAD is not available.
Quotation and free DFM analysis come back within 12 hours. Production can start within 24 hours once the drawing and material are released.
Standard housing runs ship in 3–5 days. If your finish is a custom anodize color, add time for the plating line, which we will state in the quote.
We run clear, color and hardcoat anodizing, plus bead blasting and laser marking. Hardcoat is the better pick if the housing sees rock contact.
Laser marking needs a minimum character height of 1.5 mm. Discrete part numbers on the inside face are usually fine.
A STEP or IGES model plus a PDF drawing with tolerances and finish calls is ideal. A 2D drawing alone works for simple turned parts.
Uploads are secure and confidential. An NDA is available on request before you send anything.
Yes. Raw material check, in-process monitoring and final inspection, with 100% inspection before shipment.
Dimensional reports and surface roughness maps are available on request. Surface roughness is measured to ASME B46.1.
Send a drawing or a sample and get a quote with free DFM feedback within 12 hours.
12-hour quote100% inspectionNo minimum order quantity
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