Technical Welding on a rear end housing

If the bar won't slide easily through all 4 slugs. the rear end won't last very long.

 

I'm all for exercising caution now n then, and regular considerations in this line of work. However, if 2 ½" tack welds bent my housing I'd call a press conference. Then again I'm the asshole that bet my pal I could weld a back brace on a 9" without a fixture and it wouldn't move. Go ahead, call me a liar. I won $100 on that one. Shoved a fit shaft right through with no bind AFTER I welded the full length brace. Lucky? No, did it 2 or 3 times. So WTF are 2 short bracket welds gonna do to a complete axle? Yeah, I'm coming on a little strong here but son of a motherless goat. This is insane and any housing that sensitive has no business under a golf cart let alone a car.

For the rest of our brethren, my secret to that back brace was a zero daylight fit and staggered welds. Bit of a pain in the ass but a perfect outcome. "Why would you bother to...?" I answer by saying I was offsite and he needed it done that day. Took 3½ hrs all in. Am I a liar?

 

I agree that welding small tabs to a housing should not cause any problem, but I also know that some people can do simple tasks and get a bad result. I'm one of them...........That said, I've welded my share of rearends and brackets and everything under the sun with good results. The OP was unsure how to proceed so my suggestion was to do it in a manner that it was almost impossible to screw it up.

The idea was that when he does something that he doesn't have much chance of going wrong to begin with..........he also learns to think about the heat input when doing a somewhat more challenging project later on. To the experienced, its overkill......to the novice its a learning experience.

 

Seen golf carts with nine inch Ford housings, Currie made them.
I know, doesn't help, but much of this thread doesn't either.

 

Don’t you guys ever watch the reality TV car shows. Every week you see those bozo a** holes screwing with rear ends welding all kind of brackets and mounts and never discuss straightening when done. In all the years I’ve on seen one group just tack everything and then remove it a put a centering bar in a finish it all.

 

Those weren't golf carts. Battery powered yes, probably could haul 1/2 ton or better and they moved along pretty good. Can't remember who made them?

 

For over 30 years I've employed a really talented certified tig welder to do the finish welding on my chassis after I've fabricated and tacked them together. The majority of these chassis used 9 inch rears. We've always used a heavy wall special tube/centering bar that is held in center by 2 bearing simulators in the center section and an axle bearing simulator on each end. To date we've only had to straighten a couple. My guy seems to have developed a pattern of welding on the brackets that minimizes warpage.

 

Thanks for all the replies everyone. I knew that welding a tab or two on a massive amount of iron wouldn’t be much of an issue. But I thought I’d kick it around. You dudes are the best.

 

And we all know that guy…..” I did that once and f it all up” or that guy, “ you know welding changes the molecular level on a microscopic influx of……..”

 

@nochop
Thanks for being a good sport about my silliness. And you know... that's all it is.
Good luck with everything.
Weld the heck out of it. LOL

I just have to add this.

I worked for the Ford axle plant when I was a younger man. I ran thousands of 9" rear axle housing centers and left and right tubes complete with brackets and caps through the automatic welding machine. They came out of my machine, fully welded complete housings.

Immediately after me, was the water pressure tester to check for leaks in the welds.
Which also cooled the housing.

And then...

Every single axle was put into a fixture with hydraulic cylinders for persuasion and dial indicators to measure...
And straightened.
Every single one.

Just a point of interest.

 

I was building a model A sedan, steering was done. Had to do some finish welding on the steering box mount, next thing I knew, the steering felt like the box had gravel in it. Took it apart and it arced through the gears

 

I once worked with a guy who welded something on an axle. He rolled it around and some the remaining lube hit the hot spot. Nothing happened, until he welded again and the fumes poofed in one of the tubes (axles were out). It was more funny than anything else but worth remembering for all reasons. Logical assumptions prove right more often than the opposite, or excess.

 

Just my thoughts, but I think a small bracket would be better than a welded bolt or stud. Bolts rust, strip, and twist off. If that happens with it through a bracket, no big deal, just stick another one in it’s place. If it happens on a welded stud, you gotta cut it off and do it again. I like to make stuff easier to fix the next time.

 

You’re that guy! Lol

 

That's amazing considering the tolerances I've seen .

 

Night shift.

 

Decided against welding, going this route

 

More than one way to skin a cat.

 

Taylor-Dunn.

 

I have put alignment bars in quite a few "as delivered" high-mileage OEM rear axles, only to find that not a whole lot of them were actually straight.

That sain, I straighten every housing I build, if it needs it.

 

My housing is a Currie big bearing product. I never gave it a thought if it’s straight or not.