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I recently got a lot of earlier Lesneys that need restoring. I'm anxious to get them restored, but I'm not sure how to remove the crimped axles, all I've done so far is the later peened axles. I thought about filing them down but I don't think the wheels would stay on too well if I did that. Any suggestions?

I think your only realistic option is to cut the axle in two and then use a new axle when you've finished, either peening it or crimping it as required.

On a few customs, I've filed crimps just enough to release the axle and then recrimped the original axle.

Ok yeah I think you're probably right. I have loads of extra axles from parts cars I've stripped down. What would be the best way to re-crimp them?

Tinman is the best man to advise you on this, but I use a pair of heavy grips (in the UK we call them mole grips) with straight jaws, but it's not always the easiest of jobs and can take some practice to crimp the ends nicely. You can buy replacement axles which are actually tube and pin sets which are easy to use and have rounded ends (if you're not fussed about using crimped ends), or you can replace the axles and round off the ends yourself with a hammer.

Cool thanks for the advice. With the newer style axles, I usually just apply a tiny bit of clear glue to the axle and slide the wheel on. For now I'll just continue with that I suppose. Thanks again!