to straighten or not? axle housing welding...

looking for a general consensus, I've heard it both ways, but there are enough folks here that I should be able to come up with a better answer...

I am about to weld on brackets for rear spring, ladder bars and shock mounts, all of which are pretty meaty. I have a freshly built quickchange with bajo axle tubes, so they are fairly thick as well.

is it a good idea to take it all back apart after I get em welded in to have the tubes straightened again, or should I try to keep the areas cooled with wet rags and not worry about it?

thanks.

 

it will warp and should be taken apart to be straightened or it is going to chew wheel bearings. most places just cut the tube ends off and set up in a jig then weld them back on in the proper location. they are not really fixing thw warp or bend some much as just putting the wheel bearing location back in line with the center section.

 

I'm also interested in the consensus on this one as I've got a bunch of welding to do on a '57 Chev rear end. In the past, I've moved spring pads and etc. without experiencing any known problems but maybe I just got lucky...

 

I'm glad you started this question, i'm fixing to weld traction bars and buggy spring hangers on a 57 chevy rearend, will it warp it also, and where would i take it to have it straitend and how would they do it? Ive been worried about this.

 

Be gentile when welding your brackets...weld an inch or so then let it cool and you won't warp your axle tubes.

Do NOT cool with water or a wet rag, as that will allow the weld to cool too quickly and become brittle.

Got any pics of that quickie?? I loooove a quickie..

-Abone.

 

After welding, pull the axle out just enough so the wheel bearing inside edge is even with the outer edge of the recess. check with a thickness guage, top/bottom, front/rear, loose fit. If you can't see any deviation, it's good to go.

 

here is a pic from a few weeks back, it's come a long way since then, looks sweet behind the truck!

 

I have posted this before but here it is again:

How to tell if a rear end is warped and how to fix it.
Put the tires on the ***embled rear.
Put chocks on both sides of both wheels.
Put two greased pieces of sheet metal under one wheel.
Put a dial indicator high up on the sidewall of that tire that does not have the greased plates under it.
Roll the rear end over and check for wheel wobble.
Put heat on the opposit side you welded on if it wobbles.
Cotinue till no wobble.
Do other side.

This is the most accurate thing you can do to check a rear. Try it!

 

Say What?

 

Do ya' have another pair of those side bell adapter plates? I could use a pair.

I had a pair and sold'em with the broken Halibrand Champ Q/C. But, that was over 30 years ago. A momentary lapse of judgement .

And, you can use heat to straighten the axle tubes without dis***embling the rear end. There's already been a post on this thread on how to do it. I prefer to do it outa' the car. It's almost like checking toe-in. But ya' do it at 12-3-6 & 9 o'clock. Make sure your rims run true before ya' start.

 

A few years ago, I had a Ford rear end put in a 38 Ford. I had new spring perches welded on, anti way bar mounts custom made etc.
Anyway, after all the fabrication I didnt have the rear end straightened.
It leaked.
Wont do that again.
But thats just me.

 

rocknrods, you know anybody in the DFW area that straitens rearends or that is good at welding and working on them?

 

That'll tell you if the axle or wheel is bent, but won't show warped housing..............

 

If that were My Rear and I didnt have a good welder and a table to set it up in a jig. I would send it to someone who has the proper equiptment.
But first place the rear in the car , carefully line it up and tack on all the perches and bracets. DOUBLE CHECK 3 TIMES. I ***ume You will have a flat surface to work on so You can create a C/L on the car and transfer to the floor along with a perpendicular to insure exact placement.
By the way NICE REAR FEDER

 

The wheel and axle are not turning. This deal will not show a bent axle or wheel. It WILL show any bend in the housing. As the housing turns it will make the wheel wobble. What you would really be doing is putting the rear up on centers and checking run-out. The housing may be lopsided when new so checking the housing itself is questionable. Checking wheel wobble will tell if the center of the housing is running true with the wheel bearings. It does work and is very accurate.

 

Does anyone know a good rearend shop inTX?

 

Where you at??

 

Let me see if I understand this correctly.

You chock up both tires to eliminate any front to back motion or to keep the whole ***embly from moving in an arc.

The two pieces of greased sheet metal go under the tire that you are NOT checking for wobble. They should not contact the chock. Their function is to let that tire on that side move side to side without influencing the side you are checking. Correct?

The side with the dial indicator on it will show the wheel/tire moving on a vertical axis as you rotate the rear end housing around the axle. That is the side you are trying to straighten. If the top of the tire/wheel moves in or out as you rotate the housing, the housing is warped.

