I have been trying to get resolution to an issue with Moser Engineering and want some opinions I had my 9 inch narrowed and it came back looking like this A tube was added to center the center section In my opinion the tube was welded in off center In addition the tube added is a smaller diameter than the original Is this acceptable , I can't get them to address . They offered to sell a new housing with a discount Mike
I can't give you a definite answer, but I would not accept it either..total lack of workmanship IMO...although the welding does look nice..
Know anybody that has a narrowing jig? Stick a dial indicator on the inside of the bearing race, and see if its concentric with the saddles in the third member or not.
That's not the way we do them around here. 1) cut off existing axle flanges 2) take material off the axle tube to get to the desired width 3) put the fixture on which gets the carrier and axle flanges inline 4) weld the ends back on. Should only be one new weld.
In defense of Moser This was the second repair to the axle housing This was an attempt to center the housing Mike
My guess is, its probably concentric with the 3rd member. I would check it, but in all likelihood the housing had a bent axle tube, and when they put the jig in it, that's the way the housing end lined up with the bent tube. As Scruffy says, I don't usually stick a piece of tube in there, so it wouldn't look so obvious, but I have had a few where the housing end ends up well over on the tube when you put it in the jig. In other words, it was way the hell out of line when they got the housing, and the offset you see there is actually compensating for the original bend in the axle tube. Make sense? But I agree, it IS a LOT. But like I say, check it. If the bearing race is NOT concentric with the third member, THEN I would REALLY raise hell.
I don't understand why the didn't straighten the housing or just offset your old ends. I always use new ends because I'm usually changing axles and bearing sizes. Most of the new ends have a lip on the inside and if it assembles with the bar through the pig bearing cradle and the inserts in the bearing end then you are good to weld. If only off a little sometimes I'll dress that lip on the bad side till it fits. If it's off a lot I'll try to bring it in with the press. Someone there got sloppy or needed supervision. I've quit buying axles from them after a couple screw ups, one of which I had to give them a drawing of how to do what couldn't be done.
Fair point, if it was that far out, they could have straightened the housing. It looks worse because they have added that chunk of tube in there. When they centered the pinion, did they have to lengthen one tube for it to be the right width for your car? Just trying to get a handle on why they did it that way.
As crooked as it looks, if they used a line-up bar, the ends are probably true to the center. If I were doing the job, I would have straightened the housing before welding on the extensions, sleeved the joint, and ground the weld flush.
The original work had the center section off center by 1 inch. You could see it so I complained They offered to fix if I sent it to them (50.00) and they would make a new axle and respline . Axle was a charge item I have 650.00 plus in this as it sits
No expert either however I would not accept that work as it looks second rate and very unprofessional, bar the welds, irrespective of how true it is. Straighten the housing first, a new tube and reuse the old bearing flange, tubes and flanges are not that expensive. IMHO it does nothing for their reputation, I wouldn't even consider returning it to a customer looking like that.
I cant speak for Marty, Scruffy or Charlie Chops, but I wouldn't offer to straighten a housing and lengthen an axle tube for $50. 9" pinions are offset to one side from the factory, did you specify that you wanted the pinion centered when you brought your housing in the first time? I am wondering if maybe what we have here is a failure to communicate? Not saying its your fault either, but looking in from the outside, it kinda seems like a lack of communication may be a possibility. Functionally, general consensus among the guys who have narrowed housings on this thread, theres nothing to fix, but as I have said all along, I would check to make sure the housing is true. I do agree it is ugly, but like I said, if you brought it to me, I wouldn't be doing it for $50 either. That's a rock-bottom price.
Well.... If you weld the tube ends on without straightening the housing first, that's pretty normal alignment. I usually weld all the brackets on the housing, first, ( ladder bar mounts, shock mounts, etc.etc.)then straighten it and weld the ends on. ..> many times the customer doesn't want to pay the extra to straighten it(takes longer than welding ends on) so often times they appear to be misaligned. like yours. but they are actually straight with the world.
Mandrels with the solid bar would be the best and accurate way to set up provided you had a press should you need one to straighten the housing? I wouldn't like to second guess something so critical with my eyes.
Yes, they should have straightened the housing, but to step back it sounds like they screwed up the centering on the first go around? This seems typical of experiences I have had with contractors, plumbers, hot rod part suppliers, is that when you complain about workmanship, quality, and they agree to rework something , it will get worse before it gets better, as many try to put the least amount of time and expense into a repair, further inflaming the customer, taking more time, more calls, more repackaging, more freight....... Now, if the operator stopped when he saw the misalignment , Moser called you and said this housing and modification was is bad idea, and rather than have you unhappy we are going to use a new housing, or use the center with two new tubes at no charge, you would be putting up a completely different post. At this point they should send you a new housing, and a call tag.
Falcongeorge Thanks for your response , but I did not pay 50.00 for this I have 650.00 in this Not including the original costs of the housing I asked for the housing to be centered originally was told they could do this using my original axles and it would be off 3/8 of an inch
If you had asked for the pinion to be centered in the first place, then the repair to center the pinion was on them. They shouldn't have even charged you $50, they should have ate it.
Stumpy we are all assuming the use of the jig you showed pictures of, to see that sort of misalignment on a stock housing that has been narrowed on a jig is not that unusual, its relatively common for a rear-end housing that's been around for 30/40 years and a couple hundred thousand miles to be bent 3/8 of an inch or more.
^^that's how its done, for Stumpy. The housing ends go on last, and they are lined up off the bearing journals in the 3rd member, NOT the axle tubes. I think the reason it looks so bad is because of the section of tubing they stuck in there, if the housing ends are welded into the ends of the original axle tubes, there can be considerable mis-alignment between the ends and the tubes, and you wont really even notice it with the naked eye. Functionally, what matters is if the housing ends are concentric with the bearing saddles in the 3rd member.
Moser ate the second repair with The exception of the cost of the new axle which was 190.00 plus 10 for the hole and the cost of new studs
Funny story that kinda relates to how axle housings can get bent, a hard leaving car can bow the axle tubes forward over time, due to the g-forces trying to force the weight of the unsupported third member back in the chassis. We noticed one of my buddies street cars (1.45 60' times) had the tire clearance closing up between the front of the rear wheel well and the tire, so we thought maybe the rear axle tubes were bending forward. So we put the car up on a hoist, and we are under there measuring shit and so on, and I noticed there was really fresh, clean looking paint on the floor pan to the back of one of the body/frame mounts. It was a full frame car, and all but one of the body/frame bolts was either bent or broken, and the body was slowly sliding off the back of the car...
Holy shit! I think Quick Performance in Iowa will custom make you a 9" housing with good axles and bearings for about that much and the housings are very nice. http://www.quickperformance.com/QP-Bare-9-Inch-Housing-Axle-Package_p_15999.html
Even if the bearings align and the axle is true, that is sloppy looking work. I would be upset if that showed up.
How they added the piece does make it look bad. If your running a adjustable link suspension you could dial in the wheelbase, but on a leaf spring set-up it would hard to set the wheelbase with this housing.
I've seen them out of whack like that and the story is that the axles bearings etc. are all in alignment, but fuck me, It's just sloppy work to weld it up as is. To me - and I'm sure you - I wouldn't care how well aligned it is, it looks like shit. ...and it's going to slightly screw up measurements and symmetry of suspension mounting points too.
IMO thats horseshit work , something like that would never leave my shop , that shows lack of workmanship , how would they expect you to mount brackets if you had to??? I have known guys to cut and retube 9's its not too hard if you know how to use a torch and take some time .
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