Technical How to reuse Ford 9" Housing Ends without a Lathe

I was getting ready to narrow 2 Ford 9" housings, 1 for a current project and 1 for a future build. The housing for the current project only needed to be shortened 2" on one side. I wanted to reuse the housing end so it'd match the other side. Once I found how easy it was, I did both ends for the other housing and took some pics.

Wish I had a lathe, this would have been easier and nicer looking. But you work with what you have. I used an old Ridgid pipe cutter to cut the housing, it makes a nice clean cut.





I marked the tube with 8 cut marks around the perimeter and vibro-engraved the housing end alignment mark in case it got washed off.






Used a cut-off disc to cut the weld that joins the housing end to the tube and cut the 8 marked cut lines. Then peeled it like a banana, except I clamped it in a vice & used a vice grip to bend each section back and forth until they fractured loose. (When I break something by not being careful & using too much force, my wife calls me gorilla hands. This time a little extra grunt came in handy)



I then did a little clean-up with the grinder stone and a flapper disc to make them ready to weld back on.




The old Ford ends are nice because they don't **** weld to the tube like a lot of the modern housing ends. They have a collar on the end that slides inside the tube and gives strength to the welded housing ***embly (be careful when you cut the old tube loose, not to cut through the collar). Also I like the look of the original ends better than the new billet ends. Hope this helps someone.


Dan

 

Nice job, that's one hell of a tubing cutter!

 

Not bad .. Not bad at all

 

Why does that look like way more than 2"?

 

I'm doing two housings.

 

You can also use what pipeliners call a wrap around to mark the housing so you can cut it...After you cut it check it with square...

 

Used good old Ridgid pipe cutter to shorten a couple of driveshafts, back in my youth. Then just cut through the weld enough to get the yoke out, and weld to the new shorter length.

 

I've done a couple this way but the problem I always ran into is the axle tube was machined inside to accept the flange.

I never had one where the flange actually fit inside the cut tube, I've had to machine the lip down on the flange to fit inside the tube.

 

I've started to install one of the ends. Did have to clean up inside the tube with a half round file & dress the end that fits inside on the belt sander. Its a tight fit but I think it'll be ok.

 

When you are done welding, stand the housing on the opposite end from your work, put a level on the newly welded end to see if the ends are parallel. I bought a shortened 9" rear, and found out too late that the ends weren't parallel.

 

^That ***umes the surface you stand the housing on is also level!

 

I put a straight edge/yard stick against each flange and measure front to rear of the straight edges like checking toe in, then I turn them straight up and down and measure that way, top to bottom.

This gives a very accurate reading.


.

 

You can make a jackstand support by welding a V shaped piece of angle iron atop the stand to sit one end of the rear end in.

At the other end, tack another piece of angle iron atop a small bottle jack (remove when done). This will allow you to adjust the second end until it is level with the first end.

You can set a block of wood on each side and a level on top of it, or make some kind of dial indicator stand if you want utmost accuracy.

The front of the rear end should be squared to the table and a bracket bolted to one of the pumpkin studs and tacked to the table.

At that point you should be level and stable.

Put a bar across the face of the housing that extends past each end of the housing. You can drill a couple of holes so that you can bolt it to the face of the housing. Then by putting a square against it, you can align the housing end so its square to the housing from front to rear. Place a small tack weld at the side of the joint. By doing that, you should have the ability to slightly move the end of the housing for vertical alignment.

Put another square on the table surface and square the end vertically. Put a second tack on it.


Go to the opposite end and repeat the process with just a couple tack welds.

Now if you bolt a bar or plate to each end, they should allow you to measure (clear the center hump) and see if you get the same reading in 3 locations (front, back, and top). You may be able to check all four (bottom), but if all 3 are the same, you should be good.

The key point here is that if the front and back readings are the same, and you squared them to the bar across the front......then they are parallel. If you get the same reading on the top and its square to the table surface, then it should be good as well.

 

If you didn't use a truing bar jig you run the very likely risk of the housing not true to center line of pumpkin gears and bearings. Do a 4 way alignment when project is done and tell us how that went. A fraction of a degree off at the bearing retainer, either direction is magnified by the time you get to a 29" tire cir***ference............................

