Jump to content

What axle do you recommend?


Tommy J.

Recommended Posts

As the title states. I’d like some feedback on various axles out there. Never owned anything more than a fence post, axle wise.

I do dig the Ironmind axle, and it is the gold standard I suppose. But I don’t see myself hosting any comps, and plenty of my homies already own an Ironmind axle. I would however like one added to my home gym to train with at my leisure. And will be buying one.

are there any axles out there that are true 2” OD besides Ironmind? If so, how does it compare? Good texture? Well built? Similar unloaded weight? Cost any more or less? What?

spill please.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The IM Axle is 1/4" x 2" DOM tubing with th ends turned down from actual 2" to 1.95".  the purpose being that the better plates like Eleiko etc will fit over that but not always over a true 2" bar.  You can buy (at a steel supply house) that same 1/4" x 2" piece of steel.  It will be cheaper than an IM Axle but cost more than "pipe" either schedule 40 or 80 - which is what all the cheap axles are made of.  That same steel supply house will sell you two pieces of tubing that fit over that bar and act as inside collars - or you can buy those things with the set screws that I can't remember the name of.  Any weld shop can weld them on for you or you can do the set screw ones yourself.  BUT BE ABSOLUTELY SURE that your plates will fit over a true 2" bar.  This will give you as close to a true IM Axle as possible for a lot less money.

  • Like 1
  • Thanks 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

33 minutes ago, climber511 said:

The IM Axle is 1/4" x 2" DOM tubing with th ends turned down from actual 2" to 1.95".  the purpose being that the better plates like Eleiko etc will fit over that but not always over a true 2" bar.  You can buy (at a steel supply house) that same 1/4" x 2" piece of steel.  It will be cheaper than an IM Axle but cost more than "pipe" either schedule 40 or 80 - which is what all the cheap axles are made of.  That same steel supply house will sell you two pieces of tubing that fit over that bar and act as inside collars - or you can buy those things with the set screws that I can't remember the name of.  Any weld shop can weld them on for you or you can do the set screw ones yourself.  BUT BE ABSOLUTELY SURE that your plates will fit over a true 2" bar.  This will give you as close to a true IM Axle as possible for a lot less money.

Love it! Thank you very much sir! The homemade route is the route I will go then. No idea why I didn’t consider that given that I just bought that badass welder last year. Sort of keep forgetting I have it when it comes to making training equipment..
I guess the mechanic in me only thinks of the welder when I see broken stuff that needs fixin. Lol!

 

just had a cool idea while I was typing also.. May even find a way to make it an even 45lbs for ease of math when training with it. 🧐

 

thanks again Chris. You’ve never stopped being a gold mine of information for myself and others here over the years. Btw, any plans to come out and kick it with the Tx crew? I know travel is undesirable for most at this time... but if you ever decide to make it down I think any one of us here would gladly give you a room for the weekend.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just thinking out loud here. Obviously the schedule 80 will weigh more than the 40. But any idea how much?.. no way I’d actually need schedule 80 on a 2” pipe with the weights I’ll be lifting.. but that may be the better route for getting the completed bar to an even 45lbs.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

The Titan Fitness axle is a true 2" axle. I believe it's made from 50mm pipe (plus powdercoat) which puts it between 1.96" and 2.0" on my digital calipers. It's also $50. Keep in mind what Mr. Rice said about plate fit - most calibrated plates and competition bumpers don't fit on this bar. The powdercoat is relatively smooth, but durable. I like this to gauge how I'll do on an IM Axle, which is usually ~20 lbs less than how I lift on a 40/80 gauge 1.9" OD pipe.

Personally, if I could only have one axle, I'd stick with a pricier knurled bar. I use a knurled axle for some of my gym lifts (bench, curls), and then grab the on the smooth near the center when training grip (sumo style deads).

  • Like 1
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1.5" ID PIPE

sch 40 - ~20lbs (2.72lbs/foot)

sch 80 - ~26lbs (3.63lbs/foot)

 

You would need to buy 1.5" CRS (6lbs/foot) - 36" (18" on each end) would put you right near the 45lb mark with sch 80 or 4' of CRS with sch 40

  • Like 3
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

The IM Axle (or homemade version of it at amybe 35#) weighs 15K or 33#.   So with collars about 35#.  I just think like it was a regular 45# bar and subtract 10#.  I wouldn't worry about trying to add weight to it.  