The dial indicator should also show the direction the deflection has occurred by where the greatest reading is in relation to where you started, if I may extrapolate a little.

Since I don't know beans about distorting metal with heat except for messing things up, how hot to you need to heat the housing to get it to shorten up and how far around do you need to heat it? Pardon my ignorance.

 

I'm in DFW are but i would go anywhere, i dont want to mess this up!

 

You have it exactly.Well almost. The dial indicator goes against the highest spot on the tire that you can get a stable reading from. The indicator is horizontal so you are measuring the in and out of the top of the tire. The axle /tire combo is really a large bellcrank probe that is indicating the runnout of the center of the rear with respect to the axle bearings.
I just heat about a quarter sized spot and let it cool slowly and check it again. This is a slow process. If the first heating does not fix it ,I heat spots on either side of the first spot. If that does not fix it, I heat the first again.I switch from side to side in this deal because warpage on the other side will affect the side you ar working on. Back and forth is the ticket.

 

Thanks. I did have a mental image of the dial indicator in the right place. Sure is hard to describe what you see in your mind. How hot? Cherry red?

 

It is kind of a judgement call. The part must get hot enough to compress and deform from the cooler material around it holding it back. The hotter it is the more it will shrink. I try for a medium red. Real hot will cause scaling inside. I always check the housings after straightening to make sure I haven't made scale.

 

straightening is rather easy actually..use a rosebud tip,heat on the high side and let it cool.it will cool,and shrink,therefore pulling the end of the tube in the direction of the heated portion.i heat them close to the center of the diff,far from the housing end,for maximum tube end movement.heat an orange spot about 1 inch in dia,should pull as much as 1/8.this method works great on nine inch,and other drop out third member diffs,never tried it on dana 60 or later model chev with ****o thick tubes.i used a narrowing jig to determine how much had to be 'pulled' to straighten,then once satisfied,the bearing ends were welded on,and the jig reinstalled to check final fitment after welding the ends.at this point,if you are out of line after welding ends,pound the jig bar back and forth about an inch,to mark the bar,and determine which side is high.then shrink again,until it slides out with ease.remember..once you have done this like about 20 + times,your bar will be of less than desired fitment to the bearing ends,and needs to be replaced.

 

Maybe grossly over-thought here? read Tommy's post 1st and got me to this one. How big are the brackets? Full circle? Attached to something else as welded or free-standing on the tube? How can the tube get warped by welding on a bracket? That bracket must be ****in ungodly huge to pull that tube from welding. Is anyone getting this? I've welded a dozen or more back braces on 9" housings with ZERO warpage. Some guys can't do it in a fixture. In all fairness I have a procedure for it that has been quite sucessful. As far as ladder bar or 4 link brackets, shock mounts, panhards, and whatever else you can think of, I can't see ANY possible way of a tube getting warped from attaching these parts.

So, what the **** do I know? Did a **** load of welding on a 3600# car that has gone a best of 8.94 with great short times as low as 1.25. As a side note he bent the ****in bracing! ***** just leaves that hard. That's just one of I can't recall how many. Think about what some of you are saying. Unless the stuff is being welded with WAY too much heat, weld on your stuff and don't worry.

Go ahead and **** on what I've posted if ya gotta. But I can't see how welding a 1/4" plate 90deg from an axle tube, on that tube, is going to warp it. IF that were the case I wouldn't want to be rolling around with that flimsy **** under my ride.

 

maybe some people are particular to detail?sorry for making you mad you spaz.i've built lots of diffs,and i have welded some nine inch and 58-64 chev housings aswell without straightening,and never had problems.one of the housings was even used in a 585 steve schmidt 97 firebird.yeah..you can do it.some people like to know their **** is straight and thats what they pay for.you dont care..good for you.i for one straighten all my own ****,even in my daily driver with a 2 inch narrow.yeah it's extra work,and half the time they dont need any.but it's peace of mind for me,whether i run eights or not.

 

Just weld the sum***** and run it.... You think those housings dont flex anyway?

 

OK, know anybody in western Washington that's set up to do this?

 

Any other opinions on this subject?

 

Awesome post. I bought a sweet set of cast perches here on the board, I then traded a set of 16in wheels and wide whites to have them machined, I then had the same guy weld them to the housings. The machinest/welder was skeptical about welding the malable cast perches to the housing but did some research and used a stick rod. Anyway he told me that he'd be very careful but indeed they would probably warp, after welding I took the housings in to have the machine work done to fit new bearing races and found out they where way out... I have been fretting over this for months and looking for a new set of housings and had planned starting all over, although a friend and old school metal man has recommended cutting them and fixing them several times... I think it will be worth a shot...