 

I knew a SCCA Trans Am racer that used to pie cut the top side of his nine inchers and re-weld them back together to induce camber in the axle shafts through housing distortion to increase cornering capability. Aside from having to work the axle shafts a bit to get them to register in the pumpkin spiders it worked beautifully.

 

We call those hose clamps!

 

Lots of good ideas here, thanks guys!

Below are pictures from a 1st p*** housing straighten I did before cutting off the ends.





Thinking I'll use the digital level, steel rulers & squares before I tack weld the ends back on to make sure they're square. Probably then mock up the housing in the car & weld on suspension brackets.

After that I'll put the alignment tooling back in and do my final welding of the ends and any heat/quench straightening needed.

 

What alignment tooling is that, and does the fixture in the center have alignment pucks or holes in it?

 

I know a shop that uses a mandrel with pucks in outer axle and dummy pumpkin for alignment

 

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^That's how it's done^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

 

^^^
I have the same pumpkin and an ***ortment of bushings. Because of the tubes being non-concentric with the centerline of the axles, the other methods may be close but they may not be. I know that many are satisfied if the axles go in without extra force. If you don't intend to drive your unit thousands of miles, you may not notice unusual tire wear or anything negative. If you do excessive burnouts and your tires last 500 miles, it won't make any difference. The point is that there are many ways to "get by". If you want to be positive you have it as good as you can, there is a reason why these jigs are made and used. No offense meant to anyone.

 

What you show in the picture is an excellent way to align the ends............probably the best overall. Its just that a guy narrowing one or two rearends in a lifetime isn't going to have something like that......but its good for everyone to see it. I've got a homemade one similar to that with the dummy centersection, and it has end plates as well to insure I'm not only concentric but square as well. If the ends fit tightly a fixture like that should work well.

 

Post 19 shows the best way to reinstall the ends. I have seen some places that cut the tubes midway, then but weld the two sections together!! There is no way that that method can be accurate, the ends need to be welded back on the tubes the way the factory did it and using an arbor to align everything.

 

Here's a pic of the back of the fixture in the center. It locates the alignment bar to the axle centerline.



I could have bought the pucks as shown in post 19, but paid a little more for this tool because it gives better access when installing and removing the alignment bar.

I've also got the "ruler" shown in post 23. It's helpful and seems worth the money.

 

That blows my mind thanks for sharing

 

After doing these 2 housings I'll probably do 1 more and then sell the tooling to re-coup some of the cost.

It'll probably be cheaper than having them narrowed, but the best part is learning something new.

 

You are welcome. My skills are pretty basic, so I've learned and continue to learn things from people on the HAMB.

 

I'm going out on a real thick limb and say that this isn't the first rear end housing that Dan ever narrowed.
There is a shop out 16 miles west of me that does a lot of the rear axles for the local crawler brigade and racers in the area. I've never checked their rates but will probably haul a couple of the housings I have plus a couple extra axle shafts out to them and go from there. This is a one shot deal for me so investing in any equipment to do it isn't all that good of a deal anyhow.

 

Mr.48, I am 2 hours away from you, I charge 250 per housing if brought to me dis***embled & clean. Not looking for more work, I have lots, just making an offer if your local shop is not affordable. You can even watch & have your favorite beverage!

 

Actually this is the FIRST TIME I've every narrowed a rear end housing and here are my reasons for doing this:
1) I've wanted to learn to do this for a long time. Also I've got a Jeep, maybe I'll build a rear for it.
2) I LOVE to buy or receive new tools. My Christmas/Bday list is usually tools or consumables for tools.
3) I hate to pay a shop to do something and risk it getting screwed up. If I muck it up, I don't charge me.
4) I like to learn new things. Not that long ago I bought a new-to-me 1966 Pfaff 145-H4 upholstery sewing machine. The old beast will easily sew through 4 layers of leather (or a finger, if not careful). So I'm learning to do upholstery and I kind of like it (heck TIG welding is somewhat like sewing steel together)

The cost of the tooling to narrow a rear housing is not that expensive. You can get this kit and an alignment shaft locally for probably less than $300.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/325041625915?hash=item4badfd9b3b:g:NTAAAOSw0NZeb6sq
Or you can get the Mittler Bros kit which includes a shaft for about $700
https://www.summitracing.com/parts/mbt-1000renk1-72
If you sell it after you're done you recoup part of the cost. Check the rates at that shop you may decide to do it yourself, or not.