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

18 hours ago, Lucasraymond said:

1.5" ID PIPE

sch 40 - ~20lbs (2.72lbs/foot)

sch 80 - ~26lbs (3.63lbs/foot)

 

You would need to buy 1.5" CRS (6lbs/foot) - 36" (18" on each end) would put you right near the 45lb mark with sch 80 or 4' of CRS with sch 40

Thank you sir! With the 1.5” CRS added weight into consideration, how long would my schedule 80 2” pipe need to be?

yes. This is me being lazy and not using my own noggin. Lol
 

20 hours ago, DAVE101 said:

The Titan Fitness axle is a true 2" axle. I believe it's made from 50mm pipe (plus powdercoat) which puts it between 1.96" and 2.0" on my digital calipers. It's also $50. Keep in mind what Mr. Rice said about plate fit - most calibrated plates and competition bumpers don't fit on this bar. The powdercoat is relatively smooth, but durable. I like this to gauge how I'll do on an IM Axle, which is usually ~20 lbs less than how I lift on a 40/80 gauge 1.9" OD pipe.

Personally, if I could only have one axle, I'd stick with a pricier knurled bar. I use a knurled axle for some of my gym lifts (bench, curls), and then grab the on the smooth near the center when training grip (sumo style deads).

interesting! So to be clear, your saying you’ll pull about 20lbs less on the IM axle than on the 1.9” OD axles?...

it probably goes without saying, but do you see any difference between a 2” OD off brand axle and the IM axle as well? Genuine curiosity.

yes, knurling would be pretty cool as well. Unfortunately how you describe moving the hands inward off of the knurling to deadlift may not work out for me tho.. since I pull conventional. However, the knurling would be cool in the event I benched or overhead pressed with it I suppose.

 

so far I plan to go the homemade route. Which means I won’t get the knurling.. but I’m betting I could drop it off at a machine shop for knurling at any point after it’s made. No telling what they’d charge for a couple knurled sections in there somewhere. But I’m betting I could pay to have that done a lot cheaper than buying a knurled bar.

Dang it...now you got my wheels spinning about some knurling. Lol

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

18 hours ago, Lucasraymond said:

1.5" ID PIPE

sch 40 - ~20lbs (2.72lbs/foot)

sch 80 - ~26lbs (3.63lbs/foot)

 

You would need to buy 1.5" CRS (6lbs/foot) - 36" (18" on each end) would put you right near the 45lb mark with sch 80 or 4' of CRS with sch 40

Also, would the 1.5” CRS bar fit tightly inside a 2” OD schedule 80 pipe? Or would they be in there sort of wobbling around?.. I ask because I know I’ll only be able to weld them in place on the ends.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Tommy J. said:

Also, would the 1.5” CRS bar fit tightly inside a 2” OD schedule 80 pipe? Or would they be in there sort of wobbling around?.. I ask because I know I’ll only be able to weld them in place on the ends.

7’ bar.

 

Drill a 3/8” hole in the long pipe (i drill through so i have two weld points and then plug fill to the cold rolled at the other end to hold it in place on top of the end weld. 

  • Like 2
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 hours ago, Tommy J. said:

interesting! So to be clear, your saying you’ll pull about 20lbs less on the IM axle than on the 1.9” OD axles?...

it probably goes without saying, but do you see any difference between a 2” OD off brand axle and the IM axle as well? Genuine curiosity.

 

Yes, I pull about 20 lbs less. The only off brand axle close to 2.0" I've tried is Titan's. Everything else I've seen is the 1.9" stuff.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

23 hours ago, Lucasraymond said:

7’ bar.

 

Drill a 3/8” hole in the long pipe (i drill through so i have two weld points and then plug fill to the cold rolled at the other end to hold it in place on top of the end weld. 

So you’ve made axles that weigh 45lbs before?..

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, Tommy J. said:

So you’ve made axles that weigh 45lbs before?..

Yes one, but a lot of stuff that you want to hide the welds and dont need high integrity you can just plug weld in place and grind smooth and I do that all the time. 

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, Lucasraymond said:

Yes one, but a lot of stuff that you want to hide the welds and dont need high integrity you can just plug weld in place and grind smooth and I do that all the time. 

A grinder and paint makes me the welder I ain't

  • Like 1
  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 hours ago, Climber028 said:

A grinder and paint makes me the welder I ain't

Yeah I could probably charge by the pound for my welds. Lol!

but it’ll hold! By golly!

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Unfortunately, your content contains terms that we do not allow. Please edit your content to remove the highlighted words below.
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy policies.