What tooling to turn a case hardened Chevy axle

From what I have heard on the midget forums growlerizing an axle was well known to the racers for quite some time. It just never trickled down to the masses. Also the early axles made out of EN7 steel weren't very strong to begin with. Rumor has it that one of the main reasons for changing the rear wheel arch from round on the bugeyes to square with the new body style was to prevent the crazy Americans from stuffing big wheels and tires on the cars to prevent axle breakage.
 
My run with British sports cars was well before forums and the internet so I'm not surprised it didn't trickle down to me. And of course my rear fenders were cut with flares added to stuff big wheels and tires on the thing. There is NO way I could even get my fat ass in a Midget now days.

Can you insert the axle through the spindle so that your not working on such a long part? If not I would expect you would probably need to use a steady rest to hold the axle rigid enough to turn it down. I don't know anything about a craftsman lathe.

I would use an indexable turning tool with a TiAIN coated insert or similar running at about 900 rpm with a feedrate of 2 ipm and 0.050 doc. My software shows this at 360 sfm and 0.0022 ipr requiring about 1 hp.
 
I barely fit in a midget and I am only 5'10". I don't know how the taller guys do it. Has to be pretty uncomfortable. I am not doing a major fender cut out with flares. Just removing the inner lip. I am working on the driver side right now.

Thanks for the suggestions. The axle won't fit through the spindle. I do have a steady rest and a follower rest. I have never used the follower rest. I frequently use the steady rest even when I probably don't need to. My Craftsman lathe runs at slower speeds and being a newbie I tend to turn at very slow speeds. Turning the taper is going to be a challenge. The only attachment that didn't come with my lathe was a taper attachment. I'll figure something out. Probably do the taper in sections. The compound has just over 2" of travel.

Being retired and having nothing but time on my hands if it takes me several days to do something that's ok. My garage shop is not air conditioned. And with other daily chores on my 5 acres and taking care of my elderly mom who just turned 100 I can spend about 1 hour per day in my garage before the 95 to 100 degree summer temps drive me into the house.
 
I was 6' 1", now 6' even, so I had a MGB... Plenty of leg room.
Edit: we are far off topic.
 
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